Wildlife Extra:

Lonesome George, the sole remaining Pinta Island tortoise and Galapagos conservation icon, was found dead in his corral at the Tortoise Breeding and Rearing Center in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, by members of the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS).

Fausto Llerena, the park ranger who discovered George and has been his long-term caretaker, was unhappily surprised when he arrived at Lonesome George’s corral. Fausto discovered George stretched out in the direction of his watering hole with no signs of life…

Daily Record:

Wildlife expert Chris Packham sneaked 49 David Bowie song titles and albums into his Springwatch show in just one series.

Music fans were delighted with the 51-year-old presenter’s new game, which he has secretly been playing through the 12 episodes of the BBC show.

During the series, he managed to name-check nearly 50 titles from Rebel Rebel to Life on Mars…

Twin Cities:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals say that the Lake Superior Zoo was negligent in allowing 13 or 14 animals to die during the flood Wednesday, calling on Duluth City Attorney Gunnar Johnson to bring cruelty charges against the zoo.

However, Johnson said Thursday, his “very preliminary review” of the matter doesn’t indicate that charges are warranted.

“Anytime someone makes allegations of cruelty to animals we take those allegations seriously,” Johnson said. “We saw things in the infrastructure fail throughout the city. It’s an act of God. A water structure (culvert) didn’t work and it failed and that failure caused a series of events that led to the loss of these animals. That appears to be what happened.”

PETA says the animals shouldn’t have been left in a position to drown. Kristin Simon, senior cruelty caseworker for PETA in Norfolk, Va., said in a phone interview that flash flood warnings had been issued in the Duluth area and the zoo had experienced a similar event in 2010…

Haaretz:

Number of tests conducted in Israel last year, down 2.4 percent from 2010; report does not relate to thousands of animals exposed to tests conducted by the defense establishment.

Although there has been a steady decline in laboratory tests on animals since 2007, Israel remains liable to criticism from animal rights groups. The Health Ministry’s council for experimentation on animals released for the first time Sunday disturbing data about the objects of lab testing: In 2011, just 3 percent of animals subjected to lab testing were returned to nature at the end of the experiments. The report does not relate to thousands of animals exposed to tests conducted by the defense establishment.

The data indicate that in 2011, tests were conducted on 279,608 animals. This represents a 2.4 percent drop compared to the preceding year. Most of lab tests conducted last year featured mice (63 percent ) and rats (20 percent ). Over 25,000 chickens were subjected to lab testing, as were 9,600 fish, 1,340 frogs, 1,020 pigs, 960 cows, 195 bats, 90 pigeons, 33 monkeys, 10 horses, 14 dogs and four cats…

The Australian:

Baboons can distinguish between written words and gibberish. Monkeys seem to be able to do multiplication. Apes can delay instant gratification longer than a human child can. They plan ahead. They make war and peace. They show empathy. They share.

“It’s not a question of whether they think – it’s how they think,” says Duke University scientist Brian Hare. Now scientists wonder if apes are capable of thinking about what other apes are thinking.

The evidence that animals are more intelligent and more social than we thought seems to grow each year, especially when it comes to primates. It’s an increasingly hot scientific field with the number of ape and monkey cognition studies doubling in recent years, often with better technology and neuroscience paving the way to unusual discoveries…