Elephants are sensitive and very social, but there is no evidence they cry

An elephant that supposedly cried tears when it was being rescued from an abusive home where it had been captive for 50 years created much excitment on social media. The experience of being cut loose from the vicious-looking spikes and heavy chains that we see in the short video clip was one of intense emotion for Raju, the elephant in the video. This is not the first time that a story of a weeping elephant has done the rounds on the internet. Animals that seem to be behaving in human-like ways certainly generate great interest.

Humans usually cry for emotional reasons: pain, fear, sadness, or loneliness. So perhaps it is natural to interpret animal tears as having an emotional reason, too. However, scientists studying the underlying cognitive processes of animal behaviour have found no evidence to suggest that elephants, or any other species for that matter, have an emotional reason for producing tears.

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Narwhal’s tusk is super sensitive

By Ella DaviesReporter, BBC Nature

Narwhals' distinctive long tusks are super sensitive, research has found.

The whales are known for their tusks which can reach 2.6m (9ft) in length, earning them comparisons with mythological unicorns.

The tusk is an exaggerated front tooth and scientists have discovered that it helps the animals sense changes in their environment.

Experts suggest males could use the tusks to seek out mates or food.

The results are published in the journal The Anatomical Record.

Dr Martin Nweeia from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, US, undertook the study alongside an international team of colleagues.

Through the years, many theories have tried to explain the function of the narwhal's impressive tusk.

"People have said it's everything from an ice pick to an acoustic probe, but this is the first time that someone has discovered sensory function and has the science to show it," said Dr Nweeia.

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The Big Sleep: How Do You Anesthetize a Hippopotamus?

ScienceDaily (July 3, 2012) — It may rank fairly low in most lists of pressing problems to be solved but an increasing number of zoos and wildlife collections as well as gamekeepers nevertheless need to come up with an answer: How do you anesthetize a hippopotamus? Difficulties are posed not only by the undesirability of approaching waking animals but also by hippos' unique skin morphology and by the animals' sensitivity to standard anesthetic methods. 

A new procedure is now described by the group of Chris Walzer at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna and published in the current issue of theJournal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

All zoo animals -- and sometimes also wild animals -- occasionally need veterinary treatment and anesthesia is clearly required in many cases. For most animals the procedures are well established but for a variety of reasons it has proven difficulty to anaesthetize hippopotamuses. The thick skin and the dense subcutaneous tissue make it difficult to introduce sufficient amounts of anesthetics and opioid-based anesthetics often cause breathing irregularities and occasionally even death. In addition, the level of anesthesia is only rarely sufficient to enable surgery to be undertaken: few vets wish to be around when a drugged hippopotamus starts to wake up.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120703120622.htm