Robin's nest under my window

Baby robins, day four

May 31 - This is about all you see all day long now - chicks with beaks open, waiting for food. I wouldn't want to be the one keeping those hungry little bellies filled.

Both adults are very attentive to the chicks and the surrounding area. For as dirty as birds usually are, the nest is spotless. There are no feathers or debris on the ground under the nest.

It seems that the male and female take equal turns covering the chicks to warm them and also to hunt for food and to feed the chicks.

Stay tuned for future updates and more about robins. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Austin Airdogz

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Virginia to Shoot Gulls Nesting on Highway

NORFOLK, Va. -- Transportation officials thought they were doing a good thing when they provided a nesting area along a major highway for several threatened species of birds. But after five years, the nests have attracted more than just terns and black skimmers. The birds' predators -- sea gulls -- have come out in droves and are crashing into cars on Interstate 64, which connects southeastern Virginia to the mainland.

Last summer, up to 60 gulls died on the highway every day.

Concerned about the potential for serious car accidents, the state Department of Transportation has called on wildlife officials to shoot some of the 5,000 gulls on the south island of I-64's Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The road carries more than 100,000 cars a day during peak summer months. ... more

USDA: School Mistreated Research Animals

RENO, Nev. _ A seven-month federal investigation has concluded that a state university mistreated research animals, and the school has agreed to pay an $11,400 fine to settle the case.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the University of Nevada, Reno, for 46 federal animal welfare violations between May 2004 and March 2005.

Violations included repeatedly leaving 10 research pigs with inadequate water and housing, poor sanitation at animal care facilities, lack of veterinary care, and failure to investigate complaints of animal neglect. ... more

Game: Educating Miss Beazley

Help Barney teach Miss Beazley how to protect the White House from liberal America-haters. Neutralize as many crazy radicals as you can, but be careful - if you don't attack fast enough, you'll get trampled.
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The Octopus News Magazine Online

The Octopus News Magazine Online
Your Octopus, Squid & Cephalopod Information Center
Over 60m articles, images, and a discussion forum.

Who knew octopi were so popular?
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Robin's nest under my window

Baby robins, day three

May 30 - The chicks are little less pink and less sore looking than they were yesterday.

The male and female robin got into a confrontation with another bird this afternoon. A starling was hanging around and maybe acted a little too interested in the robins' nest. Mama robin dove to the ground and stumbled around with her wing extended as if she were injured. While the starling watched the female robin, the male robin attacked the starling. This went on for a few minutes until the starling decided it had had enough & flew away.

This is Ethel

A male duck & female duck started visiting our koi pond three years ago. They come back every year, so we think it's the same pair. We call them Fred and Ethel.

They will splash land in the water and proceed to bathe, totally ingoring us.

This year, we have a new addition to our visitors: two males who always arrive together and spend a lot of time grooming each other. We've named them Pat and Pat, the gay couple. Really, it does happen! There are documented cases of homosexual pairing and even mating in ducks.

Robin's nest under my window

Baby robins, day 2

It's difficult to get pictures of the babies, the male and female take turns covering them for warmth. While one is in the nest, the other is out gathering food. They will leave the nest if I open the window and lean out with the camera, but I don't want to scare them and have them abandon the babies.

Some facts about robins:

Song: The robin is one of the first birds to sing in the morning and is one of the last to be heard at night. The male is most vocal, usually singing from high points in the morning and during courtship. The robin is one of the few birds to sing throughout the winter »listen to robin's songs.

Diet: Though we think of robins as eating mainly earthworms, in fact earthworms and other invertebrates make up about 40 percent of its diet. Most of their food is fruit. They find earthworms by sight rather than by sound.They eat invertebrates mainly in the spring, summer and early morning, but rely on fruit later in the day, in the fall and winter. Their preferred fruits are grapes, cherries, tomatoes, pokeberries, mistletoe berries, rowan berries and in southern states, the fruits of the Sabal Palm. Robins also eat beetles, grasshoppers and other insects. Occasionally, robins eat small snakes and shrews, and they sometimes go on the seashore at low tide for molluscs or in water to pick up fish fry.

Chicks: The chicks are fed by both parents. They eat about 35 to 40 meals a day. The parents keep the nests clean by carrying away or eating the chicks' fecal sacs.

Stay tuned for future updates and more about robins. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Robin's nest under my window

I checked the nest at 7 a.m. Again, today, the mama bird wouldn't move out of the nest. One egg or egg shell was visible under her feathers.

I checked again at 9:00 a.m. Hey! Hey! We have three gorgeous little baby robins!

Now, I watch from the ground outside - there's a lot of activity, both the male and female come and go, but one is usually in the nest, protecting the babies.

When neither adult is around, I run inside to try to grab a photo. What we noticed right away is that there are no left over egg shells either in the nest or on the ground under the nest. Amazing that the birds would clean this up.



Stay tuned for future updates and more about robins. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Hummingbirds

hummingbirds.net is the source for information on attracting, watching, feeding, and studying North American hummingbirds. Get answers to all your questions, and see photos of various species of hummingbirds.

animation: Miaow

Don't tease the cat.

Robin's nest under my window

May 27, 2005. Day fifteen since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

It's been fourteen days since the first egg was laid.

Today, the mama bird refuses to leave the nest for our photo session.

I don't know if any eggs have hatched or not & don't want to startle her for fear that she will just abandon the nest.

Some facts about robins:

Common Name: American robin
French: Merle d'Amérique
Spanish: Mirlo primavera

Scientific Name: Turdus migratorius
Order PASSERIFORMES - Family TURDIDAE

Society: In summer, females sleep on the nests and males congregate in roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males in the roost. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting.

Nesting: An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young.

Life-time: About half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years.

Stay tuned for future updates and more about robins. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Alpine cricket is 'rough lover'

A species of Alpine cricket has proved itself to be an uncharming lothario who can mate every 18 seconds, European scientists report.

While most crickets serenade their lady friends before making a move, this particular species is somewhat brutish, often causing injury during sex. ... more

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

Teri Francis loves squirrels. I guess they're used to seeing her with the camera because they let her catch them doing things you usually never see squirrels doing. Here, she catches one sleeping.

Teri also has a great series of photos of a squirrel courtship and of Rambo, the orange tailed punk rock rodent.

time waster: Cute Little Kittens

Keep clicking for more & more cute kitten photos. Warning: could be addictive.

Friday Cat Blog

Buddy, the wanderer

Butterscotch, aka Buddy, was the most charming, playful, delightful, inquisitive cat ever. Once he discovered "the great outdoors," Buddy was torn - stay at home, or explore the world? He left us one fine summer day to sightsee and never returned.

He was in our lives for only a short time, but we will always fondly remember our Buddy.

Oh well I’m the type of guy who will never settle down
Where pretty girls are well, you know that I’m around
I kiss ’em and I love’em ’cause to me they’re all the same
I hug ’em and I squeeze ’em they don’t even know my name
They call me the wanderer yeah the wanderer
I roam around around around...

There are many pictures of Buddy at Flickr.

To end your week with a treat, visit Friday Ark for a list of other dog, cat and other pet related postings.

Also visit Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and will be hosted this week by Ripe Bananas.

Swimming with the creme de la koi

One recent afternoon, a pickup truck loaded with large cardboard boxes pulled out of a small parking lot west of Allentown, Pa. In the boxes were plastic bags of oxygenated water, and in the water were 29 live fish.

These were not your average pet shop swimmers. These were koi, collectively valued at $64,000, and they were on the first leg of a journey that would take them to a buyer in Holland.

With bright red or orange markings, koi may be large and fun to watch, but what makes them so expensive? Just like cats and dogs, some koi are free to a good home. Others might have a pedigree, or certain colors or qualities that make them more showable in koi competitions, and that drives the price up, says Carl Forss, owner of Koi by Keirin, the South Whitehall Township company that imports koi from Japan and sells them in Pennsylvania and around the world.

Japan is where koi mania started about 175 years ago, when fish farmers who were raising black carp for food started selectively breeding the occasional fish with a little color or unusual markings. ... more

NY Shelter imports stray dogs from China

Why? Doesn't New York have enough stray dogs?

The 30 dogs from China that arrived at Kennedy Airport last night en route to the North Shore Animal League shelter in Port Washington may present an added challenge to potential new owners - they don't understand English.

The canines' journey from Beijing to New York began Monday, when they left their overcrowded shelter and boarded a plane bound for Amsterdam. After resting up in an airport pet hotel, they continued the trip last night, and arrived in New York shortly after 9 p.m.

The dogs - including Pekingese, Dalmatians and Basset Hounds - were brought to New York for a variety of reasons. Residents in the Chinese capital face strict rules on dog ownership - including a prohibition on 40 breeds. As a result, the shelter now holds about twice the number of dogs and cats that it can comfortably accommodate. In stepped the Cape Cod, Mass.-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, which arranged for the dogs to be relocated to New York, where the North Shore Animal League will arrange for them to be adopted by local families. ... more

Animal control officers illegally trafficking in stolen animals?

Cicero, IL officials investigating the town's Animal Control Department, of which the entire staff was suspended last week amid allegations of animal cruelty and other improprieties, are looking at whether officers illegally trafficked in stolen animals, a town spokesman said Wednesday.

The investigation, led by the town's new head of police internal affairs, also is focused on whether animal control officers maintained a wish list that was used in targeting local pets for seizure and illicit resale, according to Cicero spokesman Dan Proft.

On Monday, Proft said the investigation was launched partly in response to complaints of animal cruelty, including claims that animal control officers staged dogfights in the town's pound, tossed a cat into a dog's cage and beat a captured wild animal with a metal pipe. ... more

Robin's nest under my window

robin guarding nest May 26, 2005

May 26, 2005. Day fourteen since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The oldest egg is 13 days old today.

The mama robin used to fly away when she heard me at the window. Now, either she's getting used to me, or she wants to really stay close to her eggs, but she's hanging around until picture taking is over with.

Here's how she looked today, waiting patiently for me to get done with my egg exam.

And here's what the eggs look like today:


Stay tuned for future updates and more about robins. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Dog is a God

There are some innovative and unusual dog beds and houses at this web site from Hungary, but better than the products is their introductory page:

"Outstanding guests. In families where they fall prey to wild canine prophets, in families where they seek sanctuary in absolutely essential affectations, in excessively indulgent families, they are ready to swear their best friendship. They are primitive gods, affectionate and sentimental, now living on a human scale that we've created."

I think someone translated word for word!
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Pig racing big in Russia

Russian farmers are breeding long-legged racing pigs to meet demand for the new craze of pig racing.

Sergei Spirin, president of the newly formed Federation of Sport Pig Breeders, said the biggest pig racing track was located at Moscow's Crocus-Expo pavilion, but many others were opening up as well.

Spirin, who is also a vet, said the pigs had been coached daily for months to get into prime condition for the gruelling races. ... more

Thousands Of Crabs Crowd Waters Off Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Tens of thousands of spider crabs have filled the waters off the coast of Australia.

More than 50,000 of the crustaceans have swarmed onto a sandbar near Melbourne.

The crabs have formed a 3-foot-thick cover the size of a football field on the ocean floor.

Scientists said the phenomenon is extremely rare. They aren't sure why so many of the spider crabs have converged on the same area.

Normally, the crabs are found spread out on the ocean floor.
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Leave it to your pets

IF you're like many pet owners, you want the best for your dog or cat. You give it premium food, good veterinary care and bring it with you on vacation.

But what happens to your pet if you die or become incapacitated?

Unless specific provisions have been made, your pet could wind up in a shelter and be put to death. If you plan ahead, though, your pet can be well cared for. In addition to arrangements with friends and family, there is, increasingly, a formal option.

Laws in 27 states - including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and New York - now allow owners to establish trusts for pets. These arrangements set aside money for the care of one or more animals in the event of an owner's disability or death.

Leaving money to a pet became legally possible in 1990, when a section validating trusts for domestic animals was added to the Uniform Probate Code. ... more

White bison birth causing a stir

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The birth of a rare white bison – the odds of which are said to be one in 10 million – is creating some excitement on a ranch in North Peace Country.

The owners of the Blatz Bison Ranch, in Fort St. John, just across the Alberta border in British Columbia, say the white buffalo calf was born prematurely on April 17.

Native legend holds that the white bison is a harbinger of peace and unity. In that spirit, owner Karen Blatz has named the male calf Spirit of Peace. "To them, a white buffalo is a symbol of hope, rebirth or unity, and also peace. And because he was born north of Peace River, we thought Peace would be a good name," she said. ... more

video: The Old Man & the Fish

Poignant animation, Le Vieil Homme et Les Poissons, by filmmaker David Bokser.
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Physician tests dogs' potential as cancer alert system

"Ginger! Find Fred!" shouted Scripps Clinic gynecologist Robert Gordon as his Chihuahua scampered along a line of seven small cups of urine.

After getting a whiff of each, Ginger plunked down beside No. 5. Gordon waited a few seconds to see if the dog would stay, then yelled "Yes!" in a cheering voice.

Under way for more than a year, Gordon's Find "Fred" project – his euphemism for a cancer patient – has evolved into a Scripps-approved clinical trial to see if dogs can be trained to detect early signs of human cancer through odor signatures of the disease. ... more

Rate My Puppy

Rodent Virus Now Linked to Six Deaths

Doctors are being urged to carefully watch patients who have undergone organ transplant and blood transfusions after at least six deaths were linked to a rodent-borne virus in the past two years.

Though there's no evidence that the deaths are anything but rare, recent discoveries that rabies and West Nile virus can spread through donated organs has officials worried that the latest virus might have gone undetected before now.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts officials said Monday they are investigating the deaths of three people who got infected organs from a female donor whose pet hamster tested positive for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, or LCMV. A fourth organ recipient is believed to be recovering. ... more

video: Cassie and Moses

Amazing video of Cassie the kitten and her friend Moses the crow. They eat together, hang out together and play with each other.

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Robin's nest under my window

May 25, 2005. Day thirteen since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The oldest egg is 12 days old today.

I'm eagerly waiting for that first egg to hatch, which should be any day now, and did some research while I was waiting.

Some facts about robins:

Mating:Robins generally remain together for the breeding season, but often mate with other individuals the following year.

Nesting: It takes from two to six days to make the nest, with an average of 180 trips per day to find materials. Males sometimes help gather nesting materials but the female chooses the site and builds the nest.

Brooding: The female robin incubates her eggs for about 12 to 16 days. She sits on the eggs for 40-minute periods. Then she stands up, turns the eggs and flies off to feed or for a break. The male stands guard and sometimes sits on the eggs.

Stay tuned for future updates and more about robins. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

A World Record 124 Pounds Catfish

ALTON, Ill. - It sounds like the sort of tale Mark Twain might have cooked up: A man fishing in the Mississippi River hauls in a blue catfish roughly the size of a sixth-grader.

But this is no fish story. Early Sunday, Tim Pruitt caught a 124-pound blue catfish.

To get a sense of just how big that is, the state record holder was a mere 85 pounds, and the world record holder tipped the scales at 121 pounds, 8 ounces. ... more

Hong Kong Disney will feature shark fin soup

Despite the fact that millions of sharks are killed every year, by cutting off their fins and dropping the still-alive body back in the sea, leading to their inevitable extinction, Disney will have sharkfin soup on its menu in its new Hong Kong theme park.

Greenpeace and the Worldwide Fund for Nature asked Hong Kong Disneyland to take shark fin soup off the menu after the theme park announced last week the delicacy would be served at wedding banquets and other special events...

But Disney says that while it takes the environment very seriously, the company is equally sensitive to local cultures and the dish is a key part of Chinese banquets. ... more
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Ants of the World

At this moment, more than one thousand trillion ants are scurrying all over the Earth. If every human climbed aboard one side of a scale, and every ant crawled onto the other side, the scale would just about balance.

Ants are everywhere. They are found under logs, in trees, in the stomachs of frogs, and underground. They use tools, herd and milk other animals, and live in highly organized colonies which can last for hundreds of years.

AntWeb provides tools for exploring the diversity and identification of ants. ... more
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John Paul Pet Products

Made by the same company that makes Paul Mitchell hair products, John Paul Pet claims to be the first line of natural and good-for-your-pet grooming products, tested on humans first.

John Paul Pet, LLC began 2 years ago with an idea to offer high end salon grooming products for pets. With Mr. Dejoria's expertise in creating natural high quality salon formulations and his longstanding interests and philanthropic support for numerous animal charities, the first line of natural, good-for-your-pet grooming products seemed a natural fit.

Top 10 Best Dog-Friendly Cities to Visit - 2005

DogFriendly.com announces its 3rd Annual Top 10 Dog-Friendly Cities to Visit In North America

This year, cities and resort communities are grouped into two separate lists. In the "cities" category, Chicago, Illinois is number one! Chicago has many things to do for visitors who bring their dogs. Chicago offers upscale hotels that welcome dogs and for sightseeing, there are horse and carriage rides, as well as boat tours on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. The White Sox have an annual "Dog Day" baseball game each spring. Navy Pier welcomes leashed dogs. Add to this an excellent park system with Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain and the 18 mile Lakefront Trail as well as dog-friendly outdoor cafes and pet-friendly bars and Chicago is a top-rated place to visit with your pup. ... more
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The Daily Kitten

Adorable kitty photos at the Daily Kitten. There's a new kitten every day at 3:07 p.m.

Monkey hired to prevent 'simian onslaught'

New Delhi - A langur monkey has been employed by an Indian government minister - to scare away other monkeys.

The Indian Minister for Human Resources, MAA Fatmi, has taken on the langur, as well as a professional monkey catcher.

He hopes their combined efforts will scare off the monkeys that invade his office, trashing light fittings and ripping up documents.

"They scare away the monkeys and cage the more naughty ones. So things are better now," a spokesperson told the Hindustan Times. ... more

Bird flu resurfaces in China

China has reported its first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu since it brought a widespread epidemic in poultry under control in 2004. This time, the virus has been found in wild geese in a nature reserve.

Scientists consider it unlikely that the geese carried H5N1 into China, though this cannot be ruled out. Instead, the deaths could show that, even though China has not reported any recent outbreaks, H5N1 is continuing to circulate in its domestic poultry.

On 4 May, 178 bar-headed geese which had just completed their arduous annual migration over the Himalayas from northern India died at Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve in western China. After initial denials, on 22 May the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture announced that the birds had died of H5N1. It is vaccinating all poultry in the region, and has closed nature reserves to the public. ... more

Robin's nest under my window

May 24, 2005. Day twelve since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

I've watched this mama robin for twelve days now, and have realized how much we under rate other creatures. We think of most animals, especially birds, as dumb brutes with very little intelligence.

But look at this nest. Perfectly circular without a compass, straight without a level, tightly woven without an instruction manual. Imagine the hours it took to find the perfect spot to build, to forage for the right building materials, and to have it be finished before it was time to lay the first egg.

Now, there she sits, hour after hour, protecting her unborn babies, using her body to keep them warm and dry. She's certainly already outdone many human mothers.

Stay tuned for future updates. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Chimpanzee mauling : the full story

This is Moe. His owners, LaDonna Davis and St. James Davis, were visiting him at an animal sanctuary, when two chimpanzees who had escaped from a neighboring cage attacked St. James.

The chimps chewed off St. James Davis' nose and severely mauled his genitals and limbs before the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owner shot the animals to death, authorities said.

Chimp attack story

In "The Animal Within, " The Washington Post tells the whole background story of how Moe had lived with the Davises for decades before they were forced to give the animal up and the events of the day leading up to the attack.

The Birds of America in Harmony

Let your imagination soar as the birds that ruled America's skies more than a century ago live again in resplendent color. Harmony is an animated presentation of John James Audubon's The Birds of America from Le Musée de la Civilisation. The music played with each bird is perfect and beautiful.

Ugly Zoo

Photoshop fun ...

time waster: The singing cow

It makes an indescribably bad noise, but I like it. Simply click the keys to make your own, er, 'moo-sic', or click the numbers for riproaring 'tunes' that will reduce grown men to tears.

Was Your Dinner Smarter Than Your Pet?

Testing the IQ of a sheep may seem laughable. But at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England, they know better. One sheep who got a reward every time she recognized a human face correctly on a video screen scored a perfect 50 out of 50.

Hamlet the pig is a computer wiz. He gets a reward every time he uses a joystick designed for a chimp to move a cursor into a blue area on a computer monitor. A Jack Russell terrier couldn't achieve such a task after a year of trying.

In other words, pigs are smarter than dogs.

"They're very curious, and they'll charge off on their own," said John Webster, a professor at the University of Bristol in England. "They will investigate the world with their noses down and batter through like a small boy."

New research shows that chickens can be taught to run the thermostat of the chicken coop, and that even the lowly cow has a surprising inner life. ... more

Gruff justice for Asbo goats

Some Devon locals have lost count of the times they have drawn back their curtains to be confronted by yellow teeth, unfashionable beards and wild eyes - to say nothing of the 3ft horns.

But the days of the hoofed visitors may soon be over. From this week, the wild goats of thecoastal town of Lynton may be looking down a marksman's barrel.

Around for centuries - the Domesday Book recorded 75 in the Manor of Lyntonia - the goats attract tourists from as far as Australia to the Valley of the Rocks. But wild grass is no longer enough: increasing numbers are taking the 10-minute saunter into town and gorging on residents' begonias.

Two months ago, 25 dined on the garden of the Victoria Lodge B&B in Lynton. They even rest their shaggy rears on the bowling green and cricket pitch. ... more

The Goldendoodle

The Goldendoodle gets its name from its mixed heritage - golden retriever and poodle. Goldendoodles are a hybrid dog, a first generation cross.

Goldendoodles were first deliberately bred in North America as a larger version of the popular Cockapoo around the mid 1990s. Their non/light shedding coats and ability to live with families with allergies has made them very popular companions.

Robin's nest under my window

May 23, 2005. Day eleven since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

The nest was empty on the day I discovered it, that means the oldest egg is ten days old. If the eggs are on schedule, 14 to 16 days, we should be seeing something by the end of the week.

I'm getting quite attached to this whole idea of watching this little robin family get created. I had an awful dream last night about a blue jay attacking the nest and mama robin fighting him off. Scary! I hope nothing bad happens.

Stay tuned for future updates. The daily pictures will be at Flickr.

Mysterious caterpillars bug Chengdu citizens

Retired kindergarten teacher Li Mengqiu is on the front lines of an invasion.

Li, 79, now uses diversionary tactics to buy her daily meat and vegetables for lunch and dinner. The resident of Shuncheng Street in the centre of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, marches an extra 10 minutes on a flanking manoeuvre to get to the market to avoid marauding invaders who have taken over her community.

"Brown caterpillars are on the outside wall of my courtyard. There are tens of thousands of them and I feel sick whenever I think of them," she said in an interview with China Daily.

Li is only one of many in Chengdu plagued by the outbreak of the strange hairy larvae.

The creatures are 1 to 2 centimetres in size, and they have infested nearly 30 streets in the city.

Although the caterpillars apparently are not feeding on flowers, grass or trees in the immediate area, they are impregnable - found atop buildings, walls, wall corners, balconies and even residences. They number in the tens of thousands, clustering in areas like a giant throng of fuzzy mush. ... more

Why an Unmade Bed Is Healthier

New research from Kingston University in the United Kingdom has concluded that an unmade bed is not only unappealing to the eyes, but also unappealing to house dust mites, which are thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

The average bed can be home to as many as 1.5 million house dust mites, and when a bed is made up, it traps moisture in the sheets and mattress--ideal conditions for those mites. But the bugs apparently have a harder time surviving in the drier conditions of an unmade bed, reports the BBC News.

The big takeaway: Since dust mites are a leading cause of allergies and asthma, keeping your bed unmade could keep you healthier.

House dust mites are less than a millimeter long and feed on the scales of human skin. They produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep. When we sleep, the bed becomes warm and even damp, conditions that help the house dust mites to grow and multiply. "We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body," lead researcher Dr. Stephen Pretlove told the BBC News. "Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die." ... more