IN THEIR attempts to explain the global epidemic of obesity,
researchers have often taken to fingering culprits beyond
people's direct control. It is now believed that increased
levels of stress, climate change and even artificial light at
night may contribute to expanding waistlines. However, if such
factors affect humans, they ought, in principle, to have
similarly nefarious effects on other creatures. This should hold
especially true for species that are physiologically similar to
people and live in proximity to them. Pet owners have long
fretted that this may, indeed, be happening.  Of course,
anecdotal evidence carries little weight, so a group of
researchers led by Yann Klimentidis, of the University of
Alabama, decided to check whether animal obesity rates do in
fact mirror the worrying trend among people. They published
their findings this week in the Proceedings of the Royal
Society.  Dr Klimentidis and his team set about their task by
scouring online repositories of scientific papers, contacting
fel