New Species: Legless lizards, dwarf woodpeckers, and Neil Young

National Geographic bites my style this week with a photo gallery of newly discovered species in Brazil's Cerrado, a wooded grassland that's seen an increasing threat of urban and agricultural encroachment.

Most stories lead with the "legless lizard" discovered there, but we all know that that's just a snake. Among the fourteen new species found in the Cerrado are a tiny woodpecker, and a fat-tailed mouse opossum.

The discoveries, along with the documentation of several endangered species in the region, renewed a push by conservationists to develop a management plan for the area, according to MSNBC.

More important is a species of trapdoor spider, actually discovered in 2007, that has only just now been named - after Neil Young. The trapdoor spider is so named because it fashions a plug to cover the entrance of its burrow, and will wait under it to pounce at passing prey. Jason Bond named the spider Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi because he admires Young's music as well as his political activism.

Get up to get down: Pet products fetch a pretty penny

Although it topped the New Zealand record charts at Christmas, listeners gave "A Very Silent Night" "mixed reviews" when it was played on the radio. Some would "just lie down and did nothing," Bob Kerridge told Reuters, while one "physically attacked the radio when it was played and went quite berserk and totally destroyed it."

Kerridge is the chief executive of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the song is off of a CD recorded at frequencies only audible to dogs and sold in New Zealand to raise money for the organization. It contains an instrumental as well as a vocal version of "Silent Night", and sold for $3.93 a copy, raising around $17,300 from sales.

"Never having heard it myself," Kerridge admitted, "I don't know what they'll hear and of course I don't know how dogs hear music."

Well, 70 percent of dogs in kennels and 85 percent in households have experienced reduced stress after listening to what researchers call "doggie classical", a stripped-down interpretation of classical tunes to be released on compact disc March 1 along with a book entitled Through a Dog's Ear.

Dogs apparently did not enjoy the likes of Britney Spears or Metallica as much as Bach, Schubert, and Chopin.

And songs and CD's for dogs isn't the least of what has become a booming industry, according to figures reported February 26 by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. The figures show pet owners spending an estimated $41 billion last year on their furry (or scaly) companions, almost double the expenditure in 1996, and expected to grow this year. About 63 percent of households are estimated to have pets, usually dogs, cats, or fish.

In the words of APPMA President Bob Vetere, "Pet owners and the companies providing pet products and services show no sign of letting up."

What's next? Food for dogs? Houses for dogs??



Special thanks to Meredith K.

Dog yawning photo: Inside Bay Area