The app that tells you if your cat’s happy!

Cat owners who love to take pictures of their furry friends now have a new excuse to pull out their smartphones and take a snapshot — which may actually help the cat!

A Calgary, Alberta, animal health technology company, Sylvester.ai, has developed an app called Tably, which uses the phone’s camera to tell whether a feline is feeling pain.

The app looks at ear and head position, eye-narrowing, muzzle tension and how whiskers change, to detect distress. A 2019 study published in peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports found that the so-called ‘feline grimace scale,’ or FGS, is a valid and reliable tool for acute pain assessment in cats.

Two-headed sea turtle hatchling found

A Facebook post said that the Edisto Beach State Park’s Sea Turtle Patrol was out doing a routine nest inventory after detecting a major emergence at the park.

“Three to five days after a sea turtle nest shows signs of a major emergence, we dig down to determine the success of the nest,” the post said.

The team found three living loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings still in the nest, “but one hatchling in particular stood out because it had two heads!”

The post said the hatchling’s condition is caused by a genetic mutation. All three of the hatchlings were released into the ocean.

Real-time learning four-legged robot

Meet the new four-legged robot that’s almost human, but not quite. The artificial intelligence robot developed by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Deepak Pathak, can adapt in real-time and teach itself how to manoeuvre through rocks, sand, grass and oil-covered surfaces.

Looking something like the bare bones of a small animal, the robot learns to react to new situations the same way people do.

Most robots aren’t able to adjust to changing conditions so quickly, but Rapid Motor Adaptation seeks to change that. The technology is the first learning-based system that doesn’t rely on hand-coded motions. The research team says the robot will eventually be used for search and rescue efforts, and space exploration.

An 18-inch goldfish found

Officials in a Minnesota city are asking residents not to dump their unwanted goldfish after a local lake was found to be home to goldfish up to 18 inches long!

The city of Burnsville shared photos of some massive goldfish removed from Keller Lake during a recent survey. “Please don’t release your pet goldfish into ponds and lakes! They grow bigger than you think and contribute to poor water quality by mucking up the bottom sediments and uprooting plants,” the city tweeted.

Ten fish, measuring up to a foot long, were found during the survey. A second survey resulted in finding 18 more goldfish, with the largest measuring 18 inches and weighing in at four pounds, definitely bigger than you’d find in your typical aquarium.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 21st, 2021