The Beagle Brigade

Return to the United States from a trip abroad ,and your luggage will get inspected by the Beagle Brigade, a team of beagles and their human partners. Working with human partners, the beagles sniff out potential threats to American agriculture.

An orange or apple, for example, might have a Mediterranean fruit fly. Hams could carry a disease such as hog cholera. These and other pests could destroy farmers' crops and livestock. " Once we introduce something   that   is not part of the environment, there may not be any controls of it in the environment," notes Lisa Davis at the National Dog Detector Training Center in Orlando, Florida. "The best thing for us to do is prevent it from coming across the border and becoming established. "

When a beagle sniffs specific food smells, it signals its partners by siting there. The human officer then investigates. When the dog is right ——which happens 90 percent of the time ——it gets an edible（可食用的） treat.

"The dog is not out there working," explains Davis. " It's out there playing. It's a game to the dog. "The handlers give the beagles plenty of food and love. They make sure they get first-class medical attention, too. When the dogs finally retire after 9 to 11 years ,they will find caring homes for them. It's a dog's life indeed!

Their people partners work and study somewhat harder. As specialized quarantine（检疫） officers,most hold degrees in the biological sciences or related sciences.

How well does the Beagle Brigade do its job? " On average," notes Davis, " each year our 54 teams prevent around 75,000 prohibited , restricted items. Since even one infected item could cause widespread destruction, that's a great result for America's agricultural environment.

   You probably have a first-aid kit at home for your family—but what about your family pets？You need to be ready if your furry friend faces an emergency at home. What's more，as the weather gets warmer，more pet owners take their pets with them when they leave the house—on vacation，to the park，jogging，hiking and even swimming. That can be fun for you and your pet，but there's a chance that your pet will get hurt there，as well. So，it's important to know some of the basics of first aid for your pet if necessary.

If your pet is exposed to long periods of heat and sunlight，she will be easy to get heat exhaustion（衰竭）or heatstroke. Signs of heat exhaustion are breathless，anxiousness，dry gums and red skin most easily seen on the ears.

If either of these occurs，cool the pet right away and，as always，get her to the vet（兽医）.Put the animal in a shaded or air-conditioned area，and wet the body with cool water. Rubbing isopropyl alcohol（异丙醇）on the belly and fanning the area will help drive away the heat. If a pet is suffering from heatstroke，don't try to give her water. Get her to the vet immediately.

If you see an animal that's been hit by a car，or you hit one accidentally，first be cautious of all oncoming traffic before trying to reach the animal. Approach carefully. Even a severely injured animal can bite you.

As someone helps with directing traffic, cover the animal with a blanket or towel. If the animal cannot stand on her own, there's a good chance that there are neck, back or head injuries, so try to gently transfer the animal to a flat surface. Then transport that flat surface to the nearest vet. Picking up or hand-carrying the animal may worsen the injuries.

   Penguins are the number-one attraction for many visitors to Antarctica. If you go on a ship that is allowed to make shore landings, you may see them. But to get a close look at penguins, you have to be smart.

First of all, keep in mind that Antarctica’s visitor rules require that you remain at least five meters away from the penguins in order not to disturb them. You could easily become responsible for the death of a little penguin or the destruction of an egg if your too-close presence should disturb a penguin parent.

If a penguin is trying to move away from you, you must stop what you’re doing and back off even if you’re farther than five meters away. However, the rules don’t prevent a curious penguin from approaching within five meters of you — as long as the bird makes the move, not you.

Little penguins, in particular, are quite curious. I’ve seen several lucky tourists who were astonished to find that little penguins came right up to them. If a penguin comes extremely close to you, remember that you are not allowed to touch or hold it.

Here are more tips for getting close to penguins.

Ignore the smell: where penguins live is filled with guano（海鸟粪）and the smell takes some getting used to.

Be quiet because loud noises make penguins nervous. Fast or sudden movements signal meat — eating animals to penguins, and they react accordingly, so slow down when you walk around them.

Since it may take half an hour or more before the penguins get used to you, you need to be patient. Put away your camera — too often people are so focused on getting the pictures that they forget to look with their own eyes, but most of your most memorable experiences in Antarctica will be marked in your mind, not on a roll of films.

   Winter begins in the north on December 22nd. People and animals have been doing what they always do to prepare for the colder months. Squirrels (松鼠), for example, have been busy gathering nuts from trees. Well, scientists have been busy gathering information about what the squirrels do with the food they collect.

They examined differences between red squirrels and gray squirrels in the American state of Indiana. The scientists wanted to know how these differences could affect the growth of black walnut (黑胡桃) trees. The black walnut is the nut of choice for both kinds of squirrels. The black walnut tree is also a central part of some hardwood forests.

Rob Swihart of Purdue University did the study with Jake Goheen, a former Purdue student now at the University of New Mexico. The two researchers estimate that several times as many walnuts grow when gathered by gray squirrels as compared to red squirrels. Gray squirrels and red squirrels do not store nuts and seeds in the same way. Gray squirrels bury nuts one at a time in a number of places. But they seldom remember where they buried every nut. So some nuts remain in the ground. Conditions are right for them to develop and grow the following spring. Red squirrels, however, store large groups of nuts above ground. Professor Swihart calls “death traps for seeds”.

Gray squirrels are native to Indiana. But Professor Swihart says their numbers began to decrease as more forests were cut for agriculture. Red squirrels began to spread through the state during the past century.

The researchers say red squirrels are native to forests that stay green all year, unlike walnut trees. They say the cleaning of forest land for agriculture has helped red squirrels invade Indiana. Jake Goheen calls them a sign of an environmental problem more than a cause.

Jumping spiders (跳蛛) are vital for agricultural pest control, and 【小题1】 species can even learn to distinguish (辨别) the color red in their prey (猎物), a 2015 study 【小题2】 (show). They are able to learn to associate this color 【小题3】 poisonous prey and avoid it or find out high-quality prey.

Jumping spiders will eat almost any small pest, 【小题4】 (range) from caterpillars to flies. Not only does this 【小题5】 (natural) reduce the amount of agricultural damage from insect pests, but it means farmers can avoid using chemical treatments 【小题6】 (protect) their crops.

In total, a large number of jumping spiders, over 5,000 species, 【小题7】 (find) on every continent except Antarctica by now. Being able to adapt to the environment is a key evolutionary skill. Since the spiders are able to distinguish 【小题8】 foods are nutritious, from those that are 【小题9】 (harm). They can stay alive longer and manage a wide 【小题10】 (various) of pests.