The great mystery is what allowed the exotic bird parakeets to procreate with such phenomenal success just in the past decade.

One estimate put the parakeet population in Britain at 30,000 a few years ago, up from only 1,500 in 1995.

Researchers at Imperial College London are now trying a more scientific census through its Project Parakeet, which enlisted birders around the country for simultaneous counts recently.

Dick Hayden, a retiree who was volunteering at Long Lane Park here in the Western suburbs of London said that he was delighted to see a parakeet in his yard but when he saw a flock of 300, it’s a different matter.

“They eat all the berries. They ate all the food from my feeder in one day; it was ludicrous,” Hayden added.

Native to the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa, the parakeet is enjoying a population explosion in many London suburbs, turning a once exotic pet into a notorious and an annoying pest that awakens children, monopolizes garden bird feeders and might threaten British crops.

Theories abound. Is it that gardeners are planting more exotic ornamental plants, effectively providing imported food to match an imported species? That suburbanites are installing more feeders and putting out more seed? The booming British garden industry guards sales figures and has provided little guidance.

British officials are watching trends closely since the parakeets have proved major agricultural pests elsewhere, ravaging crops in places like India. So far they have shown little predilection for leaving Europe’s cities and suburbs for agricultural areas.

Some scientists suggest that a slightly warmer climate has indeed helped tip the balance, perhaps increasing the parakeet’s metabolism during its February breeding season, bolstering the growth of some of its favored food or killing off a predator.

There is also concern that the wily parakeet will outcompete more restrained British birds like the nuthatch, since both species nest in holes in old trees.

However, gastric ulcer is the result from the erosion of the stomach lining by stomach acids and about sixty percent of gastric ulcers are attributed to a bacterium known as Helicobacter spp.

Infection by this bacterium is also attributed as the cause of 90% of all ulcers in the small intestine (duodenal ulcers).

Scientists from the University of Eastern Philippines are determining the presence of such bacterium in animals by testing dogs, cats and swine as experimental samples.

The team led by Dr. Gerry A. Camer, adopted a two step identification process to determine the presence of the microorganism. The preliminary process is the urease test and cytology (the study of the cells).

The final process is the use of bacterial DNA in the polymerase chain reaction to confirm the identity of the bacterium.

Helicobacter produce large amounts of urease enzymes, while mammalian cells do not. The stomach is usually a sterile environment.

The presence of urease in the stomach therefore is an indication of contamination by the bacterium. On the other hand, a study of the gastric mucosa will show the curved, Gram-negative rods of the bacterium against the columnar epithelial cells and mucous.

With positive results from both tests, the identity of the bacterium from the samples was confirmed using the Polymerase Chain Reaction.

The research team then noted that while Helicobacter spp. strain was present, the animals did not show any symptoms.

The team found that the animals had mounted two kinds of immune response: the lymph nodes in the stomach had enlarged (gastric lymphoid follicular hyperplasia) and antibodies had developed against the bacterium (seroconversion).

Differences in the ability of individual bacterial species to cause disease may explain why ulceration and excess of gastrin hormone in the blood (hypergastrinemia) are absent in dogs and cats.

However, the team implied that it is also important to consider the host response to infection, as different animal species react differently to infection with Helicobacter strains.

Dr. Camer pointed out that Helicobacter pylori in humans is acquired by person-to-person spread through the fecal-oral and oral-oral routes and may be waterborne.
However, there has been no reported case of animal to man transmission.

This study is the first to explore the presence of Helicobacter species in selected Philippine animal species.

Dr. Camer and his team stress that dogs, cats, and swine may serve as a portent for the endemic presence of Helicobacter organism rather than as a source of Helicobacter infection spread.

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Chaser, a female dog from South Carolina, has the largest vocabulary of any known dog. She knows 1,022 noun words. Chaser is owned by John W. Piley, a psychologist at Wofford College, who taught for 30 years.

After he retired in 2004, he read a report about a dog named Rico, a border collie whose German owner had taught him to recognize 200 items. Dr. Piley repeated the experiment through his dog Chaser, also a border collie.

In three years, Chaser’s vocabulary included 800 cloth animals, 116 balls, 26 Frisbees and a mixture of plastic items. To address the question of whether Chaser understood discrete words, Dr. Piley taught Chaser to paw, nose and take an object.

She was then presented with three of her toys and correctly pawed, nosed or fetched each one depending on the command. “That experiment demonstrate conclusively that the verb had a meaning,” Dr. Piley said.

Dr. Piley also found that Chaser could be trained to recognize common nouns. She correctly follows the command “Fetch a Frisbee” or “Fetch a ball.”

Juliane Kaminski, who works at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, was a member of the research team that tested Rico. She arranged for the dog to be given instructions of one room and to select toys from another, making it impossible for the experimenter to give Rico unwitting hints.

Dr. Piley and his co-author, Alliston K. Reid, took the same precaution in testing Chaser. The learning of words by the dogs may have some bearing on how children acquire language, because children could be building on the same neural mechanisms.

Drs. Piley and Reid conclude that their experiments “provide clear evidence that Chaser acquired referential understanding of nouns, an ability normally attributed to children.”

But Chaser learns to link sounds to objects by brute repetition, which is not how children learn words. And she learns her words as proper noun, which are specific labels for things rather than as abstract concepts like the common nouns picked up by children, Dr. Kaminski said.

Children pick up about 10 new words a day until, by the time they leave high school, they know around 60,000 words. Chaser learned more slowly but faced a harder tasks, she had nothing to relate the words to.

Dr. Kaminski would not go as far as saying that Chaser’s accomplishment are a step toward language. A step toward syntax, she said, would be to show that changing the order of words alters the meaning that Chasers ascribe to them.

According to Hans-Peter Buchert of the German Society for Herpetology all three are mid-sized turtles, the shell of a Greek tortoise can span up to 23 centimeters in length, the Moorish up to 25 centimeters and the Marginated tortoise up to 35 centimeters.

Turtles are a breed of animal from a long lost age. But if you are considering tortoises keeping them as pets, you must be aware that they place great demands on their owner.

Tortoises require an appropriate outdoor cages and shelters for the winter months. Turtles can also grow very old, although a few of them have ever lived longer than their owner.

Julian Helermann from Germany’s Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union says, the three types of tortoises come from similar habitats in nature. They are usually found in barren and dry areas and partly in mountainous regions.

“A turtle owner needs to take that into account. Turtles must be kept in the open air because they are not suitable for enclosed spaces,” says Buchert.

Turtles are cold blooded animals. “Their body temperature is independent from the temperature of their environment and that explain why they must warm themselves in the sunshine every morning,” says Helermann.

Buchert says the same principle applies to turtles in the home: “A tortoise should only be placed outside when the sun shines.

Tortoise need an outdoor living space that will secure them from attack by other animals. Buchert says that a group of three or four turtles require between 20 and 25 square meters of space.

Turtles are not social creatures but they can live in small groups consisting of one or two males and four or five females. However, it must be possible to separate the males from the females.

The wolf, a close relative of the dog, hardly ever barks and older dog species like the Alaskan Malamute and Samoyed dog share this kind of behavior according to Dorit Feddersen-Petersen from the zoological Institute at the University of Kiel.

Several dog species have learned to communicate with humans through an increasing range of barking sounds. “Some of the modern dog species like the terrier and sheep dog have a wide barking spectrum which is intended as a means of communication with man, says Freddersen-Petersen.

“Vocal sounds are more impressive than the body signals used by the wolf,” the researchers noted. Dogs can relate to humans through their barking language which is much clearer than just pointing the nose, but both expression or signal really work.

A high pitch barking coupled with tail wagging and the paws pressed to the ground mean “Play with me!”

On the other hand, a deep bark with upright tail and hair on end say “Stay away from me or else!”

It can be very useful for dog owners and people in general some variations of the dog language, the researchers concluded.

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To reciprocate that loyalty, dog owners must know how to take care of their dogs by giving them the loving care and attention they need.

The bond in relationship between the dog and its owner has developed and strengthened with their living together over the years and a sudden demise of the dog would surely affect the owner emotionally as if he or she has lost an immediate member of his or her family.

Dogs serve in various needs of people. People used to take them as their companion when they are lonely and at the same time dogs serve also as protector and an alarm to their homes not only for burglars but in case of fires too. How many stories we have heard about dogs demonstrating their heroism by saving the lives of its owners?

Dogs serve as an extended vision for the blind, that help him or her to get around. Sniffing dogs are now used to check baggage for explosives and illegal drugs or substances, a loyal partner indeed in man’s safety and security.

It is important that dog owners should know how to take care of their dogs and provide of what they need. Dogs whether they are large or small, need lots of exercise. You need to stroll with your dog at least once every 8 hours and should be given at least a 20 minute walk to give the dog some fresh air, exercise and a chance to relieve themselves.

It is also important to play with your dog on a regular basis. This can mean going to the park on weekends or in time of your day off. Having a good game of fetch, tossing the ball around in your back yard or just wrestling on the ground with your dog, just make sure if you are ruff housing with a little dog that you don’t accidentally hurt the dog.

Playing with your dog regularly for a half hour a day, is not only good for the dog’s physical health but it make the dog mentally healthier and less likely your dog to become depressed. Doing it with your dog regularly lowers your blood pressure and it would make you physically fit aside from strengthening the bond relationship with your dog.

Feeding your pet dog properly is important to your dog’s health and growth. They need appropriate supplements like vitamins and minerals and the same also with elderly dogs which need more calcium in their diet to help protect their bones and joints.

To ensure that dog’s good health is maintained, you need to take your pet dog to the family veterinarian at least every six months and see to it that your dog received the required shots every year. Just like a normal person, dogs should be taken for a regular check up at least every 6 months.

Administering the required vaccinations and addressing your dog’s health problem promptly with your veterinarian, you can be assured of your dog’s good health and longevity.

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It is aimed at teaching pet owners to become more responsible and responsive especially to non animal lovers in public places.

If pets are allowed in some areas or establishments pet owners should regard it not to go out of bounds. Even the pet friendly places don’t even have signs or reminders on how pet owners should handle their pets in public.

Pet owners should be reminded that canine health should always be their foremost consideration in their agenda, that they should see to it that their pet dog is healthy, with anti rabies shots, anti flick tea and heart warm prevention measures.

Pet owners whose dog is in heat and shows signs of restlessness, sickness or diagnosed with infectious diseases are discouraged from taking them to enclosed spaces like restaurants and commercial areas where many people gather.

They also should be held responsible for their pet’s every act. They should have to take note among themselves to be tolerant and understanding to people who don’t like dogs or animals.

Petting of dogs must also be done with strict supervision, especially if their dog may not be feeling well or are still undergoing behavioral training. It would be better that their pet dog wear bite prevention gear or muzzles to avoid any untoward incident to happen.

Pet owners or handlers should also carry their animal vaccination records at all times. It has also reminded dog owners that they should be familiar with common canine diseases as well as how to prevent transmission, observe proper protection and pet grooming.

Moreover, one should take note that it is not the breed but it is how the dogs behaved and are brought up by their owners that matter. Only pet the dog who seemed to be enjoying the attention he was getting.

With more and more people take care of dogs and other pets, their responsibilities do not end with feeding and giving the animals homes. They also have to ensure the peaceful co-existence of humans and animals is strictly observed.