Hunting season began this month and prehistoric canine graves suggest that dogs, like many human hunters, have an ancient hunting legacy. A researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany studied 110 dog burials in prehistoric Japan and concluded that dogs were valued as ideal hunting companions and may have been critical to human survival, reported Science Magazine. The study was published online in Antiquity, a journal of Cambridge University Press, on Sept. 15.

Backyard chicken raising continues to grow. Owners love these chickens, too. In fact, they may love them too much. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that an emerging public health trend in the form of increased outbreaks of salmonella. Source: The Washington Post

As fall approaches and thoughts turn to sponsoring a community event, you might consider stealing an idea from a recent canine art exhibit. MORE TH>N, a pet insurance company, commissioned British artist Dominic Wilcox to develop an art exhibit geared to a canine viewing audience. The result was Play More, a dog-specific exhibit that ran in London from Aug. 19-20.

Pets that have amassed 30,000 followers on social media are finding a celebrity status that draws marketers to them, reported Priceonomics, a content marketing company. And it’s becoming big business. “People are much lonelier than they used to be,” Kurt Gray, PhD, at the University of North Carolina, told Priceonomics. “So what do they do? They get a pet, or if they can’t, maybe because of their landlord, they spend all their time on YouTube looking at other people’s pets acting human.”

If the hot days of summer have you longing for a cold faraway place like the Faroe Islands, located between Iceland and Norway, now you can visit at least virtually—from a sheep’s perspective. The people of Faroe Island, tired of waiting for Google to map their terrain, launched Sheep View 360, reported The Guardian on July 12.

July 4th is right around the corner and the lazy days—and late starts—of summer are in full force. In fact, more than one in five U.S. workers (23%) are late to work once a month, and 14% are late weekly, according to CareerBuilder. The Society for Human Resources Management reported some of the more creative excuses, culled from CareerBuilder’s nationwide survey in late 2015 responded to by 2,595 hiring and Human Resources managers and 3,252 full-time, U.S. workers. The results were released on Jan. 28.

The next time your clients come in stressed out from work, suggest they take their dogs to the job with them. And tomorrow, June 24, “Take Your Dog to Work Day,” is the perfect opportunity for that. This form of “dog therapy” isn’t just for fun, either. It’s serious business. In fact, a study conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., concluded that workers’ stress levels declined when dogs were present. The study was published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management in 2008.

How did the giraffe get so tall, and what’s with that long neck? A new study offers some clues. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology in Tanzania have sequenced the genomes of the giraffe and the okapi of the African rainforest. The study identified the genetic changes that resulted in the evolution of the giraffe's exceptionally long neck and its rank as the world's tallest land species. The study was published in Nature Communications on May 17.

If you love films about all things canine and want to get out of the heat this summer, you and your pooch are in for a treat. The Dog Film Festival may be coming to a movie house near you. Dedicated to the memory of Joan Rivers, the Dog Film Festival will premiere in Los Angeles June 4-5, followed by appearances throughout the summer in movie houses across the United States. A list of locations is available on the Dog Film Festival website.

If you’ve noticed that new feline patients are increasingly appearing in your waiting room with human names, you’re observations are correct, according to a recent analysis. The top female cat names for 2015 match those of female babies born that same year, announced Rover.com, a pet sitting and dog walking service that conducted the analysis. The results were released in April.