Lovebirds(home)

http://animalzoon.blogspot.in/

"love birds "  i have shoot the image in villupuram(tamil nadu).
that birds  pet of  MR.Saran raj S.
Owner of birds talk to me birds maintenance details .

Lovebirds are pint-sized bundles of joy. They have the full personality of parrots while being easy to house because of their size. Lovebirds are little clowns, playing for hours at a time. They love to hang from toys, spin them around, and dance on your shoulder. Watch out for your buttons! They love to pull them off your shirts! They love to snuggle and preen. Many people believe lovebirds must be kept in pairs. This is simply not true. A single lovebird makes a better pet because it bonds to you rather than to another lovebird.

Watch these young lovebirds play “The Mirror Game” – They fly up to their reflections in the mirror to watch themselves fly, then land, then the other one goes. They never hit the mirror and can play this game forever without getting tired.

Lovebirds are quite aggressive chewers, which must be kept in mind when choosing toys. Make sure there are no small parts that can be chewed off and ingested, and no clips, loose strings, or other parts in which your bird could get its beak, feet, or head trapped. Safe toys include wood, sisal, leather, acrylic, and rawhide toys (including hanging toys as long as they are not long enough to strangle your bird), bells, and ladders.

Cage-Free in Calcutta On the agenda

     
       The event opened with four short films on battery cages and the reasons to switch to cage-free eggs. The master of ceremonies, local celebrity Oindrilla Dutt, gave thoughtful commentary in between.

Next came a panel: HSI’s N. Jayasimha spoke about HSI and animal welfare. Dr. Naisargi Dave from the University of Toronto cited research showing that even the smallest increase in consumer knowledge about the conditions of hens leads to increases in demand for cage-free eggs. Finally, Chef Sharad Dewan of Park Hotels said that he had committed to cage-free eggs and was confident that profitability would naturally follow. It is obvious to him, he said, that the trend is toward humane food, health, and wellness, and that consumers understand that hens produce better products when they’re living healthier lives.

A second panel comprised of Chef Wafab from the Hyatt in Kolkata, Ms. Jhilam from the Hyatt, Mr. Sanjay Mitra from Keggs Farms, and Mr. Dibeyendu Banerjee, a local smaller-scale cage-free farmer, answered questions. Topics included how to increase consumer knowledge, how to help smaller-scale suppliers link up directly with consumers, how cage-free farming actually increases rural food security, and whether chefs detected any difference in the quality of cage-free eggs (to which they answered yes, the taste is superior).

Cat evolution

http://animalzoon.blogspot.in/

            The domesticated cat and its closest wild ancestor are both diploid organisms that possess 38 chromosomes and roughly 20,000 genes. About 250 heritable genetic disorders have been identified in cats, many similar to human inborn errors. The high level of similarity among the metabolisms of mammals allows many of these feline diseases to be diagnosed using genetic tests that were originally developed for use in humans, as well as the use of cats as animal models in the study of the human diseases.

"Cat evolution"
       
        The felids are a rapidly evolving family of mammals that share a common ancestor only 10–15 million years ago, and include, in addition to the domestic cat, lions, tigers, cougars, and many others. Within this family, domestic cats (Felis catus) are part of the genus Felis, which is a group of small cats containing approximately seven species (depending upon classification scheme). Members of the genus are found worldwide and include the jungle cat (Felis chaus) of southeast Asia, European wildcat (F. silvestris silvestris), African wildcat (F. s. lybica), the Chinese mountain cat , and the Arabian sand cat (F. margarita), among others.

All the cats in this genus share a common ancestor that probably lived around 6–7 million years ago in Asia. The exact relationships within the Felidae are close but still uncertain,e.g. the Chinese mountain cat is sometimes classified (under the name Felis silvestris bieti) as a subspecies of the wildcat, like the North African variety F. s. lybica. As domestic cats are little altered from wildcats, they can readily interbreed. This hybridization poses a danger to the genetic distinctiveness of wildcat populations, particularly in Scotland and Hungary

Pest-Eating Birds

http://animalzoon.blogspot.in/

hi friends,,,,,,,Sep-11,.

This is the first time scientists have assigned a monetary value to the pest-control benefits rainforest birds can provide to agriculture. Their study could provide the framework for pest management that helps both farmers and biodiversity.

The latest finding from these researchers suggests that the birds are returning the favor to farmers by eating an aggressive coffee bean pest, the borer beetle, thereby improving coffee bean yields by hundreds of dollars per hectare.

The study is the first to put a monetary value on the pest-control benefits rainforest can provide to agriculture, which the researchers hope can inform both farmers and conservationists.

"The benefits that we might get are huge," said Daniel Karp, a graduate student in biology and lead author of the study. "There's lots of unrealized value in these small patches of rainforest. This looks like a sustainable, win-win opportunity for pest management."

The researchers hope that the work will improve conservation efforts in heavily farmed areas by illustrating to farmers the financial benefits of leaving some land in its natural state, while also guiding governments toward the best conservation methods