What do chimpanzees and motor oil have in common? If you said nothing, you probably missed Super Bowl 43, when these otherwise incongruent entities shared the screen in a 30-second commercial for Castrol Edge.

In the spot (titled "Grease Monkeys" despite the fact that its simian stars are not...

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that children today spend far more time engaged in electronic media than experiencing nature. (With the average American child "plugged in" for six hours each day, how much time could possibly be left for outdoor play?) What is stunning,...

As reported here last week, rocker Slash (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) and "Golden Girl" Betty White have joined forces to battle activists seeking to cease construction of the L.A. Zoo's Asian elephant habitat.

White, who has been involved with the zoo for 40 years, has staunchly...

Slash and Betty White join forces in fight to save the zoo's elephant:

They say politics makes for strange bedfellows, and few pairings could be stranger than rocker Slash (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) and Golden Girl Betty White. But both have thrown their weight behind the Los...

The celebrity support behind the push to cease construction of the Los Angeles Zoo's new elephant habitat has garnered national attention. And no wonder. When Lily Tomlin proclaims "The word 'zoo' is elephant-speak for Guantanamo," the headlines practically write themselves. (Following Tomlin's lead, NBC Los Angeles...

My last post here, about the efforts by animal activists to halt construction of the Los Angeles Zoo's new elephant habitat, sparked more debate than anything I've previously written. As I've followed the firestorm of comments here and in other media outlets, I've been increasingly struck by...

A small, vocal group of animal activists in Los Angeles is mounting a campaign to halt construction on the new elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo, and to send the Zoo's Asian bull elephant, Billy, to a sanctuary.

As a writer, I know the power of...

Think your pension is in peril? It could be worse. You could be a chimpanzee.

Prompted by yet another dire report about the numbers of Americans facing poverty in retirement, I visited an online financial site to determine whether I'm fated to join their ranks. After...

It's every girl's fantasy to be locked in a shopping mall overnight, right?

Wrong.

When I was young, I fantasized about being accidentally locked inside the library after closing time. To have the entire library to myself for the night! To page through book after book after book...

Guys in gorilla suits can be really funny -- especially when they show up in unexpected places. So when a tuxedo-clad gorilla stomped onstage during last night's fifth season premiere of Last Comic Standing, I thought it was a great visual gag.

Then he opened his mouth.

...

An Austrian court will soon decide whether a chimpanzee can be legally declared a person. The chimp in question, Hiasl (pronounced "HEE-zul"), made news when the sanctuary where he resides was facing bankruptcy. A concerned donor earmarked a modest sum to Hiasl. Schoolteacher Paula Stibbe petitioned the court to...

Last night's live airing of the Scripps National Spelling Bee was perhaps the most gripping television I've seen in recent years. I didn't set out to watch it; the etymological Olympics weren't even remotely on my radar screen. My husband and stepson were flipping through channels and bemoaning the...