Food, Animals | featured news

A new study from researchers at Oxford University says the roots of the taboo on horse meat are in the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England. But the real reason may be simple economics.

It’s not yet light, but Mr Qiu of Foshan in Guangdong is busy transferring king ratsnakes from a cage into a sack. He then tips them into a boiling pot. He’s been running his snake-soup shop for over a decade. In winter, residents of Guangdong province, south China, pay particular attention to diet and nutrition, meaning the shop is constantly busy. A bowl of piping hot snake soup is a breakfast favourite for many locals looking to ward off the cold. “We Cantonese have always believed that snake meat can treat illnesses, plus its nutritious and keeps out the cold,” Qiu says.

About a third of leprosy cases each year in the United States are a result of contact with infected armadillos.

Federal health officials, concerned about the growing problem of superbugs, took a tentative step toward banning a common agricultural use of penicillin and tetracycline.

Dogs bark and whine behind high chain-link fences, some of them gnawing the wire so hard they bleed at the mouths while cats packed into crowded cages cower in fear if anyone approaches.

Dolphins are the chefs of the seas, going through elaborate preparations to rid cuttlefish of ink and bone to produce a soft meal of calamari, scientists claim.