Lions and Tigers and Bears—Oh, My!

Fabric softeners, cigarettes, sugar, and other meaty products

(NEWSER) - Turning down a cheeseburger is one thing; truly abstaining from all products containing animal parts is a wee bit trickier. Hugh Ryan reveals 11 surprising everyday items made from an animal ingredient for the Daily Beast .

1. Fabric softener: The reason your clothes are so Downy soft? Dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium chloride—basically horse or sheep fat—coats them.
2. Cigarettes: The idea of lung cancer not enough to make you quit? How about the knowledge that some brands contain pigs' blood (porcine hemoglobin) in their filters?

Baby rhinoceros rejected by its mother will be raised by humans

(NEWSER) - A rhinoceros born Sunday in Germany is poised to become that country’s next cute and cuddly animal sensation, Der Spiegel reports. The as yet unnamed baby rhino, already 128 pounds, will live at the zoo in the city of Münster and be raised by humans after its mother rejected it. The 18-year-old mother, Emmi, had killed two of her offspring previously, and was acting distraught during the birth. More»

They're not exactly man's best friend, but we need them

(NEWSER) - Vultures are like lawyers: nobody likes them until they need them, and boy do we need them, writes Constance Casey in a soaring defense of the misunderstood bird in Slate. Their business may be unpleasant, but vultures are essential in disposing of rotting carrion and warding off disease. “They aren’t really birds of prey,” Casey insists. “They’re birds of clean-up.” More»

(NEWSER) - Elephants in the wild live up to three times longer as those in zoos, a new study says. The six-year report by British and Canadian scientists is sure to fire up the debate between animal rights activists and zoos over the well-being of the animals. African and Asian elephants tend to die at ages 17 to 19 in zoos, while their counterparts in the wild live 42 to 56 years, the Telegraph reports. More»

Visitor to Hong Kong zoo captures attack on tape

(NEWSER) - A giant panda bit the left leg of a Hong Kong zookeeper while he was laying bamboo leaves in the animal's pen, reports the AP. The keeper was recovering well after the panda attack, which was partially captured and posted on YouTube by a zoo visitor. The panda—a male whose name, An An, means "peace"—arrived in Hong Kong in 1999 as a gift from the Chinese mainland. More»