Studies have shown that dogs prefer classical music to any other genre, reports CBS news.

Research from Colorado State University found that dogs in animal shelters were less likely to bark and more likely to sleep when played the likes of Mozart or Beethoven.

Heavy metal, by contrast, was found to have the opposite effect, inducing nervous shaking and barking, and stopping the dogs from getting any sleep.

Moreover, classical music can reduce dogs’ stress levels and potentially increase the likelihood of adoption.

So you can dress up your pooch in all the studded collars you like … at the end of the day our dogs are a little bit more highbrow than that!

Now, how long do you think you can stay awake for? 24 hours? 48 hours? More? The actual human record is 11 days! By a young chap called Randy Gardner (we always thought it was Keith Richards!).

But dolphins can top that easily: they can stay alert and active for 15 days or more by sleeping with one half of their brain at a time, scientists have learned (see Live Science article).

The trick of keeping half the brain continuously awake is vital to the sea mammals’ survival, experts believe.

It allows them to come to the surface every so often to breathe, and remain constantly vigilant for sharks.

Backward flight is frequently used by members of the hummingbird family as they reverse from a nectar-bearing flower after feeding.

A recent study at the University of California  by scientists Dr Nir Sapir and Robert Dudley, recorded the birds’ flight biomechanics using high-speed cameras and oxygen uptake and discovered that, contrary to previously held theories, the birds use the same amount of energy flying backwards as they do flying forwards.

This was discovered by using a respiratory mask to measure the rate of oxygen consumption during feeding.

“The findings were very exciting because we expected that backward flight will come with a greater metabolic cost,” explained Dr Sapir in a BBC article.

He continued, “During backward flight, the bird’s body is held in [a] much more upright posture. We were expecting the body will experience a much higher drag and that the bird will need to invest much more work to overcome this drag.”

A fascinating study – but what amazes us more is that they put a respiratory mask on a hummingbird!!

We have never heard of this before but apparently the people of South-East Asia have historically fought fish against each other in tank arenas! A BBC article shows that scientists recently looked into how the Siamese fighting fish maintain their energy levels whilst in mid fight, and discovered something fascinating: these fish actually breathe air!

The fish are from the unusual Anabantodei group that can take in oxygen from the air via a specialised organ as well as from the water through their gills and skin. Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) are found throughout south-east Asia where they live in low-oxygenated pools and rice paddies.

Scary stuff – just imagine if they give up their watery habitat for good … I think we’d all have to mind our toes!

Something really interesting caught our eye on the BBC about whales. Apparently before attacking prey (prey is a bit strong - they gulp up to 100 tons of krill-filled water within 10 seconds), the blue whale (the largest animal on the planet) will perform a full 360-degree rotation in order to orientate before an attack.

The results are published in the Royal Society journal ‘Biology Letters’, by Dr Jeremy Goldbogen and colleagues at the Cascadia Research Collective based in Washington, US.

“Despite being the largest animals to have ever lived, blue whales still show an impressive capacity to perform complex manoeuvres that are required to efficiently exploit patches of krill,” said Dr Goldbogen. The reason they do this is because “blue whales feed exclusively on krill: small crustaceans that have excellent escape responses, requiring the mammals to have efficient foraging strategies to be able to meet their energy demands.”

Amazing to think that our biggest animal has to do acrobatic manoeuvres in order to catch some of smallest!

Workers at a zoo in Sussex have found a novel way to help a group of Chilean flamingos that were struggling to mate find their taste for love: playing them some of Barry White’s greatest hits!

It would appear that the smooth soul legend’s ability to create a passionate environment is not limited to humans, as reported in the Metro Online’s ‘Weird’ section, and as a result two flamingos have hatched a chick successfully – the first since 2009.

The zoo manager at Drusillas Park in Alfriston, East Sussex, had this to say: “We are absolutely delighted with the progress of the flamingo chick. I was lucky enough to be at the enclosure when it hatched. The keepers and I were so excited to see the little grey flamingo emerge from its shell under the watchful eye of its parents.”

Being a species under threat, this will certainly come as welcome news. Let’s just hope it’s the First, not the Last…

A team from Bristol Uni revealed this astonishing fact after examining the jaw of a pliosaur, a sea reptile that lived 150million years ago, reports the Metro. It’s thought the poor blighter suffered for some time as there are feeding impact marks from the teeth on the lower jawbone.

Dr Judyth Sassoon, of the University of Bristol, who studied the skeleton, said: “In the same way that ageing humans develop arthritic hips, this old lady developed an arthritic jaw, and survived with her disability for some time.”

“But an unhealed fracture on the jaw shows that at some time the jaw weakened and eventually broke.”

She added: “With a broken jaw, the pliosaur would not have been able to feed and that final accident probably led to her demise.”

Before you ask (or answer), we have to make you aware that this isn’t a sexist post on the 247Moneybox blog by any stretch. One of our colleagues actually stumbled across an interesting item in the BBC News archive about some Romanian birds that were thought to have died from avian flu but had in fact suffered from alcohol poisoning.

It occurred in Constanta, eastern Romania, where a group of residents came across the dead starlings on the outskirts of the city and immediately alerted the authorities, naturally fearing the worst.

However, upon analysis local vets were able to conclude that the birds must have eaten some of the grape waste resulting from the wine-making procedures at a local refinery.

Good news for the locals; bad news for the starlings.

Two fisherman in Mexico caught the predator in the Sea of Cortez off Sonora state. Unbelievably  they weren’t trying to land the big fish!

Speaking in The Telegraph, one said, “We threw out some nets in the area and the shark ended up tangled up in the net. It was something we didn’t expect- we’re not shark fishermen. We fish for sole, rays, all types of fish,” said fisherman Baltazar Berrospe.

Fortunately for the two men the massive shark was already dead.

“If it had been alive it could have eaten us. We tied the shark around the neck and pulled him onto the boat,” he said.