Articles tagged as Pets | Smithsonian Magazine

Hamsters seem to have a more optimistic outlook when they have access to creature comforts.

Hamsters Are Optimists When They Live in Comfy Cages

Pet hamsters that enjoy habitats full of toys and fluffy bedding make more upbeat decisions than those in stark enclosures

July 28, 2015

Pets and livestock will soon travel in high style through JFK

July 22, 2015

Pet goldfish in a tank, where it belongs

Monster goldfish are trouble for native fish

June 26, 2015

Dog flu spreads nose to nose. The virus can be eliminated by cleaning areas touched by potentially infected dogs.

Possible cases of dog flu pop up in 13 states

May 29, 2015

Cats Get Breast Cancer Too, and There’s a Lot We Can Learn From It

Understanding aggressive tumors in pets may lead to better treatments for the nastiest forms of the disease in people

March 25, 2015

Our furry friends might be able to infer our mood based on our facial expressions - just like human buddies do.

New Research

Dogs Can Tell Whether You’re Making a Happy or Mad Face

For the first time, science shows that a non-human animal can recognize the emotional state of another species

February 12, 2015

New Research

How Cats Transformed From Wild Animals to Cuddly Companions

Genetically, there’s not that much separating feline pets from jungle beasts

November 11, 2014

Cat in his basket at Vienna’s first cat cafe

Cool Finds

America’s Finally Getting Its First Permanent Cat Cafe

Cappuccino and a Siamese, please

October 28, 2014

Cool Finds

Your Cat Has No Idea What You Want And Is Kind of Scared of You

Cats don’t do social skills

October 27, 2014

New Research

Many of the Same Brain Regions Are Activated When Mothers Look at Their Pets or Their Children

It seems that maternal attachment does not discriminate between species

October 6, 2014

Cool Finds

One Human Year Does Not Equal Seven Dog Years

No one knows where the dog years myth came from, but experts agree that it’s simply not true

October 3, 2014

A photographer takes pictures of Lhasa Apso dogs in a basket, during a Dog and Cat Expo in Manila. With 12.3 million dogs to 1.7 million cats, the Philippines is very much a dog country.

Cool Finds

There Aren’t Just Dog People And Cat People; There Are Dog Countries And Cat Countries

Dogs and cats are not equally popular worldwide

August 11, 2014

Cool Finds

Send Your Pets’ Remains To Space

A new service offers to launch your pet’s ashes into space

August 1, 2014

Sixty-seven baseball-sized giant African land snails were confiscated at the Los Angeles International Airport

July 16, 2014

Cool Finds

New Hampshire Has Too Many Wolf-Dogs

Are they domesticated pets or wild animals?

April 25, 2014

New Research

Dogs That Should Be Guarding Sheep Are Mating With Wolves Instead

Intimate encounters between dogs and wolves are relatively common in Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains

April 16, 2014

Cool Finds

The Definitive Guide to the Dogs on the Titanic

There were twelve dogs on the Titanic. Here’s what happened to them.

March 31, 2014

Cool Finds

A Tibetan Mastiff Just Sold for Almost $2 Million

Designer dogs are only the latest luxury good fad in China

March 20, 2014

New Research

Owners, Not Breeds, Predict Whether Dogs Will Be Aggressive

Researchers suggest training your dog well and early on to avoid any problems with aggression—regardless of what breed you’ve got

March 4, 2014

Cool Finds

Vietnam’s Black Market Is Selling Dogs With Rabies To Meet Demand for Dog Meat

The Vietnamese government, however, is pledging to start better regulating the predominately illegal industry

February 13, 2014