ANIMALS: Pets return to the White House, too

A “no” for Joe Exotic; the pigeon-eating catfish; a better faux burger? [ANIMALS]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [ANIMALS]( [National Geographic]( [TODAY'S BIG TOPIC:]( [WHAT CHAMP AND MAJOR CAN TEACH US]( Thursday, January 21, 2021 PHOTOGRAPH BY WIN MCNAMEE, GETTY IMAGES By [Rachael Bale]( ANIMALS Executive Editor Champ (pictured above) and Major are moving into a swanky new home: the White House. Ending a four-year petless streak at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Bidens’ German shepherds are ready to join the new first family of the U.S. in Washington. Major’s entrée into the ranks of Washington elites marks a, ahem, major turning point. He is the White House’s first-ever shelter dog, Natasha Daly [reports](. Adopted from the Delaware Humane Association three years ago, he represents a real wags-to-riches (yeah, yeah) story, having been brought to the shelter as a puppy with his littermates, all of whom were seriously ill from ingesting some unknown toxic substance. On Sunday, the Delaware Humane Association honored Major with an online [“Indoguration Celebration,”]( which attracted more than 7,400 virtual partygoers and featured a performance by Josh Groban. While Major didn’t make an appearance, the event raised more than $200,000 for the organization. COURTESY DELAWARE HUMANE ASSOCIATION “This is shining a light on all of the resources animal shelters bring to a community,” Patrick Carroll, executive director of the shelter, [told NPR](. (Pictured above, Biden with Major on the day of his adoption.) Major and Champ may soon be joined by a cat, First Lady Jill Biden [hinted]( becoming the latest in a long line of [presidential pets](. Herbert Hoover had an opossum. Calvin and Grace Coolidge had a raccoon named Rebecca (pictured below). Theodore Roosevelt, famous for his many pets, had snakes, dogs, cats, a badger, birds, guinea pigs, and others. Then-vice president Richard Nixon, in his famous Checkers speech in 1952, denied misusing political funds for personal purposes, but he admitted [his dog Checkers]( was a gift from a supporter. The Clintons had black Lab Buddy and Socks the cat; the Obamas had Portuguese water dogs Bo and Sunny. Even George Washington had dogs—he was a passionate hunting dog breeder. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Harry Truman is [oft-misquoted]( as having said “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Turns out, he wasn’t such a great pet owner—he [angered dog lovers around the country]( when he gave away his puppy named Feller. Nonetheless, the quote rings true. Even if your allies turn, you’ll always have your loyal companion. Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward to a friend. TODAY IN A MINUTE Tough days for the Tiger King: Despite extensive preparations by supporters and insistent lobbying, there [was no presidential pardon]( for the imprisoned former zoo operator, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage. He was convicted in 2019 of murder-for-hire and 17 wildlife-related charges. Meanwhile, a judge ordered his former business partner, Jeff Lowe, to surrender the remaining big cat cubs and their mothers after two cubs in his care had to be euthanized due to alleged neglect, [the New York Daily News reported](. Exotic and Lowe were at the center of Tiger King, a Netflix documentary series on the shady world of private zoos. Where now on wildlife? In the last few weeks, a flurry of U.S. executive actions took aim at wildlife, but many of them may not survive. On President Biden’s first day, he [imposed a moratorium on oil and natural gas leases]( in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His predecessor had allowed an auction for leases in his last days in office. Nat Geo’s Douglas Main [has this roundup]( of the former president’s last-minute actions that could the environment and wildlife. Baby giraffe dies at Nashville Zoo: The newborn Masai giraffe was stepped on shortly after birth by its mother, officials said. It had been the first calf from Nasha, 6. “We are devastated over the loss of Nasha’s calf,” Heather Schwartz, the zoo’s director of veterinary medicine, [told CNN](. The world’s population of Masai giraffes has been cut in half over the last three decades. A better faux burger? It’s loaded with protein, stuffed with carbohydrates, and grows like a weed. More importantly, seaweed can be prepared in a way that outshines other plant-based burger competitors, [Grist reports](. A startup is focusing on high-protein red seaweeds, such as dulse, a type of algae that even [tastes something like bacon]( when cooked. YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY PHOTOGRAPH BY [@DOUG_GIMESY]( Nectar of life: Lacey, an orphaned and rescued gray-headed flying fox in captivity, feeds on the nectar of a flowering eucalyptus tree. Often misunderstood and maligned, Australia’s gray-headed flying foxes are vital for seed dispersal and pollination, feeding on over a hundred species of flowering trees, fleshy fruited trees, and liana. In a single night a flying fox can travel over 25 miles, pollinating trees and spreading up to 60,000 seeds along the way. They’re classified as vulnerable to extinction. Key threats include habitat destruction, camp disturbance, inappropriate fruit tree netting, and increasing climate change-driven heat stress events. New season, new danger: [Another Australian wildfire ignites]( THE BIG TAKEAWAY PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHANE GRANZOTTO, NPL/MINDEN PICTURES Words that are hard to resist reading: Enormous. Pigeon-eating. Catfish. Turns out, Europe’s largest freshwater fish is an invasive species, and it is very hungry. One fish ecologist watched a Wels catfish jump out of a river in southern France, bite a pigeon, and drag the bird into the water. “I knew that killer whales can beach themselves [to catch seals], but I had never seen that kind of behavior with fish,” [Frédéric Santoul told Nat Geo](. The eastern European fish (pictured above), imported for fishing in western Europe in the 1970s, also feasts upon declining stocks of Atlantic salmon and Allis shad. The species can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh up to 600 pounds. [READ MORE]( OVERHEARD AT NAT GEO PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN WILKES A day of peace: After fear and high security, America ended up peacefully transferring power Wednesday, without the usual crowds. Our podcast, [Overheard]( spoke to the photographers covering this very different type of Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C. With the scars of a mob takeover still evident at the U.S. Capitol, the struggle for a free nation seemed more visceral. “You should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness…watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety,” Overheard says, quoting George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address. (Pictured above, the Capitol on the morning of the inauguration.) [HEAR IT]( IN A FEW WORDS [QUOTE] My uncle took me to a ranger station where there were wild chickens and peccaries up close to me. My instinct was to look for a stick or a rock—anything to kill them. It was in my brain. It took me two years before this feeling went away. Tomas Muñoz A hunter-turned-tourist guide From [A loss of tourism threatens Costa Rica’s lush paradise]( DID A FRIEND FORWARD THIS TO YOU? Come back tomorrow for Whitney Johnson on the latest in photography news. If you’re not a subscriber, [sign up here]( to also get Debra Adams Simmons on history, George Stone on travel, and Victoria Jaggard on science. THE LAST GLIMPSE PHOTOGRAPH BY RYAN ROSSOTTO, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION Sneaky: And low profile. Giant trap-jaw worms—some can grow up to 10 feet long—spring from the sand of a seabed to snatch unsuspecting fish. Fossil burrows found in Taiwan suggest the striker worms have populated the seafloor for over 20 million years, [Riley Black writes for Nat Geo](. (Pictured above, a facial view of the predatory Bobbit worm.) [READ MORE]( This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, with photo selections by Jen Tse. Kimberly Pecoraro and Gretchen Ortega helped produce this newsletter. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. And thanks for reading. [NGM]( [NGM]( SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey. 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