A rescue group made sure hunting dogs Herbier and Hilda were adopted as a pair since Hilda helps Herbier get around.

For more than 50 years, guide dogs have been trained to help humans with vision challenges live without boundaries and enjoy independence in their homes, offices, and the community at large. Given dogs' ability to be trained, along with their skills, it seemed unavoidable that there would be an unofficial guide dog for a blind dog.

Almost more exciting is the fact that one such set, which was abandoned together in Salem about a month ago, has found a new forever home that will allow the blind dog and his caretaker dog to remain together.

A little more than a month ago, someone abandoned three dogs over the fence of a local gentleman who formerly rescued greyhounds. The man no longer rescues the little dogs of being long of body, short of leg and droopy of ears, but he did know to take them to the Marion County Dog Services shelter.

The county shelter knew immediately to contact Diane Young at Salem Dogs, a local dog rescue known for being heavy on love and affection that the county most likely has on speed dial.

The rescue director responded in time, taking in the two of the dogs. One black male was healthy and passed tests quickly and easily. He was put up for adoption at the shelter and was quickly accepted.

The other two are between the ages of 4 and 5, required a bit more care. Hilda, a long-haired, black-dappled female, was obviously connected to Herbier, a light-brown, smooth-coated brown greyhound who had vision problems.

On a remote island in Norway, around 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, sits the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (保险库).【小题1】But deep inside, there are hundreds of thousands of seed samples (样本). According to the most recent count, this vault holds 890,000 samples of seeds from all around the world!

【小题2】There are over 1,000 seed banks like that around the world. They were created to store crop seeds in case they disappear from nature. And the one in Svalbard, Norway, is just one of them. It is there in case any of these seed banks get destroyed.

Inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the seeds sit sealed in boxes. The temperature stays at -18°C. Scientists monitor the moisture levels and temperature inside the bank. 【小题3】

But in February 2018, the Norwegian government announced that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault would be getting some updates.【小题4】Why?

In general, these updates will make the vault more secure. In 2017, outdoor temperatures in the region were warmer than usual. The warm temperatures melted the permafrost (永久冻土层) in the region.【小题5】 It didn’t affect any of the seeds, but it got scientists to think about future risks. For example, rising temperatures due to climate change could make more permafrost melt.

A new study has found that all dogs have different personalities—even dogs of the same breed(品种).

Elinor Karlsson studies genetics at the University of Massachusetts. She co-wrote a report about the study, which appeared recently in the publication Science.

Karlsson said, “Every dog really is an individual,” noting that there is “a huge amount of difference” even between dogs that look the same.

At a New York dog park, dog owners talked about the different characteristics of their pets. Elizabeth Kelly owns an English springer spaniel. She called her dog friendly, but also “kind of the queen bee.” In other words, her dog likes to act like it is in charge of other dogs. Suly described her yellow Labrador as “calm, lazy and shy.”

The idea of dog breeds is quite recent. Around 160 years ago, humans began to breed dogs to have certain physical qualities, such as fur, color and ear shape.

Karlsson said her aim was to learn how much a dog’s breed affects their behavior. The answer? Breed does not decide an individual dog’s personality.

Karlsson’s team gathered information from 18,000 dog owners and studied the genetic code of over 2,000 dogs. The researchers found that some qualities are based on genetics. However, it is not sure that two dogs of the same breed will behave in the same way.

For example, huskies and beagles, may be more likely to howl—or make a long, loud barking sound. But many of these dogs do not howl, as owner observations showed.