Feline good: Cats counter stress at Tokyo firm

Yahoo – AFP, May 22, 2017

A cat walks across the desk at an IT office in Tokyo, where felines help
alleviate stress and anxiety (AFP Photo/YOKO AKIYOSHI)

Workaholic Japan is known for long office hours and stressed out employees, but one company claims to have a cure: Cats.

A total of nine fluffy felines eat, sleep and walk freely in the small office of IT firm Ferray in Tokyo.

Hidenobu Fukuda, who heads the firm, introduced an "office cat" policy in 2000 upon request from one of his employees, allowing staffers to bring their moggies to work.

"I also give 5,000 yen ($45) a month to those who rescue a cat," he said of his charges.

Other Japanese companies are also allowing animals in the office to help reduce stress and anxiety.

At Oracle Japan, an Old English Sheepdog named Candy works as a "greeting and healing ambassador", according to the company website.

A total of nine fluffy felines eat, sleep and walk freely in the small office 

of IT firm Ferray in Tokyo (AFP Photo/YOKO AKIYOSHI)

The company said it has had an office dog since 1991, and Candy, the fourth one, now has Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Meanwhile, Pasona Group "hired" two goats in 2011 and two alpacas in 2013 as full-time employees, partly for healing purposes.

Tokyo is also home to some 60 registered cat cafes, thanks to a growing number of feline lovers.

Eri Ito, who works at Ferray, says she is sold on the animal's soothing ways.

"Cats are sleeping just beside us... It's healing," Ito said.

But there is also a downside to having felines in the office, Fukuda admitted.

"Sometimes a cat will walk on a phone and cut off the call, or they shut down the computers by walking onto the off switch," he said.

Feline good? Cats help workaholic Japanese counter stress https://t.co/Xt55c2JRFr pic.twitter.com/RFh1I6joPe

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 22, 2017

Scientists reveal top 10 most bizarre new species of 2017

A New York university's annual list of the 10 most bizarre new species discovered in the animal and plant kingdoms has been topped by a mini-spider named after a hat from the Harry Potter series.

Deutsche Welle, 20 May

The State University of New York's College of Environmental Science's International Institute for Species Exploration's "Top 10" list came from 10 countries across four continents and were selected from a total of 18,000 newly discovered species, the institute said.

A tiny spider (pictured above), less than 2 millimeters (a tenth of an inch), was named after the bewitched Sorting Hat in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series.

"The shape of the spider's body, conical, with a jaunty bend in the narrow tip, is reminiscent of the hat first owned by the famed wizard Godric Gryffindor," the institute wrote on its website.

The list further includes "a strikingly colored freshwater stingray and two plants - a bush tomato that appears to 'bleed' when it's cut and an orchid with the face of the devil," it added.

Two leggy creatures, the institute continued, included on the list, "were a millipede with more than 400 legs and an amphibious centipede, along with a marine worm that looks a lot like fried pastry."

The Top 10 (pictured above from top left)

• "Sorting Hat" Spider (Eriovixia gryffindori)
• Unexpected Katydid (Eulophophyllum kirki)
• Omnivorous Root Rat (Gracilimus radix)
• 414-legged Millipede (Illacme tobini)
• "Dragon" Ant (Pheidole drogon)
• Freshwater Stingray (Potamotrygon rex)
• Swimming Centipede (Scolopendra cataracta)
• Bush Tomato (Solanum ossicruentum)
• Endangered Orchid (Telipogon diabolicus)
• "Churro" Marine Worm (Xenoturbella churro)

The "Top 10" has been published annually since 2008, with researchers looking for diversity in the animal and plant kingdoms and those threatened with extinction.

The institute, according to its website, "is dedicated to the exploration, inventory, and classification of earth's species, public awareness of the biodiversity crisis, advocacy for the important roles played by taxonomy and natural history museums, the advancement of cyber taxonomy and the application of cyber and digital tools to accelerate and improve comparative morphology, descriptive taxonomy, and phylogenetic classification."

The "Top 10 New Species" list is released around May 23 each year to coincide with the birthday of Carolus Linnaeus - the "Father of Taxonomy," whose work in the 18th century was the beginning point for modern naming and classification of plants and animals.

A further 10 million animal and plant species - five times more than already known - are therefore not yet discovered worldwide.

Dutch draw up dangerous dogs list, send owners back to school

DutchNews, May 18, 2017

The American Staffordshire terrier is on the banned list. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Pitbull terriers, Rottweilers and the Caucasian shepherds are among the animals on a Dutch government list of officially dangerous dogs. 

From next year, the owners of 20 breeds and all pittbull crossbreeds will have to go on a compulsory cause in keeping dogs which are known to have a propensity to violence. 

The list and compulsory course are part of a series of measures the caretaker government plans to introduce in an effort to cut down on the number of dog attacks. 

Junior economic affairs minister Martin van Rijn is also working on a list of banned breeds and plans to give local councils the powers to ban dangerous dogs from some areas. 

In addition, the government will establish a central register to record dog bite incidents and a hotline for people to report dangerous dogs or owners who refuse to deal with their dogs properly. 

Bites

‘There have been a number of serious biting incidents in recent years and this is extremely worrying,’ the minister said in a statement. ‘Councils will be given more powers to take effective measures… but ultimately it is owners who are responsible for their dogs.’ 

The official list of dangerous dogs includes pedigree dogs and crossbreeds which are known to have a high risk of aggressive behaviour. It includes 20 pedigree breeds such as Rottweilers, various varieties of pitbull and bull terrier, bull mastiffs and the Akita.

The Dutch animal protection charity Dierenbescherming has welcomed the course for dog owners. ‘We cannot deny this is a problem,’ a spokesman said. ‘Shelters are full of dogs, most of which are pitbulls and similar breeds. They were often bought on impulse and have not been properly trained.’ 

The Netherlands introduced a ban on breeding pitbulls and similar dogs 20 years ago after three children were savaged to death. But the ban was rescinded in 2008.

Related Article:

Rescued Pit Bull Treats 'Little Sister' Kitten Like a Princess

Rare albino orangutan rescued on Borneo island

Yahoo – AFP, May 2, 2017

Albino orangutans are rare on Borneo island, where most have
reddish-brown hair (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

A rare albino orangutan has been rescued on the Indonesian part of Borneo island where villagers were keeping the white-haired, blue-eyed creature in a cage, a protection group said Tuesday.

In an extremely unusual discovery, authorities picked up the female, estimated to be five years old, in a remote village in Kapuas Hulu district.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), which is caring for the critically endangered ape -- believed to be albino -- said the organisation had never before in its 25-year history taken in such an orangutan.

Normal Bornean orangutans have reddish-brown hair.

Villagers said they captured the ape -- who has not yet been named -- on Thursday. Authorities rescued the ape two days later.

"Orangutans are rare, and an albino orangutan is even rarer," Nico Hermanu, a BOSF spokesman, told AFP.

"Since BOSF was founded 25 years ago, we had never before taken in an albino orangutan at our rehabilitation centre."

Orangutans on Borneo have seen their habitat shrink dramatically as the

 island's rainforests are increasingly turned into oil palm, rubber or paper 

plantations (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Pictures showed dried blood around the creature's nose, with the foundation saying the injury could have been sustained when the ape was fighting the villagers' attempts to capture it.

The orangutan has been taken to BOSF's rehabilitation centre for further assessment. Almost 500 orangutans are kept at the centre.

The Bornean orangutan, which along with the Sumatran orangutan are Asia's only great apes, is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as "critically endangered" -- just one step away from extinction.

Around 100,000 are estimated to live on Borneo, which is divided between Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, down from 288,500 in 1973 and with their numbers expected to shrink to 47,000 by 2025, according to the IUCN.

The creatures have seen their habitat shrink dramatically as the island's rainforests are increasingly turned into oil palm, rubber or paper plantations, and are sometimes targeted by villagers who view them as pests.

A rare albino orangutan rescued in the Indonesian part of Borneo island is recovering well according to its veterinarian pic.twitter.com/P0BlByi26a

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 11, 2017

Related Articles:

Rare albino orangutan released back into the wild - New
Albino orangutan named 'Alba' after global appeal