In Thailand, human-elephant conflict is increasing. To local farmers, elephants threaten their safety and economic livelihood.

Bring the Elephant Home (BTEH) is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to increase chances of survival for elephants and work towards a world in which people and elephants can live in harmony, benefting from each other’s existence. BTEH’s projects root in local communities. Their work is characterised by three principles:local involvement, a healthy ecology, and benefits for people and elephants simultaneously (同时地). They lead to shared decision making, ownership of local communities, sustainability, and a peaceful coexistence of people and animals.

A group of BTEH researchers and local farmer volunteers are experimenting with how to make the plantations less appealing to elephants and prevent them from coming into the farms. And the Tom Yum Project comes into being.

The name of the Tom Yum Project comes from the Thai soup. The ingredients (原料) for the soup are chilli, garlic, lemongrass, and onion—none of which are attractive to elephants. This project gives hope to alternative crops as a solution to human-elephant conflict in Thailand. The project works in the following steps.

The Tom Yum Project is the first research and community-based alternative crop planting initiative to promote human-elephant coexistence. Now, some similar projects will be carried out in Sri Lanka.

Human activity has shrunk the size of wild animals the world over, and yet recent research has found many mammals (哺乳动物) living near cities have become steadily larger,   both in length and in weight.

“That wasn’t what we expected to find at all,” says Robert Guralnick, who studies biodiversity informatics at the Florida Museum. Expanding urban environments grow much hotter than natural habitats (生长环境), and warmer temperatures usually benefit mammals that have a smaller, more energy-saving figure — a principle of biology known as Bergmann’s rule.

As the world grows warmer, some scientists have worried that mammals living near cities are supposed to grow smaller, possibly reducing their fitness as a species and, no doubt, the fitness of being threateners (威胁者), too. But even with climate change, that might not happen. As it turns out, there’s another factor in determining a mammal’s size that might compete with or even go beyond temperature, and that is food.

In and around cities with large populations, where high-energy human foods are more widely available and hunters are fewer and farther in between, new research discovered that most of the mammal species studied appear to be growing in size, not shrinking. According to careful measurements of more than 100 species from North America, gathered from museum collections over the past 80 years, the main reason is not a city’s temperature. Instead, the greatest increases in weight and body length appear to lie among those mammals that live near the most humans, regardless of how hot their surroundings are.

As climate change grows worse, there is, of course, the possibility that that might change, but at least for now, it seems that wolves, deer, bats, and other mammals in North America could be affected more by city populations than city climates.

If we want to preserve the mammals that exist today for the future, it’s important that we know how human civilization is shaping their size, behavior and well-being. In a rapidly changing world, that knowledge could mean the difference between ongoing life and dying out.

Americans love their pets. They consider them part of the family. Sometimes people spend hundreds of dollars buying animals from pet stores. Many of these dogs and cats are fine, but some are not healthy.

The best way to find a healthy pet is to visit the Humane Society in your area. There are millions of wonderful animals looking for homes, and most have been checked over by vets. The people at the Humane Society will ask some questions to make sure their animal is going to a home that is safe, healthy and loving. They may ask if you have children or other animals, and how those animals might relate to a new friend. They may also ask if you will keep the animal inside or outside.

When adopting, don’t forget that in future there will be vet bills. Kittens and puppies need their shots and check-ups, just like children. Of course, as your pet ages, it may have medical problems.

As far as visiting the vet, your pet probably won’t enjoy the trip, so make it as stress-free as possible. Pick a vet who is gentle and caring. Ask your friends for suggestions. Ask your vet how much money each procedure will cost so you won't get an unwelcome surprise when you see the bill. And decide how far you are willing to go to save your pet if it gets really sick. When you get home from the vet’s, be sure to give your pet a little treat to show it how well it behaved and how proud you ae of it.

Having a pet is one of life's greatest pleasures. The way to spend the most quality time with them is to make sure they are healthy and happy at the start. Enjoy!