动物正音班－提供正确资讯－破除迷思

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红肉白肉傻傻分不清楚
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_meat
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/white_meat
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 155.x/full
http://aquaticcommons.org/18069/1/FT16.2_077.pdf
下图的资讯是错的

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https://www.chewy.com/petcentral/behavi ... ine-lives/

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http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3908790/ns/he ... E6ONq2B2Rs
SHANGHAI, China — The civet cat has a definite image problem.
Nine months ago, the animals were banished as suspected spreaders of the SARS virus, only to be back on the menu after the outbreak subsided.
Now they and other wild animals sold as food are again being targeted for slaughter as China seeks to block a re-emergence of SARS. Some 10,000 civets have been ordered drowned, electrocuted and incinerated by Saturday.
'A damned creature'
“People eat wild game for its supposed health-giving properties, but the civet had come to be known as a damned creature,” said Hu Xueming, deputy general secretary of the Guangzhou Food and Beverage Association.
Scientists have found no incontrovertible proof that civets are responsible for SARS’ jump to human beings, but they have found the virus present in the breed.
The civets’ unenviable fate seems sadly at odds with its origins as a shy, fruit-eating tree dweller that just happens to be prized as a delicacy in southern China.
Civets are mongoose-like animals found throughout Africa and Asia and only distantly related to the common house cat. Some species are ground-dwelling and omnivorous, although the Chinese species tied to the SARS virus, the masked palm civet, lives in trees and eat oranges, papayas and mangos.
Members of the Viverridae family, civets have a pointy, striped nose like a weasel, with a long, cat-like body and tail. Most are between five and 11 pounds, but can weigh up to about 25 pounds.
Known for medicinal qualities
Civets are usually only served in specialty wildlife restaurants, called “yewei,” or “wild taste” in Chinese. Often located in hilly rural areas on the edge of Guangzhou and other southern cities, the restaurants keep live animals in cages, awaiting the customer’s selection, then slaughter them on the spot.
Other than its distinctive flavor, civet meat is also credited with having medicinal qualities. Consumers say civet flesh can improve male virility, cure skin diseases, and improve other ailments.
There are various forms of preparation, but the most popular is to fry the meat with soy sauce adding bird’s nest for flavor and nutritional value, Hu said.
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“You have to eat it while it’s hot, because if it gets cold the oil will congeal and you’ll have a gamey smell,” Hu said.
Elsewhere in Asia, civets are hunted for their fur, which is gray or brown and can have stripes or spots, and also caged for their musk which is extracted for use in making perfume.
Civet dining isn’t cheap. The animals can fetch $10 a pound — a princely sum in China, where the average urban worker makes only about $700 a year. An average platter in Guangzhou costs $8-$10.
Diminishing demand
Yet with the factories of southern China powering an economic boom, residents of Guangzhou and other cities can afford it. Demand had been rising for years, during which civets and other wild animals were seized from markets and breeding farms closed.
But after last year’s ban, which was lifted in August only to be reimposed this week, the civet’s popularity with diners started to wane.
Many were scared off by the animal’s association with the SARS outbreak, Hu said. The ban makes it illegal for restaurants to serve civet, have it on the menu or advertise it.
The civet’s return to obscurity could be the best outcome of the slaughter, according to Beijing environmentalist Guo Geng. He wants the animals released into the wild.
“I’d love it if Cantonese abandoned eating the civet. We shouldn’t be worried about them spreading disease because when they see a human they turn and run,” Guo said in an interview with the Chinese Web site Sina.com.
Other animals suspected of carrying the SARS virus and ordered slaughtered include raccoon dogs, a primitive canine with raccoon-like facial markings, and three types of badgers.

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https://www.popsci.com/article/science/ ... -your-side
https://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com ... k=txWNTylF
Some people just don't like cats. That's okay. Some people don't like pizza. Or dogs. Or Harry Potter. But some cat-haters aren't satisfied with not owning cats themselves. They need to drag the rest of us down with them.
The first thing you notice when you dig around in the seedy underworld of cat-bashing is that it's an old hobby. The haters have left their mark across poetry, literature, and art for centuries.
"There's always going to be someone in a group who's going to stand up and say cats are aloof, manipulative little devils," says cat researcher John Bradshaw.
In his 1922 cultural history of the domestic cat, The Tiger in the House, Carl Van Vechten notes, "One is permitted to assume an attitude of placid indifference in the matter of elephants, cockatoos, H.G. Wells, Sweden, roast beef, Puccini, and even Mormonism, but in the matter of cats it seems necessary to take a firm stand....Those who hate the cat hate him with a malignity which, I think, only snakes in the animal kingdom provoke to an equal degree."
Joseph Stromberg at Vox is only the most recent ailurophobe to launch a broadside against the feline species. His 28-paragraph essay on the supposed evils of Felis catus, published last week, tells readers that cats are "selfish, unfeeling, environmentally harmful creatures."
"Those who hate the cat hate him with a malignity which, I think, only snakes in the animal kingdom provoke to an equal degree."

His argument breaks down into four simple points: "Your cat probably doesn't love you." "Your cat isn't really showing you affection." "Cats are an environmental disaster." And, "Your cat might be driving you crazy."
We called Bradshaw, an internationally recognized cat and dog researcher and author of several books on pet ownership, including Cat Sense, for his learned opinion on the "science" of cat-bashing.
Feline Love Isn't Needy
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The Difference Between Dogs And Cats
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DOGS AND CATS
Raneko via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
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Haters want you to believe cats don't really care about their people. Stromberg points to a series of studies by Daniel Mills at the University of London and other researchers that show cats don't look to humans for guidance in unfamiliar situations. Abandon your dog (or child) in a place it's never seen before, and it's likely to run to you on your return. Cats are more likely to explore the space on their own terms.
Compared to a stranger, the dogs become more disturbed when their owners leave, and interact with them more when they return. By contrast, Mills' cat experiments — which are still ongoing and haven't yet been published, but were featured in a BBC special last year—haven't come to the same conclusion. On the whole, the cats seem disinterested both when their owners depart and return.
Meanwhile, other experiments carried out by a pair of Japanese researchers have provided evidence for a fact already known to most cat owners: they can hear you calling their name, but just don't really care. As detailed in a study published last year, the researchers gathered 20 cats (one at a time) and played them recordings of three different people calling their name—two strangers, plus their owners.
Regardless of the order, the cats consistently reacted differently upon hearing their owner's voice (in terms of ear and head movement, as graded by independent raters who didn't know which voice belonged to the owner). However, none of them meowed or actually approached the speaker, as though they'd be interested in seeing the person.
Bradshaw says this interpretation draws too much out of limited study—research similar to work he has done himself. "It shows something about cats, but it doesn't show you that cats are not affectionate," he says.
Dogs have evolved to be "almost obsessively" dependent on humans, Bradshaw says. In unfamiliar situations, they look to their humans as sources of stability and guidance, much like small children. Cats, on the other hand, "prefer to deal with things in their own heads."
A creature that fails to run to your side in a strange situation does not necessarily have a cold, unfeeling heart. Some couples show up at parties and hold hands the entire time, talking mostly to one another. Others split up when they arrive, mingle, meet new people. But they still leave together when it ends. Your cat's a mingler—an explorer.
Your Cat Really Is Showing Affection
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A Cat Not Faking It
A CAT NOT FAKING IT
Travis Modisette via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
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After wedging a seed of doubt into the emotional relationships between humans and their cats, the enemies of felinekind try to insert themselves into the physical expressions of human-feline love. Stromberg is no exception:
Many cats... will rub up against the leg of their owner (or another human) when the person enters a room. It's easy to construe this as a sign of affection. But many researchers interpret this as an attempt, by the cat, to spread his or her scent — as a way to mark territory. Observations of semi-feral cats show that they commonly rub up against trees or other objects in the exact same way, which allows them to deposit pheromone-containing secretions that naturally come out of their skin.
In other words, all the squirming and rubbing cats lavish on their owners are just the feline equivalent to a dog lifting its leg and peeing all over a fire hydrant.
Bradshaw says this notion is way off-base. "Superficially, [rubbing against humans] looks like scent marking," he says, but "the display that goes on when a cat raises its tail and rubs its sides against another cat, or a person, is a social action."
"Like all genuine affectionate relationships, [cat cuddling] is a two-way street."

Some researchers suggest the behavior has a its roots in the creation of a "clan scent" for packs of wild cats, but no one has published proof. What's important, Bradshaw says, is the interaction between creatures. The raised tail is a signal of good intent. When two cats know each other well they will rub their whole bodies against each other, including their sides, which have no scent glands. They often then lie down together and purr. Cats will do the same thing with their owners. Claiming this behavior is no deeper than a wild cat rubbing its face on tree bark is like saying that human handshakes are mostly about checking for secret weapons.
A 2013 study supposedly shows cats hate when humans pet them.
The research indeed found that cats pumped stress hormones into their bloodstreams when they were petted excessively. But Bradshaw points out that the research was conducted in Brazil, a country where house cats are far less common than small dogs. He thinks pet owners used to rough-and-tumble dogs might not prepared to handle cats in ways they enjoy. The cats grabbed and picked up for the study were reacting to a long history of unpleasant interactions, not simple human touch.
"Like all genuine affectionate relationships, [cat cuddling] is a two-way street," he says. "Dogs put up with harsher treatment. Yank on a choke chain, and the dog bounces back. Cats say goodbye."
Your Cat Is Too Clumsy To Threaten Wildlife
Threats To All Birdkind
THREATS TO ALL BIRDKIND
Tamboko The Jaguar via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Perhaps the most damning charge against cats is that they are natural murderers who can disrupt local ecosystems. Stromberg pounced gleefully once again:
In the US, domestic cats are an invasive species—they originated in Asia. And research shows that, whenever they're let outside, cats' carnivorous activity has a devastating effect on wild bird and small mammal populations, even if the cats are well-fed.
So what's an environmentally-conscious cat lover to do? Bradshaw says not to worry. It turns out, as long as your cat wasn't born feral or on a farm, it's probably a clumsy hunter. Birds and rodents zip away from its plodding, obvious approach.
Bradshaw says cats learn to kill from their mothers. In the wild, a kitten follows its mom on many hunts in the first eight weeks of its life. She teaches the skills of sneaking up on prey and pouncing with lethal precision. But housecats born at home or to breeders miss that crucial step. Kittens instead spend their first eight weeks yowling at cotton balls and bits of string. Unless you trained your pet in the art of war before the end of its second month—a crucial period in its development—it's probably next to useless against live prey (even if it does sometimes get lucky).
"Obviously there's some deep ancestral memory of stalking prey," he says, "but a cat by itself is usually not a very good hunter."
Whenever local fauna succumb to feline hunting, he says, "it almost always turns out to be feral cats." Australian experiments with 24-hour cat curfews turned out to have minimal impacts. Still, the ASPCA suggests keeping cats indoors to prolong their lives, so it's probably a good idea. Also, spayed and neutered housecats will never birth feral kittens that could endanger wildlife.
If you really want to do right by the environment, Bradshaw says, cats are way better than dogs.
Okay, Your Cat May Give You A Parasite That Controls Your Thoughts
_Toxoplasma gondii_ parasites form a cyst in a mouse brain.
TOXOPLASMA GONDII PARASITES FORM A CYST IN A MOUSE BRAIN.
Jitinder P. Dubey via Wikimedia Commons
Stromberg is wrong about cat love, but there's a chance he's right about horrible brain-controlling parasites in cat poop. Even Bradshaw can't defend your kitten now.
See, there's this parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. It enters the brains of prey animals like mice and alters their behavior to make them less afraid of predators. These bold, addled rodents ride their parasitic high all the way into your favorite pet's gnashing jaws, and some of those parasites make their way into your cat's litterbox. From there it's a short jump to a human owner's body.
Some reaserchers suspect that humans infected with T. gondii are susceptible to its nefarious mind control as well. Here's what Kathleen McCauliffe wrote about the parasite in her extensive coverage for the Atlantic:
The subjects who tested positive for the parasite had significantly delayed reaction times. [Parasite researcher Jaroslav] Flegr was especially surprised to learn, though, that the protozoan appeared to cause many sex-specific changes in personality. Compared with uninfected men, males who had the parasite were more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other people’s opinions of them, and inclined to disregard rules. Infected women, on the other hand, presented in exactly the opposite way: they were more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule-abiding than uninfected women.
Infected men were more likely to wear rumpled old clothes; infected women tended to be more meticulously attired, many showing up for the study in expensive, designer-brand clothing. Infected men tended to have fewer friends, while infected women tended to have more. And when it came to downing the mystery fluid, reports Flegr, “the infected males were much more hesitant than uninfected men. They wanted to know why they had to do it. Would it harm them?” In contrast, the infected women were the most trusting of all subjects. “They just did what they were told,” he says.
Flegr goes on to note that even infected people may not be heavily impacted by the bug, and that cat poop is not the only way humans catch it. (In fact, it's incredibly common.) Not all researchers agree with Flegr's dire interpretations of the evidence, though T. gondii does turn dangerous when patients have damaged immune systems.
Ultimately, yes, your cat probably loves you, but that might just be the mind-controlling parasite talking.

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https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/3 ... or-people/

If you know this, you know more than most pet owners …

Most people never ask the question, “Can dogs eat peanut butter?” So most people don’t know that one of the top selling dog treats of all time is really bad for dogs.

Like really bad.

Yet pet store shelves are stacked with peanut butter flavored products. Peanut butter cookies, peanut butter stuffing … and even those of us who choose to bypass commercial foods, have been fooled into thinking that the occasional Kong stuffed with organic, sugar-free peanut butter is an awesome treat for dogs.

So if you’ve been feeding your dog peanut butter as a treat and you’ve never wondered, can dogs eat peanut butter? … you might not like to hear what I’m about to say. But I think when I’m done, you might want to move peanut butter to the naughty – and downright dangerous – snack food list.

Here’s why peanut butter is toxic to your dog …

1. Most Peanut Butter Contains Aflatoxins (Which Cause Cancer)
Don’t know what aflatoxins are? These are naturally occurring mycotoxins that are produced by a fungus called Aspergillus.

And peanuts have them in spades.

is peanut butter bad for dogs
Mycotoxins are one of the most carcinogenic (cancer-causing) substances on the planet … and they’ve also been shown to be toxic to the liver. Aflatoxin is known to cause liver cancer in laboratory animals … and it would probably do the same in your dog.

And don’t think you can avoid aflatoxins by buying that fancy, fresh store-made peanut butter.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil,

A few years ago, Consumers Union looked into the question of aflatoxins in peanut butter and found that the amounts detectable varied from brand to brand. The lowest amounts were found in the big supermarket brands such as Peter Pan, Jif and Skippy. The highest levels were found in peanut butter ground fresh in health food stores.
But before you break out the Jif, you might first want to read more …

2. Most Peanut Butter Often Contains Harmful Fats
Trans-fatty acids are one of the most toxic food substances today. Trans fats are the result of a highly toxic process that makes foods more stable, allowing them to sit on shelves for an extremely long time. Hydrogenation is the process of taking a plant oil, adding a nickel catalyst, heating it, and then removing the nickel catalyst.

The result is a highly toxic fat that causes diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation.

You’ll know if your dog’s peanut butter contains trans fats if it has hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients. If it does, then don’t buy it!

And as if trans fats weren’t bad enough, roasting nuts can also cause the fats in peanuts to go rancid. So if you must feed peanut butter, then at the very least, make sure it’s raw and doesn’t contain hydrogenated fats.

But of course, you’ll still have to deal with the aflatoxins …

3. Most Peanut Butter Contains Sugar
Think of white sugar as food for all of the nasty things we take our dogs to the vet for …

… like yeast (candida), bacteria, parasites – and cancer! The more we eat, the more they feast!

most peanut butter contains sugar
Sugar can also cause diabetes, food allergies, premature aging and low level inflammation. And it feeds cancer cells.

Speaking of inflammation, that’s one more reason why peanut butter isn’t a great snack choice for your dog …

While peanuts are high in good monounsaturated fats, their omega 6 to 3 ratio is terrible! One cup of peanuts contains 35578 mg of omega-6 fatty acids and only 196 mg of omega-3 fats. Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can trigger inflammation, so too much is not good. And the most common inflammatory conditions in dogs include allergies and joint disease.

Sound familiar?

And, here’s something you might not know – there are peanut butter manufacturers adding xylitol to their ingredients.

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https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/w ... in-summer/
It’s hot and sticky across most of North America at this time of year. I have two Samoyeds and they would far prefer the temperatures to be at the other end of the spectrum. Anything over 40° is hotter than they’d like.

Winter is definitely “their season.” So yes, they do feel the heat in summer. But, in answer to all the people who stop me on the street to ask me if I’m going to “shave them down” …

… No, I’m not. And I’ll tell you why in a minute.

The “no shave” rule doesn’t just apply to super-furry northern breeds like Samoyeds, Huskies or Malamutes, but to other double-coated breeds as well. Herding breeds like Aussie Shepherds, Border Collies and Shelties are double-coated. So are Golden Retrievers, Newfoundlands, Bernese Mountain Dogs and many more.

About Double Coats
Double-coated breeds have two layers to protect against arctic weather. The long guard hairs form the outer layer and protect against snow or ice and even shed water. The soft undercoat lies close to the skin and keeps your dog warm and dry. In winter this undercoat can be so thick you may have trouble finding your dog’s skin.

In summer, your dog should shed his soft undercoat, leaving just the guard hairs. The job of the guard hairs in warm weather is to protect your dog from sunburn and insulate him against the heat. Without the undercoat, air can circulate through the guard hairs, cooling the skin.

Unlike single coated breeds, who have hair that just keeps growing, double coats grow to a certain length and don’t get any longer. So you can shave a single-coated breed down and the coat will grow back again without really changing it. But that’s not true for double coats.

Shaving a double-coated breed can really ruin the coat.

Shaving Changes the Coat Texture
If you shave your double-coated dog, you’ll probably notice new hair starting to grow in pretty quickly. Unfortunately what happens is that the undercoat grows first … that soft fuzzy stuff that stays next to the skin and keeps your dog warm. The guard hairs are slower growing and you’ll soon start to see them mixed in with the fluffy undercoat.

At this stage you’ll probably also notice that the texture of the new double coat coming in doesn’t feel the same as it did before. It tends to be “sticky” and Velcro-like. Your dog will come in from the yard with burrs, seeds, grass, twigs and whatever other plant life he passes, stuck to his coat.

This combination of soft undercoat growing with the guard hairs will also make your dog hot in summer, because the undercoat stops the air from getting to his skin and prevents the natural cooling process. The texture of the undercoat also absorbs the sun’s rays and contributes to overheating.

Graphic of the negative effects of shaving dogs' coats
And in winter, the new sticky texture of his regrown coat means the undercoat will be more likely to mat, which can cause skin irritations like hot spots.

Don’t Do What I Did
I know this because – before I knew better – I made the mistake of getting my first Samoyed a “teddy bear” cut in the summer because he was always in the water and I thought it would help him dry more easily.

Big mistake.

The cut ruined his coat and it was never the same again. The guard hairs that grew back were very coarse and everything stuck to them. They stuck to themselves too, becoming tangly and extremely hard to brush or comb. And the undercoat seemed to matt very easily, so he always had felted mats in his armpits, groin, behind his ears and throughout his belly fur. And his skin got irritated and yeasty due to his matted coat.

Shaving Doesn’t Keep Your Dog Cool
What’s supposed to happen is that your dog sheds his undercoat in summer, leaving the guard hairs to provide your dog with insulation, and allowing cool air to circulate near his skin.

The guard hairs also prevent your dog from getting sunburned. Many double-coated dogs have pale pink skins (especially the northern breeds), and just like a pale skinned human, they’re more susceptible to sunburn. The guard hairs reflect the sun’s rays, protecting the skin from the sun.

Graphic showing how dogs' coats can reflect heat from the sun
So, if your dog has a thick double coat, and he still has his undercoat in summer, you might think that getting rid of the whole lot of it will help keep him cool.

But it won’t. First of all, whatever fuzzy coat is left after shaving will prevent cool air from getting to the skin. But the shaved coat also lets the sun through to the skin. This exposes him to the danger of overheating, sunburn and potentially even skin cancer.

Graphic showing the negative effect of shaving a dog's coat
A Better Way
The best way to help your double-coated dog stay cool in summer is to take him to the groomer. Ask her to bathe him and then blow out the undercoat with the high powered dryers. Most will also use a tool like a rake to help remove the coat.

Of course you can also use your own grooming tools to brush or comb your dog and remove the undercoat. But it can be a big job and your groomer will have the right equipment to do the job efficiently.

Just be careful about your choice of groomer and make sure she knows you don’t want her to shave your dog. Talk to the groomer who’ll be working on your dog and make sure she has experience with double coated dogs – and doesn’t believe in shaving!

Be very clear, because some groomers will take the easy route if you don’t give them specific instructions. Owners of double-coated dogs have been known to leave their dog at the groomer for a bath, blow dry and comb-out. But when they came to pick up their dog, they found the groomer had shaved him down.

4 Ways To Help Your Dog Stay Cool
So, once your dog has had his undercoat removed, the guard hairs can do their job naturally. But there are other things you can do in summer to prevent your dog from overheating.

#1 Carry Water
It’s really smart to carry water for your dog on summer walks. You can buy doggie water bottles with a special lid that doubles as a drinking cup. There are also portable water bowls you can fill from a regular water bottle or drinking fountain. If you see your dog panting heavily and his tongue getting wider, make sure you offer him water.

#2 Monitor His Activity
Some dogs who love playing games like fetch will do it all day without realizing they’re getting too hot. Watch for signs your dog should stop for a drink and a rest!

#3 Let Him Get Wet
Buy a kiddie pool for your backyard so your dog can cool off. Or take him to natural environments where he can play in a river, creek, pond or lake or dig in a muddy river bank to cool off. I think this is a life-saver for my dogs in summer. Yes, they get wet and filthy, but they can enjoy hours of hot weather activity without overheating.

(Before bathing your dog, make sure you keep him safe. Check out our article … )

#4 Indoor cooling
Air conditioning and fans will of course help your dog stay cool indoors. A lot of dogs will choose to lie on a cool tile floor instead of a bed or rug in warm weather – or even right on the A/C vent!

You can also buy cooling pads for your dog and they’re quite effective. The gel ones are nice and light compared to the water-filled ones, but just be careful if you have a chewer as you don’t want them swaliowing the gel.

A Word About Cooling Vests
You can buy cooling vests for dogs. I don’t have first hand experience of these, but I think for thick coated dogs, wearing the vest may prevent air circulation and contribute to your dog overheating. I also wonder if the coolness of the vest even works its way through the coat to the skin.

Don’t Embarrass Your Dog
One more thing. This may sound silly, but it can be unkind to shave your dog for psychological reasons too. Let’s face it, double coated dogs look pretty silly shaved. Many dogs really seem embarrassed and look quite uncomfortable with their new “do.” Yes, your dog will probably get used to it, but is it really necessary to put him through that awkwardness?

So, let your dog’s coat do its work the way nature intended!