Crunching Numbers | 7,000

There are just 7,000 New Zealand dolphins left in the wild; in 1970, there were 30,000

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

"For the small population around New Zealand's North Island (known as the Maui's dolphin), it's even more critical—there are fewer than 100 left alive," according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

"Unless the government acts now, the Maui's will be gone in as little as 38 years.""It's fishing nets that will kill this unique little dolphin. They are dying in nets at a horrifying rate. Their fate is in the hands of the New Zealand Government, but the government can save them. It really is quite simple—all the dolphins need to ensure their future, is a safe place to live—an area free from the death-nets that will cause their extinction."

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image: WDCS

Crunching Numbers, 105

The number of years you will have to wait to see the next transit of Venus, if you miss the upcoming one next month

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

For sky-watchers, the so-called "transit of Venus" (June 5-6, 2012) is one of the 21st century's main events.

The exceedingly rare phenomenon—in which the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth and becoming visible against the solar disk—will not occur again until December 10, 2117.

The Exploratorium website will have a webcast of the Transit of Venus, featuring a telescope feed and audio commentary every 30 minutes, beginning June 5 at 22:00 UT.

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• Find a Transit of Venus event near you (Night Sky Network)
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image: Transit of Venus, June 8, 2004. (credit: Jan Herold, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 140

The number of battery-caged hens who were destined for slaughter, rescued by Canadians for Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CEFTA)

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." -- Albert Schweitzer

"The hens had spent more than a year crammed into battery cages—these are barren wire cages so small the birds can’t even spread their wings," writes Laura Simpson on Care2. "The [rescued] hens were given a second chance at life and are now able to stretch their wings and legs, have dustbaths, preen and feel the sun on their backs and the grass beneath their feet."

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) notes that caged hens "suffer from the denial of many natural behaviors such as nesting, perching, and dustbathing, all important for hen welfare. Numerous scientists and other experts [PDF] have spoken clearly about the animal welfare problems with battery cages. One such scientist, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Konrad Lorenz, said:

'The worst torture to which a battery hen is exposed is the inability to retire somewhere for the laying act. For the person who knows something about animals it is truly heart-rending to watch how a chicken tries again and again to crawl beneath her fellow cagemates to search there in vain for cover.'"

Watch the video showing the first tentative steps taken by the rescued hens.



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image: An Anopheles stephensi mosquito is obtaining a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis. Note the droplet of blood being expelled from the abdomen after having engorged itself on its host’s blood. This mosquito is a known malarial vector with a distribution that ranges from Egypt all the way to China. (credit: CDC, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 300

The number of milliliters of blood an Arctic caribou can lose daily from being attacked by mosquitoes

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

Today on WNYC, Brian Lehrer interviewed Robert Sullivan, author of The Thoreau You Don't Know: What the Prophet of Environmentalism Really Meant, who said that the warm winter could lead to a more intense mosquito season.

They discussed mosquito control, ways to prevent getting bitten and the difference between the mosquito sexes.

But what they didn't discuss was the idea of eradicating mosquitoes completely. In an excellent article in Nature, Janet Fang explores the consequences if we eliminated the pest from the world.

Jittawadee Murphy of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, has studied mosquitoes for two decades. She would be happy if they went extinct.

Entomologist Carlos Brisola Marcondes of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil, says, "The elimination of Anopheles would be very significant for mankind."

But Bruce Harrison, an entomologist at the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Winston-Salem, sees problems for other species if mosquitoes were gone. He estimates that migratory bird populations in the tundra could be cut in half if they didn't have mosquitoes to eat.

"Mosquitoes consume up to 300 millilitres of blood a day from each animal in a caribou herd, which are thought to select paths facing into the wind to escape the swarm," writes Fang.

"A small change in path can have major consequences in an Arctic valley through which thousands of caribou migrate, trampling the ground, eating lichens, transporting nutrients, feeding wolves, and generally altering the ecology. Taken all together, then, mosquitoes would be missed in the Arctic—but is the same true elsewhere?"

• Do you think we should cause the extinction of mosquitoes? [add comment]
• What do you do to avoid being bitten? [add comment]

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image: An Anopheles stephensi mosquito is obtaining a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis. Note the droplet of blood being expelled from the abdomen after having engorged itself on its host’s blood. This mosquito is a known malarial vector with a distribution that ranges from Egypt all the way to China. (credit: CDC, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 18,000

More than 18,000 new species were discovered in 2011

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

The rate of new species being discovered every year is around 10,000, with the majority of them in the Amazon River basin. Last year, more than 18,000 new Earthlings have been officially described.

Every year, the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University releases a Top 10 New Species List to highlight the most intriguing discoveries of the past year, such as the newly-discovered Sneezing Monkey (pictured), so-named because they sneeze when it rains.

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• Check out 10 easy things you can do at home to protect endangered species (Endangered Species Coalition)
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image: Sneezing Monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) (credit: Thomas Geissmann/Fauna & Flora International, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 220 Million

The oldest known animal species has been around for 220 million years

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

The tadpole shrimp (Triops cancriformis), also known as the shield shrimp is so perfect, so adaptable, so stable, that unlike the vast majority of the Earth's species, it has barely evolved, remaining the same species for some 220 million years, around the time the earliest dinosaurs appeared. Based on fossil evidence, the tadpole shrimp's external morphology has remained unchanged. Triops cancriformis can be found in Europe, the Middle East and Japan, and is an endangered species in the United Kingdom.

"And they are tough," writes Roger Di Silvestro of the National Wildlife Federation. "They lay their eggs in water, and the eggs can survive freezing and, even more amazing, they can tolerate temperatures up to 176 degrees F, only 46 degrees short of boiling water. And they can withstand horrendous amounts of drying. If the water dries up, the eggs may remain fertile for 25 years (sometimes the eggs are sold in packets and can be revived and grown in an aquarium). They'll lie in the dirt waiting for the next rainstorm to revitalize them, or they may be blown around by the wind. Even so, if they eventually get to water, they will hatch."

READ MORE: http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2010/Worlds-oldest-animal-species.aspx

ACTION ALERTS

• Check out 10 easy things you can do at home to protect endangered species (Endangered Species Coalition)
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image: tadpole shrimp (Triops cancriformis), the oldest known species (credit: Federico Faci Miguel (Sekano), Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 20,000

The number of species to be assessed by the first global study of the extinction threat to marine life. Think about the species that human activity is pushing to extinction today, International Day for Biological Diversity

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

The Global Marine Species Assessment project is the first global review of the threat of extinction for every marine vertebrate species, plants and selected invertebrates, currently underway and conducted by the IUCN Species Programme Marine Biodiversity Unit. It began in 2005.

Though it is estimated that there are between 250,000 and one million marine species, this assessment is targeting some 20,000 species believed to be at some level of risk.

The upcoming workshop will be held in July in Dakar, Senegal, and will assess 350 species of West African shore fishes.

Today is International Day for Biological Diversity, set by the United Nations. This year's theme is marine biodiversity, which has been challenged by a host of human causes, such as overfishing (bluefin tuna, a sushi favorite, is on the edge), pollution, climate change and ocean acidification.

In honor of International Day for Biological Diversity, ARKive.org put together some awesome photos of marine species. Also, check out these 13 threatened animals of the ocean.

"From 1980 to 2008, an average of 52 species per year moved one category closer to extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Endangered Species—a rate that shows no signs of slowing," according to Worldwatch Institute.

"Although mass extinctions have occurred on Earth throughout geologic time, the current loss of biodiversity is the first to be caused overwhelmingly by a single species: humans."

• How will you celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity? [add comment]
• Do you avoid eating animals that are endangered, like bluefin tuna? [add comment]
• Are you at all concerned about the staggering loss of biodiversity, and if so, how has that affected your life? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Check out 10 easy things you can do at home to protect endangered species (Endangered Species Coalition)
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image: Baby leatherback sea turtle, a critically endangered species (credit: Dtobias, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 4,700

The number of killer asteroids that NASA believes are out there

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

NASA has released the "best assessment yet of our solar system's population of potentially hazardous asteroids," based on data collected by the agency's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).

There are about 4,700 of them that are "big enough to survive passing through Earth's atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale."

Probably a good idea to let Willis, Thornton and Affleck know, just in case.

READ MORE: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/news/wise20120516.html

• What would you do if you found out a killer asteroid was going to hit your part of the planet? [add comment]
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image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Crunching Numbers | 3,200

There are only 3,200 wild tigers left. Think about them today, Endangered Species Day

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

We are in the middle of what has been dubbed the "Sixth Extinction." Mass planetary extinctions have happened only five other times in Earth's history.

The culprits this time around are humans: overpopulation, anthropogenic climate change, pollution, pesticides, overfishing, deforestation and razing the land for tourism, agriculture and industry.

IUCN director-general Julia Marton-Lefèvre warned, "Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live."

There are an estimated 3,200 tigers left in the wild. But you are one of some 7 billion Homo sapiens, the species responsible for their decline.

Today is Endangered Species Day. It's sad that so few people actually care about the mass extinction of species or do anything about it. Are you one of them?

• Do you avoid eating endangered animals, like tuna? [add comment]
• Did you know that there are several easy things you can do at home to help protect endangered species? [add comment]
• Are you concerned about the "Sixth Extinction"? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Check out 10 easy things you can do at home to protect endangered species (Endangered Species Coalition)
• Join Leonardo DiCaprio and WWF and help save the endangered tiger (Save Tigers Now)
• Draw the extinction symbol somewhere (Extinction Symbol)
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image: The endangered Malayan tiger (credit: B_cool from SIN, Singapore, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 650 and 50,000

There are more than 650 hydrofracking products that contain known or possible human carcinogens. 50,000 Californians have already signed petitions to ban fracking in their state

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday.]


According to the April 2011 report "Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing, which was issued by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Minority Staff, out of 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products, "[m]ore than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or listed as hazardous air pollutants."

"Across the United States, people are waking up to the threat fracking poses to our environment and health," said Josh Fox in a recent Food & Water Watch press release about the grassroots movement in California calling for a ban on fracking.

Fox's Emmy Award-winning documentary Gasland helped to raise public awareness on the dangers of hydrofracking. Around 50,000 Californians have signed petitions by Food & Water Watch and CREDO Action supporting the ban.

"Once you contaminate an aquifer, you can't go back—just ask the residents of Pavillion, Wyo., Dimock, Pa., or Garfield County, Colo. The evidence is indisputable that this destructive practice must be stopped."

• Would you be OK to have hydrofracking occur in your community? [add comment]


• Do you believe that fracking is dangerous for the environment and drinking water? [add comment]

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• Tell Governor Brown to ban franking in California (CREDO Action)
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image: NYC anti-fracking rally (credit: Owen Crowley, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC - The Amazon, Brazil, Flickr Creative Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 1.5 and 2

It takes 1.5 years for the Earth to regenerate the renewable resources that humans use in a year. At this rate, not even two Earths will sustain humanity by 2030.

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday.]

The WWF has released its latest Living Planet Report, the world's leading, science-based analysis on the impact of human activity on the planet.It's main finding is that we are causing an "ecological overshoot."

The report states:

"Humanity's annual demand on the natural world has exceeded what the Earth can renew in a year since the 1970s. This 'ecological overshoot' has continued to grow over the years, reaching a 50 per cent deficit in 2008. This means that it takes 1.5 years for the Earth to regenerate the renewable resources that people use, and absorb the CO2 waste they produce, in that same year."

"We are living as if we have an extra planet at our disposal," writes Jim Leape, director general of WWF International, in the report's foreword. "We are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide, and unless we change course that number will grow very fast--by 2030, even two planets will not be enough."

• Do you know what your carbon footprint is? [add comment]
• Do you consider human overpopulation to be a major issue? [add comment]
• If so, what can be done about it? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Calculate your carbon footprint (Carbon Footprint Calculator)
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image: Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. "The Amazon Rainforest appears to have been colored solid with a green crayon in the western portion of this true-color image of northern Brazil captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on July 1, 2002. The Amazon River flows into the scene at the center left edge, a meandering brown line that widens as first the Rio Negro joins it from the north and then the Madeira joins it from the south. The Amazon flows eastward, eventually spilling its brownish, sediment-laden waters out into the Atlantic Ocean. At bottom right and bottom center, deforestation and cultivation are evident by the regular, rectangular shapes that delineate plots. Fire is a common means of clearing land and this type of slash-and-burn agriculture is having a devastating impact on plant and animal communities as well as people who are native to the forests. MODIS has detected numerous fires (red dots) and thick smoke is visible at bottom left. Once an impassable jungle, the Amazon is now crossed by at least a few roads, which make pale green lines across the dense forest. Cross hairs extending outward from the road may be a harbinger of future development. In the false-color image, dense vegetation is deep orange-gold, while areas that have been deforested are paler yellow. Are that appear pale green or blueish green are naturally occurring areas of less dense vegetation. Water is dark blue or black." (credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC - The Amazon, Brazil, Wikimedia Commons)

Crunching Numbers | 121

The number of megapixels of the highest-ever resolution image of Earth, recently taken by a Russian weather satellite

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday.]


The most famous image of Earth is the "Blue Marble" photograph, which was taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft on December 7, 1972.

But now there's a new image of our home planet that may eclipse that iconic image, an image that Gizmodo has described as "the definitive photograph of planet Earth."

While NASA's "Blue Marble" is a composite of many images, this new photo is, incredibly, one single shot.

Taken by Electro-L, Russia's new weather satellite that is orbiting the planet some 36,000 kilometers in the sky, the image is the highest resolution image ever taken of Earth. At 121 megapixels, it works out to a mind-boggling 0.62 miles per pixel.

Read more at Huffington Post.

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• Public comments due May 18: Help stop land exchange and road construction in the Izembek Wilderness in Alaska (Wilderness Watch)
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• Ars Animalis: Looking at animals throughout the history of art
• Women's History Month: Remembering 22 women in science
• Purity Month: Looking at 100%
• Instead of This, Try This: Starting the new year with change
• Victory Month: Celebrating positive change through grassroots action
• Of Rice and Men: Cooking the world's most important grain for human nutrition
• 21 Days, 21 Reasons, 21 Recipes, 21 Quotes: Eating plants, loving animals
• Rich Dog, Poor Dog: Considering man's best friend
• Physicists & Priests: Looking at the relationship of science and religion
• Deep Space: Staring at the stars
• Gray Matters: Thinking about thinking
• Flower Power: Stopping to smell the angiosperms
• Animal Cruelty: Looking at the devil within
• Chemical Month: Exploring the vast laboratory of our daily lives
• Africa Month: Visiting the world's second-largest continent
• Reports from 2050: Imagining the future

image credit: NTsOMZ, Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring

Crunching Numbers | 240

The number of wolves living outside of Yellowstone Park that are in danger of being killed, because the Department of the Interior's plans to allow wolf hunting on Wyoming national park lands

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday.]


"Why would our government permit the shooting of wolves in the very places that were set aside as refuges for wild animals and for the enjoyment of the American people?" asked Sharon Mader, Sr. Program Manager, Grand Teton, National Parks Conservation Association, in a recent email.

"Although 53,000 of NPCA's supporters have already expressed overwhelming dissatisfaction with the Department of the Interior's plans to allow wolf hunting on Wyoming national park lands, officials have ignored our voices," said Mader. "We are now focusing our attention on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

Read more: http://my.npca.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=12821&em_id=10301.0

• Should wildlife be protected in America's public land? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Tell USFWS Director Dan Ashe to prohibit wolf hunting and lethal state wolf control inside Grand Teton National Park and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway by not de-listing wolves in Wyoming. The rule must be amended to clearly state that wolves are under the management of the National Park Service and that hunting will be prohibited. These parks deserve the same level of protection that has been given Yellowstone, and hunting wolves needs to be prohibited--now and in the future. (National Parks Conservation Association)
• Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter

PAST SERIES

• Ars Animalis: Looking at animals throughout the history of art
• Women's History Month: Remembering 22 women in science
• Purity Month: Looking at 100%
• Instead of This, Try This: Starting the new year with change
• Victory Month: Celebrating positive change through grassroots action
• Of Rice and Men: Cooking the world's most important grain for human nutrition
• 21 Days, 21 Reasons, 21 Recipes, 21 Quotes: Eating plants, loving animals
• Rich Dog, Poor Dog: Considering man's best friend
• Physicists & Priests: Looking at the relationship of science and religion
• Deep Space: Staring at the stars
• Gray Matters: Thinking about thinking
• Flower Power: Stopping to smell the angiosperms
• Animal Cruelty: Looking at the devil within
• Chemical Month: Exploring the vast laboratory of our daily lives
• Africa Month: Visiting the world's second-largest continent
• Reports from 2050: Imagining the future

image: Grey wolf (Canis lupus); credit: Gunnar Ries Amphibol, Wikimedia Commons

Crunching Numbers | 20

The number of species of grouper that are at risk of extinction due to overfishing

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

There are 67 grouper recipes featured on Cooks.com. The Food Network website has 66. The fish prized for its mild, high-quality flesh. One of Florida's most popular fish, grouper is a main target for sport fishing.

But as with other fish, its popularity will be its downfall. According to a new report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission, 20 species of grouper (12 percent) are at risk of extinction due to overfishing.

The 2012 Culinary Chart of Fish Alternatives, created by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, suggests two alternatives to grouper: Mahi Mahi (troll/pole-caught from the U.S. Atlantic) and Striped Bass (farmed or wild-caught). If we can ease up on eating grouper, their fish stocks will better be able to recover.

"Fish are one of the last animal resources commercially harvested from the wild by humans, and groupers are among the most desirable fishes," said Dr. Luiz Rocha, Curator of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, and one of the paper's authors, in a press release.

"Unfortunately, the false perception that marine resources are infinite is still common in our society, and in order to preserve groupers and other marine resources we need to reverse this old mentality."

Check out the 2012 Culinary Chart of Fish Alternatives: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_alternatives.aspx

An even better alternative? Join former president Bill Clinton, Andre 3000, Casey Affleck, Erykah Badu, Alec Baldwin, Ed Begley Jr., Ellen DeGeneres, Emily Deschanel, Woody Harrelson, Chrissie Hynde, Anthony Kiedis, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Russell Simmons and the growing number of people who have made the most ethical dietary choice of them all: veganism.

• Do you avoid fish that are endangered? [add comment]
• Would you consider choosing sustainable fish species when you buy fish? [add comment]
• Should overfishing be a primary concern? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Download a Seafood Watch Card to make better fish shopping decisions (Monterey Bay Aquarium)
• Thinking about a diet that doesn't mean killing animals? Get a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit and take the "Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days" (PETA)
• Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter

PAST SERIES

• Ars Animalis: Looking at animals throughout the history of art
• Women's History Month: Remembering 22 women in science
• Purity Month: Looking at 100%
• Instead of This, Try This: Starting the new year with change
• Victory Month: Celebrating positive change through grassroots action
• Of Rice and Men: Cooking the world's most important grain for human nutrition
• 21 Days, 21 Reasons, 21 Recipes, 21 Quotes: Eating plants, loving animals
• Rich Dog, Poor Dog: Considering man's best friend
• Physicists & Priests: Looking at the relationship of science and religion
• Deep Space: Staring at the stars
• Gray Matters: Thinking about thinking
• Flower Power: Stopping to smell the angiosperms
• Animal Cruelty: Looking at the devil within
• Chemical Month: Exploring the vast laboratory of our daily lives
• Africa Month: Visiting the world's second-largest continent
• Reports from 2050: Imagining the future

image: The critically endangered Atlantic goliath grouper, Epinephelus itajara, from the subtropical and tropical Atlantic (credit: Athila Bertoncini, California Academy of Sciences)

Crunching Numbers | 10 Billion & 55 Billion

According to Farm Animal Rights Movement, approximately 10 billion land animals are killed every year for food in the United States, and 55 billion are killed worldwide.

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

A few weeks ago, Ariel Kaminer, who writes the column "The Ethicist" in the New York Times, invited readers to enter an essay contest to "tell us why it's ethical to eat meat."

"The contest was a stupendous success," said Kaminer. "We hoped to get a few dozen responses. We dreamed of getting a few hundred. In the end we got around 3,000."

Ond of the judges was New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman, who said, "20 or at most 50 years from now, those of us still alive will express incredulity at the way we once treated animals destined to become 'food.'"

Bittman's statement echoes a future envisioned by artist and animal acivist Sue Coe, a future when people will look back at our time and say, "those were the dark ages, when humans used to slaughter animals for food."

The Humane Society of the United States has recently released undercover video footage, shot in April 2012 at Wyoming Premium Farms, a pig factory farm in Wyoming owned by Itoham America, "showing workers kicking living piglets like soccer balls, swinging sick piglets in circles by their hind legs, striking mother pigs with their fists and repeatedly and forcefully kicking them as they resisted leaving their young."

Read more about the Ethicist essay contest: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/magazine/the-winner-of-our-contest-on-the-ethics-of-eating-meat.html

Read more about the undercover HSUS investigation: http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2012/05/wyoming_pig_investigation_050812.html

• If you eat meat, have you ever been vegetarian or vegan in the past? Why did you stop? [add comment]
• If you eat meat, have you ever considered becoming vegetarian or vegan? Why? [add comment]
• Is it ethical to eat meat? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Tell Tyson Foods to ensure better treatment for pigs in their supply chain. The Humane Society of the United States released undercover video footage revealing cruel treatment of animals and inhumane conditions at a Wyoming pig breeding facility owned by a supplier to Tyson Foods. Tyson now admits that it purchases pigs from the facility HSUS investigated and that Tyson will at least temporarily suspend purchases from them. However, Tyson needs to do more: It must stop allowing its suppliers to confine pigs in tiny metal “gestation crates” where they cannot even turn around for nearly their whole lives -- a standard pork industry practice. The investigation revealed workers kicking piglets like soccer balls, swinging sick piglets in circles, and ruthlessly beating mother pigs. Along with individual acts of animal abuse, this investigation also highlights the suffering pigs endure when locked in gestation crates. Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Safeway, Compass Group (the world's largest food service provider), and other major food companies have announced that they'll remove gestation crates from their supply chains. As several leading pork producers are actively moving in that direction, Tyson lags far behind and still defends this extreme confinement. We need your help to move the company to do the right thing. (Humane Society of the United States)
• Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter

PAST SERIES

• Ars Animalis: Looking at animals throughout the history of art
• Women's History Month: Remembering 22 women in science
• Purity Month: Looking at 100%
• Instead of This, Try This: Starting the new year with change
• Victory Month: Celebrating positive change through grassroots action
• Of Rice and Men: Cooking the world's most important grain for human nutrition
• 21 Days, 21 Reasons, 21 Recipes, 21 Quotes: Eating plants, loving animals
• Rich Dog, Poor Dog: Considering man's best friend
• Physicists & Priests: Looking at the relationship of science and religion
• Deep Space: Staring at the stars
  
• Gray Matters: Thinking about thinking
  
• Flower Power: Stopping to smell the angiosperms
• Animal Cruelty: Looking at the devil within
• Chemical Month: Exploring the vast laboratory of our daily lives
• Africa Month: Visiting the world's second-largest continent
• Reports from 2050: Imagining the future

image: video still from undercover footage taken by HSUS, shot in April 2012, taken at Wyoming Premium Farms, a pig factory farm in Wheatland, Wyo., owned by Itoham America, Inc. (Humane Society)

Crunching Numbers | 5,000,000 & 200

A bloodhound can detect a single scent from among 5 million different scents. Today, these unique and lovable dogs are joining the fight to save the 200 critically endangered mountain gorillas remaining in Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series Crunching Numbers.]

Bloodhounds have one of the most sensitive noses in the world. It's no surprise they are prized police dogs, particularly for search and rescue (SAR) missions.

One of the earliest attempts to use bloodhounds in detective work was in 1888, when Sir Charles Warren, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London, performed a test with a pair of bloodhounds during the search for Jack the Ripper. Though the test was a failure—one of the dogs bit Sir Warren and they both ending up running away—many of today's police forces use them.

And they are quickly becoming the best friends of the rangers in Virunga National Park, a 7,800-square-kilometer (3,011-square-mile) World Heritage Site on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Virunga is home to approximately 200 of the world's critically endangered mountain gorillas who live on the slopes of the Virunga volcano range. And bloodhounds, known as "Congohounds," are helping park rangers track, apprehend and arrest poachers.

"I've owned bloodhound dogs for the last 37 years—almost all my life—and worked at training them for the last 20 years," said Congohounds Project Leader Marlene Zahner. "Bloodhounds are my favorite kind of dogs."

"They're independent and if they focus on a goal, they’ll get it," she says. "They have strong personalities so they don’t really need to be aggressive dogs. They’re affectionate but not in a dependent way." She adds, "I'm just still, after all these years, impressed with what they can do. And I still don't know how they do it.”

Read more about the Congohounds: http://congohounds.gorillacd.org/

ACTION ALERTS

• Sign a petition to stop the slaughter and exploitation of mountain gorillas in Africa (Force Change)
• Support the Congohounds
• Support the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund
• Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter

PAST SERIES

• Ars Animalis: Looking at animals throughout the history of art
• Women's History Month: Remembering 22 women in science
• Purity Month: Looking at 100%
• Instead of This, Try This: Starting the new year with change
• Victory Month: Celebrating positive change through grassroots action
• Of Rice and Men: Cooking the world's most important grain for human nutrition
• 21 Days, 21 Reasons, 21 Recipes, 21 Quotes: Eating plants, loving animals
• Rich Dog, Poor Dog: Considering man's best friend
• Physicists & Priests: Looking at the relationship of science and religion
• Deep Space: Staring at the stars
  
• Gray Matters: Thinking about thinking
  
• Flower Power: Stopping to smell the angiosperms
• Animal Cruelty: Looking at the devil within
• Chemical Month: Exploring the vast laboratory of our daily lives
• Africa Month: Visiting the world's second-largest continent
• Reports from 2050: Imagining the future

image: Congohounds with Congohound Project Leader Marlene Zahner and Virunga Park Rangers (Congohounds)