Life turned remote during the COVID-19 pandemic. People worked, learned to cook, chatted with loved ones and completed countless other tasks via video.

Some cats even visited the virtual veterinarian as part of research out of University of California, Davis.

A team of researchers measured how cats reacted to in-clinic appointments versus those conducted by webcam to evaluate if telemedicine could increase access to care for an estimated 45.3 million feline-friendly households in the United States.

Mules are stoic working animals. They can be sick or in pain and by the time signs of illness are obvious, it could be too late for owners and veterinarians to intervene.

But new research out of University of California, Davis, could unlock that mystery by decoding whether body posture and facial expressions such as flaring nostrils and ear movement can be clues to something more.  

A unique research collaboration involving animal science students, the UC Davis Intercollegiate Equestrian Team and more than 700 hours of video could help enrich the lives of stabled horses.

The subjects had names like Rogue, Sparky, Bella and Fargo and the research involved tools such as a Beethoven symphony, shatter-proof mirrors, slow feeding forage balls and giant rubber jolly balls.

When it comes to American barn owls, forget spring cleaning. 

The best time of year to clean out nest boxes to ready them for breeding pairs is the fall months of September through November, according to research out of the University of California, Davis, that analyzed nearly a century of banding and other records. 

The world’s abalone are threatened, endangered or otherwise vulnerable in nearly every corner of the planet. While captive breeding efforts are underway for some species, these giant sea snails are notoriously difficult to spawn. If only we could wave a magic wand to know when abalone are ready to reproduce, without even touching them. 

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have successfully produced a bull calf, named Cosmo, who was genome-edited as an embryo so that he’ll produce more male offspring. The research was presented in a poster today (July 23) at the American Society of Animal Science meeting.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the rural parts of the UC Davis campus have seen an influx of visitors seeking alternative recreation spots close to home — sometimes too many visitors and sometimes with adverse consequences.

Officials say habitat is being damaged, agricultural research threatened and wildlife impacted in the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve and other areas of south and west campus.

The gene-editing technology CRISPR has been used for a variety of agricultural and public health purposes — from growing disease-resistant crops to, more recently, a diagnostic test for the virus that causes COVID-19.

The dedication and character of UC Davis students is clearly evident at the Goat Teaching and Research Facility these days.

“Operations need to continue at the goat facility because the goats need to be fed and milked—regardless of current events,” said Teresa Greenhut, a student resident at the goat barn and adjacent creamery.