Woman shares her home with 50 skunks

A US woman who shares her home with 50 skunks says they are "wonderful, beautiful animals".

Deborah Cipriani, 55, of North Ridgeville, Ohio, runs America's only rescue centre for domestic skunks.

And they are given free reign of the five-bedroom home - even sleeping on Ms Cipriani's bed.

She said: "A lot of people think we're weird to like pet skunks and they always say: 'Why do you want a pet skunk?' and I ask them: 'Why do you want a pet dog?'

"Because skunks aren't the smelly little creatures that people think they are - they're wonderful, beautiful animals."

Ms Cipriani, who lives with partner Kevin, 51, bought her first skunk in 2000 to help her through the death of her mother.

Since then, she's become so attached to the animals that she's dedicated her life to caring for them - getting up at 4.30am every morning to make sure they're all fed in time.

Her home, called Skunk Haven, has become well known throughout America and she even has fans in the UK, France and the Netherlands.

Ms Cipriani even set up her own event - called Skunk Fest - which attracts fellow animal lovers from all over America every September.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Woman_shares_her_home_with_50_skunks

US Feral cats spreading ‘serious public health diseases ‘

Free-roaming cats pose threat from "serious public health diseases"

September 2012. A new study in the USA has found that free-roaming cats pose a threat from "serious public health diseases" to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife.

"This is a significant study that documents serious wildlife and public health issues associated with 125 million outdoor cats in the United States. Decision-making officials need to start looking at the unintended impacts these animals have on both the environment and human health when they consider arguments to sanction Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR) cat colonies. These colonies are highly detrimental to cats, wildlife, and people, and only serve to exacerbate the cat overpopulation problem," said Darin Schroeder, Vice President for Conservation Advocacy at American Bird Conservancy.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/feral-cat-disease.html

Rapid evolution in domestic animals

Genetic Study of Black Chickens Shed Light On Mechanisms Causing Rapid Evolution in Domestic Animals


ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2011) — The genetic changes underlying the evolution of new species are still poorly understood. Genetic studies in domestic animals can shed light on this process due to the rapid evolution they have undergone over the last 10,000 years. A new study describes how a complex genomic rearrangement causes a fascinating phenotype in chickens.


In the study published in PLoS Genetics researchers at Uppsala University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, North Carolina State University and National Chung-Hsing University have investigated the genetic basis of fibromelanosis, a breed characteristic of the Chinese Silkie chicken (image on left). This trait involves a massive expansion of pigment cells that not only makes the skin and comb black but also causes black internal organs. Chickens similar in appearance to the Silkie were described by Marco Polo when he visited China in the 13th century and Silkie chickens have a long history in Chinese cuisine and traditional Chinese medicine.


"We have shown that the genetic change causing fibromelanosis is a complex rearrangement that leads to increased expression of Endothelin 3, a gene which is known for promoting the growth of pigment cells," explains Ben Dorshorst the post-doctoral researcher responsible for the work.

The research group led by Leif Andersson has by now characterized a number of traits in domestic animals, and a clear trend is emerging, namely that genomic rearrangements have contributed significantly to the rapid evolution of domestic animals. Other examples include Greying with age in horses and mutations affecting the size and shape of the comb in chickens.

"We have good reason to believe that such rearrangements have also played a significant role in the evolution of other species, including ourselves," concludes Leif Andersson.

The researchers also studied other chicken breeds where fibromelanosis occurs, including the Bohuslän-Dals svarthöna breed (image on right) from Sweden, and they found that all fibromelanotic breeds carried the exact same very unusual mutation. This finding is consistent with anecdotal evidence suggesting that this Swedish breed of chicken inherited their black skin and internal connective tissue color from Asian chickens that were first brought to Norway by a sailor on the East Asian trade routes centuries ago. This is a nice example of how humans have distributed a single novel mutation with an interesting effect when they developed breeds of domestic animals around the world. -- It is obvious that humans have had a strong affection for biological diversity in their domestic animals, says Leif Andersson.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111222195009.htm