Orcas aren't holding a grudge over the whole Sea World/Blackfish thing, in fact they've been getting a bit chummier with people since whaling has gone out of style.

And according to the research team led by José Zamorano-Abramson the orcas they've been studying at Marineland in Antibes, France are now able to replicate the sound of human speech surprisingly well.

Wikie, the main orca in the study, was born in captivity and had already been taught to imitate behaviors on cue by a trainer at Marineland, but now she can deliver "recognizable copies" of words like hello, bye-bye and one, two, three:

"We are interested in the possibility that other species also have cultural processes," the study's lead author, José Zamorano-Abramson, told The New York Times.

For this study, the trainers used that motion after noises instead of actions. They started by presenting her with sounds she already knew how to make on command, like a noisy breath or a high-pitched peeping sound.

Then they introduced "novel sounds" she had never been trained to make before. Some of them were orca sounds, which Wikie would copy either from her calf, Moana, or from a recording. She might hear a squeak like a creaky door, a wolf-whistle-esque siren, or a noise like an elephant call — sounds she had never been heard to make on her own.

Then there were the human sounds: "Ah ah," "hello," "bye-bye," "Amy," "one-two" and "one-two-three."

Those were definitely new to Wikie. But she gave it a shot. She caught on to "hello" and "one-two-three" on her first attempt, although some of the others took far longer.

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Read Whale Hello: Orcas Can Imitate Human Speech, Researchers Find at NPR

Xena is a Siberian husky, and her buddy Lana is a Malamute. They live together, and most of the time the dogs are best friends, but here they are having an argument. You can see them both trying to get a word in, raising their voices, reaching out, rebuffing, pressing their points, turning their backs to pout, cooling off, and all the behaviors you'd expect in a family dispute.

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The two eventually made up, but you have to wonder who won, and what they were arguing about in the first place. You can see more of Xena, Lana, and their other housemate Kiko at Instagram. -via Tastefully Offensive

It's a debate all dog owners have been a part of at one time or another, a debate that many pet owner have a passionate opinion about- should you feed your dog raw meat?

Some dog owners swear by the healthful properties of raw meat, insisting dogs were born to consume raw meat just like their wolven ancestors, but many vets insist feeding them raw meat does more harm than good.

According to a recent study posted on VetRecord bacteria and parasites such as E. coli and Salmonella found in commercial frozen raw meat may hurt a dog's stomach, but the real danger comes from them spreading the bacteria to people:

The recent study in the Veterinary Record analysed 35 commercial frozen raw meat products from eight different brands. It found E. coli in 28 products, Listeria monocytogenes in 19 of them and Salmonella species in seven. Several products also contained parasites. Other studies have previously highlighted similar contamination of raw pet food in Canada, North America and New Zealand.

By comparison, unprocessed raw meat from the butcher is less likely to be an issue than the products in the study, in the same way it is safer to eat rare steak than raw mince.

For dogs, the bacteria and parasites found in food aren’t actually that much of a problem. Dogs are pretty resistant to many of the possible bugs that can be isolated from raw meat and they rarely become ill, though they can suffer gastric illness as a result of Salmonella.

But dogs can become carriers of these bacteria and spread them through their faeces, which can lead to serious illness in humans.

What is especially significant is these food products’ level of contamination with bacteria that are resistant to treatment with antibiotics. This is a concern for both pet and human health. Infections with these bacteria are increasingly difficult to treat, and the spread of antibiotic resistance is a critical public health issue.

Read Analysis: Should Your Pet Eat Raw meat? here

Some domestic dog breeds have floppy ears, although the wolves they descended from do not. Charles Darwin puzzled over this as far back as 1869. But what's even weirder is that some domestic pigs, rabbits, goats, and cows have floppy ears, too, even though their wild counterparts do not. Does the act of domesticating animals make them relax their ears? It can't be that simple. And it's not.

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Scientists believe it has to do with neural crest cells, which are explained in this video from Skunk Bear. You can read more about the Neural Crest Cell hypothesis here. -via The Kid Should See This

Kayla Barham's cockatiel doesn't like cluttered surfaces. It all goes on the floor! It doesn't matter whether the object is heavy, or valuable, or important in its place, off it goes! Maybe she thinks she's a cat.  

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Well, she did put the scissors away in their proper place, and looked pretty proud about it, too. This is great to watch, but it would be exhausting in real life. My cat annoys me by knocking things off my desk, but I'll put her out and close the office door when she gets too rowdy. If I were Barham, this bird would be in a cage until she learns some manners. -via Laughing Squid

Pets don't know what to make of babies when their owners bring their little bundles of joy home, so they treat the new addition to the household as either an unwanted annoyance or a new plaything.

Dogs will eventually surrender to their instincts and start protecting the baby like a member of the pack, but cats don't give a crap about packs, instincts or the child's welfare- and they show their disdain for the newest member of the family with reckless abandon.

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This compilation of video clips posted by YouTuber Animals TV will make you cringe at times, especially if you have kids and a crazy cat at home, but I guess babies have to learn to watch out for crazy cats the hard way.

Shelter dogs are unseen and therefore typically not on the minds of the general public unless caring humans get the word out and raise awareness about them in the hopes of finding them a forever home.

One of the best ways to raise awareness about pet adoption and get people to care is to show them what these adorable shelter pets look like, so their cuteness can tug at some heart strings.

Photographer Ausra Kel has come up with a neat way to showcase the shelter pets living in the Penkta Koja shelter in Lithuania- she creates magical worlds for them to show potential adopters how amazing it can be to adopt a pet.

See more at design you trust

Thanks to James Corden it paid to be a loser at the 2018 Grammy Awards, because the three "losers" in the Best Comedy Album category received something way better than a Grammy- they got a consolation puppy.

This may be the first time potty training was an issue at The #GRAMMYs! pic.twitter.com/cNhr6VNhWO

— CBS (@CBS) January 29, 2018

James handed out adorable puppies to Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan and Sarah Silverman after they all lost to Dave Chappelle, so they would feel better about their loss, and the on-screen moments created by this warm and fuzzy gag were priceless.

Some animal rights activists had a problem with Corden's decision to use real puppies, but his father went on to LBC and set them straight:

“A guy across the aisle from me he got one of these puppies… he had his children there, they were stroking the puppy.

“Almost as soon as the camera [was turned off] the puppy was handed back to the handler as were all the puppies.

“It was a lovely moment that just lightened the mood.”

Are you kidding? Of course they were fine, those lucky dogs got to hang out with three of the greatest comedians of all time!

-Via 22 Words

If we were to tell you cats were playing Monopoly or Scrabble, you wouldn't believe it was real. But the game Hungry Hungry Hippos has just the thing to enthrall the whole clowder: marbles!

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Watch a group of rescue cats in Sao Paulo, Brazil, play the children's board game. Or, to be more exact, one is playing while the others watch, fascinated. It's going to take a while before he finishes his turn and lets the next cat play. -via Tastefully Offensive 

There is nothing more heartbreaking than losing a child. Robin Birdsong founded Enchanted Farm Sanctuary after she lost her baby son. Ronnie the donkey came into her care after he underwent the trauma of losing a child, too. It took lots of time and love for the depressed donkey to start living again. Five years later, he is the king of the sanctuary, and helping Ronnie helped Robin to heal, too.

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You'll want to have a hankie ready for this video. -via Metafilter

When cats chase something moving really, really fast they spin around so quickly they look like they might twist themselves into a pretzel just like in the cartoons.

But those spinnin' kitties ain't got nothin' on a cat doing that weird shocked, four-legged springy jump thing they do when they're startled or feeling extra frisky. It's enough to make you cry or wet yourself with laughter!

Case in point- Taylor, the frisky kitty in this video, either loves to play with plastic bags or is absolutely freaked out by them, and either way his crazy leaping made me bust a gut!

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-Via Laughing Squid

Animals with backbones are generally considered much scarier than invertebrates, because savage spined beasts such as big cats, sharks and bears tear into their prey and make a bloody mess.

But invertebrates like the Japanese spider crab, Amazonian giant centipede and giant huntsman spider are terrifying in their own right, and their creepy-crawly nature sends shivers down our spine at the mere sight of them.

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The Amazonian giant centipede has some mighty powerful venom, grows to a foot long and has been known to be aggressive towards humans, so you wouldn't want to encounter one in the wild.

Nor would you want a giant huntsman spider setting its sights on you, because those huge, hairy suckers are aggressive, have a 1-foot legspan, and charges at its prey rather than trapping them in webs.

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And the Japanese spider crab may be the least aggressive of the bunch, but with a 12-foot legspan and weighing up to 44 pounds seeing a Japanese spider crab coming towards me would definitely fill me with fright!

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See 10 Giant Invertebrates You Don't Want To Meet at Toptenz

Ben has a tortoiseshell cat named Baloo. Baloo loves Ben and wants to give him things, but Ben did not really appreciate the mice and birds that Baloo brought him. He would release the critters back outside. 

Seeing how unappreciative Ben seemed to be about her hard-earned gifts, Baloo was perplexed.

“She always looked so confused and sad, which made me feel pretty bad,” Ben said.

But Baloo is a resourceful cat. She tried a whole new tactic, and brought Ben a large leaf. He loved that idea, and he played with the leaf, so she started bringing a new leaf in every morning- the biggest, prettiest leaf she could find. You can read the story of Baloo and her leaves in its entirety, and see plenty of pictures at The Dodo. -via Nag on the Lake

(Images credit: mostlyjustpicturesofmycats)

Seeing a silverback gorilla in the middle of the road is enough to make any driver hightail it in the opposite direction, because movies have made us believe gorillas hate humans and go on destructive rampages.

But BBC cameraman Gordon Buchanan learned firsthand that gorillas are actually caring and gentle creatures who keep to themselves and don't generally attack humans unless provoked.

In fact, one massive silverback named Chimanuka had proven he had a huge heart when he adopted a young orphan gorilla and tended to it like his own:

The baby, whose name was Marhale, was in dire need of a caregiver—so Chimanuka stepped in. He groomed the little ape and let him follow closely so that he could learn how to find food for himself.

Though other male gorillas have been known to care for young, this was the only recorded example of Chimanuka’s particular subspecies, Bauer’s gorilla, acting this way.

When Gordon spotted Chimanuka in the bushes by the side of a road in the Democratic Republic of Congo he knew Chimanuka had a good reason for showing himself, so the BBC Earth crew stopped traffic to help him out.

And as the massive male silverback lumbered into the road the reason became clear- he was helping his big gorilla family safely cross the road:

Chimanuka had been nervous and tense because he needed to bring his entire family across the road. That included his adopted baby, Marhale; a one-handed ape named Mugaruka; and a few more mama gorillas and their babies.

When the final ape crossed the road, Gordon summed up the scene quite nicely. “The boss,” he said of Chimanuka, “showing us that despite the road running through, this is still his jungle.” Even with human life so close, animal life continued.

Chimanuka is truly a god among gorillas, and somebody needs to get him a reflective vest and crossing guard pole stat!

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Read Cameramen Catch Silverback Bringing Traffic To A Halt For The Most Remarkable Reason here

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Finding out your dog eats poop is one of the most disgusting discoveries a dog owner can make, and most owners can't look at their dog in the same light, or let their dog lick their face, after seeing them snacking on a turd.

Some studies say dogs eat poop out of boredom, others say dogs who have an enzyme deficiency, pancreatic sufficiency or parasites are more likely to be a poop eater, but a new study shows there more be a more ancient reason:

A new study in the journal Veterinary Medicine and Science, spotted by The Washington Post, presents a new theory for what scientists call "canine conspecific coprophagy," or dogs eating dog poop.

Since their poop has a high chance of containing intestinal parasites, wolves poop far from their dens. But if a sick wolf doesn't quite make it out of the den in time, they might do their business too close to home. A healthier wolf might eat this poop, but the parasite eggs wouldn't have hatched within the first day or two of the feces being dropped. Thus, the healthy wolf would carry the risk of infection away from the den, depositing the eggs they had consumed away in their own, subsequent bowel movements at an appropriate distance before the eggs had the chance to hatch into larvae and transmit the parasite to the pack.

Domestic dogs may just be enacting this behavior instinctively—only for them, there isn't as much danger of them picking up a parasite at home.

Read more at Mental Floss