Bieber's pet monkey impounded —

Having seized Mally, Bieber's pet monkey, German authorities now require the Canadian pop star to present health and license papers within a month if it is to be returned. [Reuters] — Rob •

Why do dogs bark? (And what are they saying when they do?) —

Barking might just be a reflex for agitated dogs. It might be a side-effect of domestication — i.e., when you select for less-aggressive animals you get ones that tend to bark. Or, it really might have meaning, both for other dogs and for humans. At Scientific American, Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods describe some of the research on dog communication, including studies that show both humans and dogs can tell the difference between barks associated with, say, food, and barks associated with the presence of a threatening stranger. — Maggie •

Behold, a truly fantastic gift for the cat in your life — catnip-filled soft toys shaped like amoebas, cyanobacteria, and (pictured above) giardia.

Giardia are microscopic parasites that can invade the guts of vertebrate animals, including cats and humans. Generally, you get it by ingesting giardia-infested feces. For humans, this mostly means contaminated drinking water, because giardia are harder to kill than you might think. They can survive quite happily outside of a host and are resistant to chlorine.

Blue giardia cat toy

Read more on giardia (and see pictures) at the CDC website

Mario would be proud. From shironekoshiro.

Created by combatcameraman on b3ta. Felix the cat! (Via: crackajack.de. Thanks, Tara McGinley)

[Video Link] From Shironekoshiro.

United Airlines killed my golden retriever, says supermodel —

Maggie Rizer, a well-known fashion model, blames United Airlines for the death of her Golden Retriever, Bea, who suffered heat stroke and died during a cross-country flight two weeks ago. From NY Daily News: "Their plane had been delayed in New York and the captain told passengers to turn on their air vents to help circulate air, but Rizer believes gusts of hot air killed her dog in the belly of the plane, where there isn’t the same quality of circulation as there is in the cabin." — Xeni •

Happy Caturday. (thanks, Tara McGinley)

[Video Link, via shironekoshiro].

[Video Link]

(Thanks, Tara McGinley!)

Wearing lavender sunglasses (well, for a little while). [Video Link]. From Shironekoshiro's YouTube channel, a daily source of cute comfort in my life.

Boing Boing reader Benjamin G. Levy, a Mac computing consultant based in Los Angeles, shot and shared this photo in the Boing Boing Flickr pool. Happy Caturday.