Latest fromPets & Animals

Matt Heath: My toy dog Colin rules
Matt Heath writes: A grown man walking his toy dog down the road is humiliating - even when there's an evolutionary man-dog bond so powerful they'd do anything for each other.

Globetrotting cat ventures from Aussie to the UK
A globetrotting cat managed to make its way from Australia to London and then Northern Ireland – a trip of almost 11,000 miles.

Mane event at Woodhill Sands
Trotting out to West Auckland for a day of equestrian events, Elisabeth Easther discovered the charms of Woodhill Sands Equestrian Centre.

World digs 'space brigade'
They were known as the Spade Brigade: thousands of volunteers, from different walks of life, armed with garden tools. Together, they transformed Tiritiri Matangi from a virtually birdless, treeless island to a world-renowned forest sanctuary.

The movie every pet owner needs to see
If you've ever wondered what your pets get up to when you're not home, a new animated movie has some theories.

Dog survives being thrown from bridge
An animal welfare group is offering a reward in a bid to track down and prosecute a pet owner who callously threw a dog off a bridge into the Wairoa River.

Adultery could save this bird
A study led by the Zoological Society of London has pinpointed an unlikely saviour for the stitchbird species - nest-hopping Casanovas.

Red crab tide hits Orange County
They washed in by the thousands: tiny red crabs covering the Orange County shoreline much further north than their typical home.

Why cat videos make you feel so good
"Internet users spend a significant amount of time consuming cat-related media, some of that while they are supposed to be doing other tasks like working."

Bugs you can catch from your pets
Household pets can host a number of organisms that cause parasitic, bacterial, fungal and viral diseases in humans.

Tiny oil spill victim waddles to freedom
A stroppy little penguin was glad to waddle back to his home among the shoreline rocks at Mt Maunganui this morning.

Designers donate for animals in need
New Zealand's top fashion designers have donated exclusive items to help the Herald's Viva magazine raise money for animals in need.

Can you speak cat?
Are cats secretly laughing at us? Is all that purring, licking and being available for stroking just an elaborate ruse for food and a warm place to sleep?

Great white's amazing journey
The incredible travels of a hefty great white shark named Pip are helping scientists rewrite the book on everything we thought we knew about the feared species.

Help name these new recruits
Frankie, Freddy or Fifi? Or maybe something more home-grown like Frodo or Fauna?

New seal shows up in Auckland
Another seal has shown up Auckland — this time in Campbells Bay on the North Shore.

Thank chimps for our grins
Chimpanzees have the same types of smiles as humans when laughing and do not even need to make a sound to be understood, according to a new study.

Kereru high on PhD student's radar
Walking about Auckland's streets holding up a rather large antenna, Alice Baranyovits isn't surprised some bemused onlookers have asked if she's searching for aliens.

Wee song and dance
Dancing, singing, and, er, peeing on yourself - it's all part of the playbook if you're a native short-tailed bat looking to get lucky with the ladies.

Killer spider sends family packing
A spider claimed to be the world's deadliest is feared to be on the loose in Britain after a family spotted a nest in a bunch of bananas.

Friday's seal released after visit ashore
The fifth seal in two weeks has come to shore in South Auckland - this time in Manurewa. Earlier this afternoon a seal had been spotted in Wattle Downs, Manurewa. That seal has since been returned to its natural habitat by the Department of Conservation.

Another seal hits town
The fifth seal in two weeks has come to shore in South Auckland - this time in Manurewa.

Delight over Victory's dune waddle
Conservationists say they'll probably never know what caused barracuda to maul dozens of endangered yellow-eyed penguins this year.

Penguin boards flight home
A yellow-eyed penguin thought to have had a nasty encounter with a barracuda is today on its way back home.

Horse starved to death
A woman has been banned from owning animals for ten years after a horse starved to death.

Cameras taken in lion park probe
The camera of an American woman mauled to death by a lion in South Africa has been taken by police investigating what prompted the big cat to pounce.

Chimps prefer cooked to raw
They have already shown that they enjoy tea parties, so it should perhaps come as no surprise they are also intelligent enough to understand cooking.

Could NZ get its own cat cafe?
Kiwi cat lovers rejoice - the country's first cat cafe could open within the next two months.

Catherine Field: Persecuted dogs have their day
The festival committee had been preparing for Pentecost Sunday for months, and at last it had come.