When my cat greets me with a headbutt, I affectionately return the gesture. To me, it’s a sign of love and affection, but to my cat, it is much more. Rubbing me with the scent glands on her cheeks and forehead leaves an olfactory marker that identifies me as a member of her family.
Cats have nine scent glands that span head to tail. These pheromones strengthen familial bonds, mark a cat’s territory, and communicate an animal’s emotions, state of health, reproductive status, and identity. [Read more…] about A Sense of Smell: Olfactory Superpowers
Around the time spring flowers are blooming and migrating songbirds are arriving, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation starts receiving calls concerning fox sightings in and around rural and suburban areas.
Sometimes it pays to be an insomniac. One frigid winter night, I climbed out of my restless bed and slipped outside to stand under a sky littered with stars and take in the complete silence of darkness. Suddenly, a ruckus broke out along the edge of the pond near my home. A series of high-pitched yips echoed from the shore. A wild yapping answered from closer to my own yard.