Talking Animals

If you see an animal locked in a hot car this summer -- you are allowed to take action. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports.

Unfortunately natural disasters cause animals to be displaced from their families. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports on how rescue organizations are helping these animals survive -- and just maybe -- be reunited with their owners.

You know what they say -- cheetahs never prosper. Sadly they won't if they continue to face extinction. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports.

Fish may be small minded -- but that doesn't mean they aren't smart. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger tells us all about the archer fish -- and its facial recognition capabilities.

Dr. Tim Caro —a professor at UC Davis and wildlife biologist whose new book is “Zebra Stripes”—traces some of the arc of his academic career, including how he became interested in researching animal coloration. Caro goes on to explain how this focus led to examining, as thoroughly documented in his new book, the purpose of zebra stripes (a debate that extends back to at least the era of Charles Darwin), noting that nearly 20 hypotheses were considered—and tested. He addresses one hypothesis that is commonly advanced to explain zebra stripes—that they’re there to confuse or neutralize predators, like lions and hyenas. Caro notes why he ruled that one out, while describing other efforts—including he and his colleagues building models of zebras (and other animals) and Caro himself donning a zebra suit—to test other hypotheses. Spoiler alert: The black and white stripes seem to serve as a significant deterrent for biting flies, though it’s still not entirely clear why. Caro mentions that he and his son are collaborating on a children’s book about zebras and their stripes, as well as his next research—about to be unveiled—deals with the coloration of another black and white animal: the giant panda. (http://wfcb.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/caro-tim/caro-lab/)

 

ALSO: I spoke briefly with Terry Pivinsky, an artist whose work is exhibited in a solo art show, “Animals We Love,” through Feb. 18, at Complete Sweet Shoppe in Pinellas Park.   (www.facebook.com/terry.pivinsky, www.facebook.com/completesweetshop/ )

 

COMEDY CORNER: Brian Regan’s “Whale Noises” (http://brianregan.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” Aimee Mann’s “Goose Snow Cone,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: Loudon Wainwright’s “Animal Song”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TAFeb1-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

An animal shelter in England has started evaluating animal behaviors to determine why they are not being adopted. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports.

A zoo in England is giving their chimps a taste of the wild. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports.

For today’s edition of Talking Animals, I jettisoned the usual format and convened a panel discussion about the end of the Ringling Bros. circus. I was inspired to present the panel because I was struck by the array of reactions in the wake of the announcement by Feld Entertainment that it was shutting down the circus in May. As you might expect, longtime activists were thrilled by the news, but there were also great expressions of ambivalence, sadness, disappointment, nostalgia, and so on. And central questions hovered: What will become of the animals? What will become of the nearly 400 Ringling employees who will find themselves out of come work come May? There are other issues and concerns, and with the panelists I invited, I sought to represent at least some of the many perspectives I’d seen surface on social media and elsewhere. They were, in alphabetical order:

Dr. Janet Davis: a professor at the University of Texas in Austin and historian, who’s done extensive research and writing about circuses (one of her books is The Circus Age: Culture And Society Under The American Big Top), and was in a position to offer a scholarly view of how the significant demise of Ringling can be placed within the history and evolution of circuses

Arin Greenwood: A non-practicing lawyer, former animal welfare editor at The Huffington Post and journalist who’s contributed to The Washington Post’s Animalia blog, The Dodo–and on social media had articulated a decidedly ambivalent, nuanced view of the Ringling news.

 

Stephen Payne: is the Vice-President of Corporate Communications at Feld Entertainment, and in that capacity, he’s served as the longtime spokesman for the Ringling Bros. circus.

 

 

Adam Sugalski: the executive director of OneProtest, the Florida-based advocacy organization known for its successful effort to help halt the Florida bear hunt, has long protested the Ringling circus—he did so days prior to the panel discussion, in Jacksonville, FL–and is thrilled about the news that the Ringling circus is ending.

 

We covered a great deal of ground, addressing topics ranging from the uncertainty over where the current Ringling animals will wind up, to the virtues and limitations of the Cirque de Soleil model, to the breeding and cancer research taking place at the 200-acre Center For Elephant Conservation in Polk City, Florida.

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/TAJan25-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Humans are not the only musical species. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports.

Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon—the husband-wife team who wrote the screenplay for A Dog’s Purpose, a film starring Dennis Quaid, based on Cameron’s bestselling novel of the same name—discuss how the book has yet again become a New York Times bestseller (this time, recently reaching #1 on both the Paperback Trade Fiction and Mass-Market Fiction lists). A Dog’s Purpose, the book and the film, tells the story of a dog who’s reincarnated through several lives, and how he’s seeking to sort out his purpose through each of those lives. The couple recall how a pivotal moment while they were dating—Michon had explained that she was so crushed by the loss of her dog, Ellie, that she couldn’t envision ever getting another dog, while lifelong canine lover couldn’t envision life without a dog—led Cameron to spin the Purpose yarn while he and Michon were on a drive, with his own purpose to erode her resistance to resuming dog ownership by suggesting dogs we lose may be reincarnated into dogs we meet later in our lives. It worked! They now share their lives with an ultra-cute dog named Tucker. And the tale from that drive went on to become the core saga of the book, and then of the film—and they addressed the differences of writing the screenplay, given that so much of the breadth and depth of the book necessarily must be jettisoned. They also spoke to the movie studio’s sweeping promotional support of A Dog’s Purpose, the dogs appearing in the movie (the TMZ clip was posted a few hours after this interview, so we did not discuss it, but Cameron, director Lasse Hallstrom, producer Gavin Pallone and the studio have all released statements about the situation), Josh Gad’s work as the voice of the dogs’ soul, how they approached collaborating on this project, and more. (www.adogspurposemovie.com)

ALSO: I spoke briefly with Alana Rogers, of Pig Advocates League (PAL), who provided an update on the so-called “Polk Pigs”—the 100-plus pigs that were seized in August from a Polk City facility, where the proprietors were charged with 138 counts of animal neglect and three counts of felony animal abuse. Most have found homes, but 30 still need homes, and meanwhile, remain temporarily housed at Rooterville, a sanctuary in Melrose, FL. (www.pigadvocates.com, https://rooterville.org/ )

COMEDY CORNER: Matt Braunger’s “Panda Butler” (www.mattbraunger.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: The TV Theme Players’ “The Green Hornet Theme” (aka “Flight Of The Bumblebee”)

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/TAJan18-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window