Notes, news, and information on human and general molecular biology. My particular interests lie in immunology, cancer biology, pathology, and human evolution. I have a weakness for cute animal pictures.
Has your line of work altered the way you think about or your attitude towards pets?
Yes — especially concerning purebred animals, or any type of pet which has been selectively bred in order to highlight superficial aesthetic traits for our own selfish enjoyments. Evolution is an incredibly long process when occurring naturally, yet we have forcefully pushed the morphological transformation of a few of these breeds without giving any consideration to the health problems associated with these choices.
Take the pug: it looks entirely different today than it did a short 300 years ago. That’s because we have been breeding them to accentuate their wrinkly faces, floppy ears, and most significantly their characteristic squished faces. The ‘squished face’ means that the pug has an extremely high cranial index, a ratio calculated by the maximum width of the head x 100 / maximum length. Dogs with extremely high or extremely low cranial indexes are subject to corresponding health problems. Pugs, with their extreme brachycephalic index, have an incredibly difficult time regulating their body temperature because of the lack of surface area in their mouth allowing for enough space to evaporate adequate amounts of moisture in order to cool down while they pant, meaning they are prone to overheating. They also have exaggerated ocular orbitals which give them their soulful baby eyes, but that also means their eyes are at eminent risk of popping directly out of the sockets if they sustain any amount of trauma to their heads. Throw into this equation the fact that we’ve shortened their legs and exaggerated their stature to give them a stocky build, and it means they have an even more challenging time getting enough exercise so many become terribly obese.
We see these snorting, panting, grunting little creatures as ‘adorable’, but I think it’s kind of sadistic and cruel in a way. I don’t put the blame on the dog, nor the people who adopt these creatures from shelters to give them good lives — after all, the dog didn’t choose to be this way, we did. I hope with some education about these topics humans can begin to curb their excessive need to continuously dominate over nature.
Sources:
1. William Hogarth, The Painter and his Pug, 1745.
2. Pug from about 1885.
3. Pug from the Pug Dog Page.
4. List of dogs with variable cephalic indexes.
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Primatologist Jane Goodall and tiny chimpanzee Flint share a touching moment at Gombe Stream Reserve in Tanzania, East Africa, 1964
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my friend left her window open in her bedroom and came back to find this
look at his self-satisfied little face, the cheeky shit
motherfucking australia
sOMEBODY GET ME TO AUSTRALIA ASAP
IMMA LET IN ALL THE CUTIES
silly galah cockatoo
keyboards are not food
Arctic Fox pup calling (by High Arctic Institute)
what pumpkins
I like a man that is good with animals.
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I just spent a significant amount of time bellow-laughing at this.
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Hello, Tumblr.
Chip In: http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/8d94e40c395d3cd8
I am going to try and keep this short, getting to the point as quickly as possibly and attempting to keep it sensible and easy to understand as I am known to ramble.
My boyfriend and I have recently came to home a kitten (which we have come to call Squid) that’s paw had been crushed in the hood of a truck, the owner of the truck not choosing to take any responsibility and definitely choosing not to help out with any veterinary costs for the little guy.
Squid, the kitten, now lives with us and our other animals. Since being here he has shown signs of being full of life and just as playful and bratty as any other kitten. However he also has shown us that he refuses to put ANY weight on his damaged paw (Which is completely understandable.).
Since he joined us I have worried about any under the surface health issues he may have but with our own animals we can barley afford to even keep up with our own food costs, let alone keep up with a new kittens veterinary bills.
What we are hoping to achieve by posting this to tumblr is even to gain a small amount of donations to help us get him the vet care he needs as soon as possible, maybe even possible surgery if it will allow him to walk properly once again. (As I have stated earlier we have no idea what possible issues may be beneath the surface but whatever they may be we are ready to handle them to make sure he has a good life!)
In the mean time we are trying to find alternatives as we know we cannot simply rely on the help of others! However any help is better then none! Even if it is just a mere $1 or a simple signal boost.
Thank you for your time!
PS. Please feel free to ask ANY questions if you have any at all! I understand my explaining may not be the best and I apologize for that.
Here is the url for our Chip In once more! Our current goal is set at $1000 as we do not know what health issues may be found.
http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/8d94e40c395d3cd8SIGNAL BOOST! this is just too sad…
I can’t believe this has 200+ notes and no contributions?! Please, if you can, chip in. And pass it along.
