Influenced by the way that dolphins use sonar to help them hunt, a team of British researchers have developed new radar that can detect hidden surveillance equipment.
 

In collaboration with the University College, London and with Cobham Technical Services, scientists from the University of Southampton have developed “Twin Inverted Pulse Radar” (TWIPR). TWIPR uses sonar like that used by dolphins to distinguish between true targets, which include types of electronic circuits that detonate explosive devices, from harmless ‘clutter’.

The team that is developing the TWIPR technology is headed by Professor Tim Leighton of the University of Southampton and in reference to his work he has said: “We continue to take inspiration from the many animal super-senses found in nature, whether from the sophisticated echolocation techniques used by bats and cetaceans or the remarkable chemical detection ability of dogs and bees.”

TWIPR works by sending out two pulses rather than one, where the second pulse has the reverse polarity of the first and so, if the second pulse hits an electronic device it turns into a positive which subsequently gives off a very strong signal.

Trials of the new technology have shown it to be extremely accurate, and with the devices costing just a few pounds to create, TWIPR could prove to be cost-efficient with the potential for unlimited use.

A surprise screamer tricks neighbours….. and the police!

After hearing what she thought were the screams of a woman in distress, an alarmed lady in America phoned the police to tell them about the supposed person, who she thought was in urgent need of help.

Shortly after the lady phoned the police, locally captured footage taken by a nearby doorbell video app shows four police officers arriving at a house where the neighbour thought a woman was being held captive and screaming “Help, help, let me out!”

Officers knocked at the door of the property where the unidentified lady was supposedly imprisoned. After being questioned, the confused occupant of the property said to the police, “I’ll bring the screamer out to you.” Surprised officers were shortly greeted by “Rambo”, a 40-year-old parrot.

As reported on “Newsweek.com”, Rambo’s owner was understandably shocked by the incident and said: “I promptly introduced the officers to Rambo and we all had a good laugh. Afterward, I also introduced Rambo to the neighbour who called in the screaming. She too had a good laugh.”

It seems that Rambo often screams “Help, help! Let me out!”, which is something that his owner taught him to do as a joke when he was young. Rambo’s owner had been outside whilst he was changing the brakes on his wife’s car and Rambo was sitting on an outside perch where he likes to sing and talk.

This incident is not the only time when a pet parrot has caused hilarity, as this is understandably quite common. In 2018 another parrot was caught causing havoc by trying to order items such as strawberries, a melon and a ‘water boiler’ through its owner’s “Alexa” device. However, due to parental controls, none of the orders were made.

It seems that although they do not have a voice-box, parrots are able to talk by modifying the air that flows over the ‘syrinx’ or ‘vocal organ’, to make noises. The breeds of parrot that are the most commonly able to learn how to talk are African Greys, Timneh Greys and Yellow Naped Amazons, which is the group of parrots that Rambo belongs to.

Rambo’s funny behavior proved to be popular with the public and after news of the incident got out, Rambo became the first feathered celebrity of 2020.

Innovation gives injured cockatoo new feathers.

When a wild Carnaby’s Cockatoo was badly burned whilst resting on a live power line, Vets at a zoo in Perth, Australia, used matchsticks and glue to replace its damaged feathers.

Vets used techniques that are commonly used on domestic birds to replace damaged feathers. A procedure known as “Imping”, along with a combination of matchsticks, superglue and donor feathers, was used to give the cockatoo new feathers.

Vet, Peter Ricci said: “This little guy was unfortunately burned when the bird sitting next to him exploded on power lines, so we needed to replace his feathers. The procedure used was not unlike a person getting hair extensions.”

The unlucky bird suffered badly burnt wings as well as burns to its face and eyes, so the animal was in desperate need of help. Luckily the determination of the medical team that treated the bird paid off and although it needed time to recuperate, the procedures that were used to save it seem to be working. As birds re-grow their feathers every year, the bird will eventually replace its donated feathers with new ones.

Despite being the victim of a horrific accident, with the help of skilled vets, the cockatoo began to recover well enough for medical staff to begin to plan its release back into the wild.

Kind hearted stray dog adopts an abandoned litter of kittens

During the winter in Canada last year, a surprised member of the public came across a stray dog, which seemed to be cuddling what looked like a group of kittens that were freezing in the snow.

The caring passer-by contacted the “Pet and Wildlife Rescue Centre”, who immediately rushed to the scene. Staff from the Rescue Centre found the dog curled around the tiny kittens, supposedly in an attempt to shield them from the dangerously low temperatures. The Daily Mail’s coverage of the story highlighted that in Chatham — Kent, Ontario, where the animals were found, the average temperature at the time of year is around 7 degrees Celsius, which clearly could have been fatal.

The Pet and Wildlife Rescue Centre took the animals back to their shelter and after they warmed up the stray group they decided to name the dog “Serenity” because of her calm nature and ‘kind heart.’ Shelter workers are unsure about whether the litter of kittens was dumped by the roadside by their owner or if they were abandoned by a feral mother cat. Either way, they were lucky to be found by Serenity, who is thought to be around two-years-old. As reported by the “The Independent”, who also picked-up the story, after Pet and Wildlife Rescue posted news about Serenity and her kittens on “Facebook,” many people contacted them to ask if they could adopt the sweet-natured dog. Unsurprisingly, many would like to see the animals adopted as a group, with one person saying: “Sweet girl! Animals are so much better than humans. This makes me cry both happy and sad tears. Thank you (Animal and Wildlife Rescue), for all that you do.”

However, as the kittens were only around five-weeks-old they were too young to be adopted, so were being fostered on a temporary basis, but Serenity did like to check on ‘her kittens’. In addition to this, although Serenity does have a protective nature, she can be jumpy and needed to be adopted more quickly than the kittens, so sadly group adoption was not a realistic possibility.

The story of Serenity and the kittens does seem unusual, but it is not the only case of cross-species adoption. In 2016 a 5-week-old Chihuahua mix puppy, named Bobby, was taken to the “Michigan Humane Society’s” shelter because his mother had been killed by a car. The shelter was looking after a cat that had just had kittens, and because they did not have a dog with puppies, they thought they’d try to see if the mother cat would look after Bobby.

Surprisingly, the mother cat, who was known as Gwen, accepted Bobby and looked after him with her litter of kittens. Unfortunately, as with Serenity’s story, it was not possible for Bobby to be re-homed with his feline family, which seems to be a sad ending to his fairy-tale-like story. However, “Today.com”, who is one of the websites that originally wrote about the unusual adoption, quoted Ryan McTigue, the spokesperson for “The Humane Society” as saying: “He (Bobby) is a great dog and we think he’ll make a good ambassador for both species.”

When stories of how cats and dogs generally don’t get along are so common, it is uplifting and heart-warming to hear of how, in often extreme conditions, the two species can go out of their way to help one another.

Narwhal, the unique “unicorn” rescue puppy.

After rescuing an abandoned puppy with a very unique appearance, “Mac’s Mission” — an animal rescue center in America, predicted that the cute animal would be popular. They could never have expected what would happen next.

When Narwhal the puppy was found, he had been abandoned with an older dog, who is suspected to be his father; he was in a poor state and was suffering from conditions such as frost bite. To add to his problems, the puppy had a large protrusion sticking out of his head, which looked just like the tusk of a ‘Narwhale.’

With Narwhal’s name being reflective of his unique appearance, he soon became a popular attraction for his rescue center and offers of adoption started to come flooding in. A spokesperson for Mac’s Mission said: “The rush of online attention has been “crazy”. The staff feel like we’re in a dream.”

Mac’s Mission specializes in helping special needs dogs that have been born with defects or have been abused, so were an ideal organization to help rescue Narwhal. When Vets took X-Ray scans of Narwhal, they discovered that the protrusion on his head isn’t connected to anything and has no real use. Given the risks of performing surgery on a small puppy, and as the extra appendage doesn’t seem to be causing any pain, there doesn’t seem to be any good reason to remove it.

Narwhal has attracted a lot of attention and there were over 300 applications to adopt the puppy. However, Narwhal has also had some unpleasant attention, including death threats. As Mac’s Mission became concerned about Narwhal’s fate if he were to leave the rescue center, staff decided that he’s best where he is and so they’re keeping him.

Narwhal’s fans and supporters played a part in helping Mac’s Mission make the decision to keep him and one fan commented: “My prayers have been answered. I was worried Narwhal wouldn’t get the best home in the world. Mac’s House is the best one.”

Now that Narwhal has a permanent home, it has been decided that he will be trained as a therapy dog. So there is a happy ending to the unique puppy’s story and with his new role, he’ll be able to bring joy to many lives.