Last week’s AHD Bulletin –
- Animal Health Digest Bulletin, March 19, 2026. Link.
Most read posts from March 19, 2026 AHD Bulletin –
- All work and no play? Link.
- Active listening: 6 strategies so others feel seen, heard, understood. Link.
- Understanding your window of tolerance. Link.
==========================
Study: Humans preferred for empathy, but AI scores higher
Source: Kristin Flanary, LinkedIn, March 18, 2026. Link. When people were asked who they wanted empathy from in a hard moment, AI or a human, most chose the human. But when they rated the responses themselves, AI scored higher on empathy and feeling heard.
Dogs are wrong. Skip the French fries
Source: Dogster, March 18, 2026. Link. Cooked potatoes themselves aren’t toxic to dogs. Raw potatoes are. What happens when raw potatoes are cooked makes those fries a no-no due to oils, salt and more. Preparation matters.
‘The Last of Us’ on eight legs
Source: The New York Times, March 20, 2026. Link. Alexander Bentley, a herpetologist, often leads regular tour groups through a stretch of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. He spots lizards, vipers and frogs, and he especially enjoys pointing out cordyceps — a parasitic fungi that kills its insect hosts and is the inspiration for the postapocalyptic franchise “The Last of Us.”
Eastern monarch butterfly numbers increase, still below historic levels
Source: Xerces Society, March 17, 2026. Link. The population of monarch butterflies in Mexico increased 64 percent this winter, compared with the same period in 2025, offering a glimmer of hope for an insect considered at risk of extinction. Also see: The Guardian, March 20, 2026. Link. Threats from habitat loss, climate crisis and pesticides remain.
Racing fatalities down again in 2025
Source: Paulick Report, March 24, 2026. Link. The Equine Injury Database reports the rate of fatal injury was 1.07 per 1,000 starts; tracks covered by HISA reported a rate of 1.04 per 1,000 starts. Based on the 2025 data, 99.89 percent of flat racing starts at the racetracks participating in the EID were completed without a fatality.