February 2012 Newsbytes archive

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Here’s last month’s Newsbytes.

Higgs Raccoon: Furry covers for iPhones .

Higgs Raccoon: Nominations for the 2012 "Fandom's Favorite Fursuit Fracas" will open on February 27.

Equivamp: New species of prehistoric crocodile discovered.

Equivamp: In an attempt to save the Siberian tiger, 162 illegal hunting wire snares have been removed in China.

Equivamp: Half of all dogs and cats in the United States fight obesity.

Equivamp: Cows to wear bras. Yes, you read that right.

Equivamp: Apparently, 2012 is the end of the world...for these unfortunate blackbirds that are dropping dead out of the sky in Arkansas.

Equivamp: The Senate has inadvertently decriminalized bestiality in the U.S. military.

Fred: Spider silk is not only strong, it’s smart.

Fred: African lions in Nebraska? Elephants in Australia?

Fred: More about those Australian elephants.

Rakuen Growlithe: In Europe, Islamic groups are trying to have dogs banned from public spaces.

Higgs Raccoon: Groundhog Day 2012: Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter.

GreenReaper: An Ars Technica reviewer covers his life as a cat in CatChat.

Twilight Shadow: Would like to point out that the name is ChatChat, not CatChat.

GreenReaper: Anthrocon’s hotels are open for booking.

GreenReaper: ”Supergiant” crustacean found in Kermadec Trench, just off NZ.

Fred: Groundhog wars; some groundhogs see their shadows, others don’t.

Fred: Why cats can purr, but big felines can only roar.

dronon: And here’s a video to go along with Fred's link about purring!

GreenReaper: UCL's Grant Museum of Zoology is hosting an exhibition of ape and elephant art.

crossaffliction: Miss Piggy will host the BAFTA award red carpet pre-award show. Plus a quick recap of how the Muppets almost got to host the Oscars.

GreenReaper: Bad Dragon seeks to get a handle on recent forum issues.

GreenReaper: Summercat's Anthroview and Tales from the Neon Phoenix are open for submissions until April 9. [Poetigress]

GreenReaper: PETA sues SeaWorld on behalf of of five ‘enslaved’ killer whales . . . including the one who earned the name.

Fred: Forget Babe! Here is a sheepherding bunny that has gotten over 700,000 YouTube hits.

Fred: Are some wild animals domesticating themselves?

dronon: A complaint about a British ad for Sims 3 Pets has been dismissed.

Fred: Tiny tarsiers talk in a high-pitched code.

GreenReaper: Researchers call video games “inherently rewarding” for some apes.

GreenReaper: Dissecting SFX in The Muppets.

GreenReaper: Teen fur’s parent seeks advice in The Star’s advice column.

GreenReaper: FA staff issue new Sonic depiction guidelines (former post deleted) shortly after SonicRetro finds child molester among staff.

Higgs Raccoon: Cat invades pitch during Liverpool/Tottenham soccer match.

Higgs Raccoon: South Florida invaded by giant snails.

GreenReaper: Around 10,000 attend ‘rabbit grand national’ in Yorkshire.

GreenReaper: FA has a planned outage this weekend Sunday 12th.

GreenReaper: FurNation logo appropriated for Indonesian anti-smoking ad. [drive2fast/reddit]

dronon: Upcoming Serbian live action/animated movie about humans and insects, called Bugs and Heroes.

Fred: Does animal produced art show conscious creativity?

GreenReaper: Chinese ram, doe ‘wed’ on Valentine’s Day.

Ringtailed Fox: Tiffin, Ohio's Tommy the police dog battles rare cancer. [WTOL 11 News]

Fred: World’s tiniest chameleons discovered in Madagascar.

Fred: Pet cats and dogs get gourmet food while owners cut back on their own meals.

GreenReaper: Crime chiefs ‘get tough’ on tiger trade; in India, villagers relocate to protect them.

dronon: Japanese pigeon dating sim now available in English. What is this I don't even...

dronon: Requiem For A Dream, in 60 seconds, with puppets. (mildly NSFW)

crossaffliction: Prepare to be scandalized. Chris Miller, director ofPuss in Boots, is a dog person!

GreenReaper:’Abyss Box’ to show live creatures from the deep ocean.

Rakuen Growlithe: Short piece on the history of anthropomorphic art from DA.

Fred: Claim that 32,000 year old plant is grown. If true, can cloning of long-extinct animals be possible?

Fred: Furry motion pictures made easy? New technology allows filmmakers to superimpose animated characters (or Fursuiter footage?) into live-action backgrounds.

Rakuen Growlithe: Review of a book about whether animals can understand what someone else is thinking.

Equivamp: 50,000 hens dead or to be euthanized after being found starved on a ranch in California.

Equivamp: Goats able to develop accents?

Equivamp: Want a turtle, fish, or salamander on a keychain that you don't have to feed--or let out of the bag? Well, it costs about a buck-fiddy.

crossaffliction: This is horrible.

dronon: Kickstarter campaign for a dolphin tabletop RPG.

dronon: A series of instructables pages for making do-it-yourself animatronic cat ears.

crossaffliction:I like this article on the Oscar animation race. I pretty much agree (except for the "DreamWorks could win over Rango" part), and would like to point out that DreamWorks has historically been even more furry friendly than Pixar (though it’s not like either is anti-furry).

Higgs Raccoon: Rango wins Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

crossaffliction: Beat me to it. Here’s Chris Rock presenting the award/ranting about race/shilling the next Madagascar movie. Oh, and Kermit and Miss Piggy introducing Cirque du Soleil during the show.

crossaffliction: And Gore Verbinski on the special “thank you cam.” He takes up two whole videos. Wow. This is why they have the music.

mwalimu: Jan Berenstain, co-author of The Berenstain Bears series of childrens books, died today at age 88. Her husband and partner Stan died in 2005.