Woolworths loyalty program to cost $500 million a year, says Deutsche Bank

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Woolworths' new loyalty program: what's in it for you?

Woolworths have dumped Qantas in their revamped loyalty program, but is it better and how does it compare to Coles' Flybuys?

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Woolworths could recoup some of the cost of its $500 million loyalty program by asking suppliers to fund customer rewards and by trimming promotional spending.

Woolworths has not ruled out tapping suppliers to contribute to the new program, which offers reward card holders discounts or rewards averaging 15 per cent on about 500 food, grocery and liquor products.

"At this point we are just launching, the multi-million investment comes from new investment and more effective restructuring of our program," Woolworths Food Group managing director Brad Banducci told Fairfax Media.

Woolworths Food Group managing director Brad Banducci says the new loyalty scheme will be an attractive vehicle for suppliers to promote their products. Photo: Anthony Johnson

"We are however very confident this is going to be a very attractive vehicle for suppliers to promote their product," Mr Banducci said. "In the future if they wish to participate we can certainly look at how that works for them."

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Suppliers said they had not been yet been contacted by Woolworths about the new program, which kicks off on Wednesday with a multi-million marketing campaign and a mail-out of nine million Woolworths Rewards cards to existing Everyday Rewards cardholders.

However, one major supplier said it would be "out of character for Woolworths to fund the whole thing themselves."

The estimated $500 million spend was much higher than the cost of Qantas Frequent Flyer points, which was estimated to be between $60 million and $80 million a year. Photo: Louise Kennerley

Customer loyalty expert Dan McMahon, head of retail at ThoughtWorks, said food and grocery suppliers already provided a significant amount of value  to consumers through ongoing price promotions.

"Whether this allows them to gather broader support from supermarket suppliers or provide more clarity around the value of that support in return for more of those products being sold remains to be seen,"  Mr McMahon said.

Under the new program, customers will earn credits averaging 15 per cent of the value of selected products marked with orange tickets  -  including 45¢ off Tim Tams, $2 off a case of Chang beer, $1.10 off Golden Crumpets and 70¢ off Nurofen. When the value of credits reaches $10, customers scan their rewards card at the checkout and automatically receive $10 off their next grocery or BWS liquor shop.

Woolworths may tap suppliers or trim promotions to fund its new rewards scheme. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

According to analysis by the Australian Centre for Retail Studies at Monash Business School, the average Woolworths Rewards member would earn a $10 reward every 7.4 weeks after spending $107 a week. This equates to an earn rate or discount of 1.25 per cent, compared with an earn rate between 0.22 per cent and 0.42 per cent under Woolworths'  existing program (assuming customers redeem their points for domestic or international Qantas flights).

Based on Woolworths' food and liquor sales of $40 billion (excluding Dan Murphy's), the new loyalty offer will cost Woolworths around $500 million a year, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Simotas.

Mr Simotas said this was much higher than the cost of Qantas Frequent Flyer points, estimated to be between $60 million and $80 million a year. However, Woolworths was also spending on other loyalty offers, including discount fuel, grocery promotions, vouchers and gift cards.

Woolworths is scrapping Qantas frequent flyer points in favour of cash back on grocery and liquor bills. Photo: Peter Braig

"It is difficult to tell at this stage whether Woolworths will be spending more on its rewards program post the changes,"  Mr Simotas said.

Mr Simotas said that by removing the 'middle man' (Qantas Frequent Flyer) Woolworths should be able to deliver more value to customers for the same outlay and if this was communicated well the shift should be positive for Woolworths and loyalty card holders.

Woolworths could reduce the value of discounts on promotional items to fund the rewards and minimise the impact on margins.

For example, a box of Arnotts Shapes may be on promotion at $1.49, compared with a shelf price of $2.00. Woolworths could offer a promotional price of $1.65 and give loyalty card holders 20c in rewards.

Mr Simotas fears the new program could also confuse shoppers, as Woolworths will now have three colour-coded promotions or offers in stores -  red tickets under its "Low Price Always" offer, yellow tickets for short-term promotions and orange tickets for the new Woolworths Dollars program.

"While this program is more simple in some ways than the old one, it adds something else for customers to look out for in stores," he said. "In comparison, Coles' in-store value messaging is very simple and resonates well with customers."

However, Mr McMahon said one benefit of the new program was that it delivered "instant gratification" to card holders. "There's no inconvenient process where you need to log in and redeem your rewards," he said.

Coles said it had no plans to tweak its FlyBuys program, even though Woolworths claimed that customers could earn rewards twice as fast under the new scheme.

"At Coles, Flybuys members earn rewards on every dollar they spend in our supermarkets and fuel and liquor stores - not just the specific products we want them to buy," said Coles general manager Flybuys and loyalty, Adam Story.

"When redeeming their points, members can also choose from hundreds of reward options, including using Flybuys dollars to pay for their shopping or to receive gift cards, products, lifestyle experiences and travel."

China has a $1.65 trillion Ponzi finance problem as debt piles up

Chinese borrowers are taking on record amounts of debt to repay interest on their existing obligations, raising the risk of defaults and adding pressure on policy makers to keep financing costs low.

A street scene along Shanghai's Bund: Chinese borrowers are taking on record amounts of debt to pay interest on their existing debt, prompting the rise of zombie companies. Photo: Tamara Voninski

The amount of loans, bonds and shadow finance arranged to cover interest payments will probably rise 5 per cent this year to a record 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion), according to Beijing-based Hua Chuang Securities, whose lead fixed-income analyst was top-ranked by China's New Fortune magazine in 2012 and 2013. Dubbed "Ponzi finance" by Hyman Minsky, the use of borrowed funds to repay interest was seen by the late US economist as an unsustainable form of credit growth that could precipitate financial crises.

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Chinese companies are struggling to generate the cash flow needed to service their obligations as economic growth slows to the weakest pace in 25 years and corporate profits shrink. While the debt burden has been eased by six central bank interest-rate cuts in 12 months and a tumble in corporate borrowing costs to five-year lows, the number of defaults in China's onshore corporate bond market has increased to six this year from just one in 2014.

"Some Chinese firms have entered the Ponzi stage because return on investment has come down very fast," said Shi Lei, the Beijing-based head of fixed-income research at Ping An Securities, a unit of the nation's second biggest insurance company. "As a result, leverage will be rising and zombie companies increasing."

Latest failure

China Shanshui Cement Group became the latest company to default on yuan-denominated domestic notes last week as overcapacity in the industry hurt profits and a shareholder dispute stymied financing. State-owned steelmaker Sinosteel, which pushed back an interest payment on a bond last month, postponed it again this week.

Metrics of corporate health in Asia's largest economy have deteriorated as growth slowed. The number of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed companies that have less cash than short-term debt, net losses and contracting revenue has increased to 200 as of June from 115 in the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Borrowings climb

Total debt at listed companies has climbed to 141 per cent of common equity, based on a market-capitalisation weighted average, the highest level in three years.

While the total amount of debt issued to pay interest is projected by Hua Chuang Securities to increase, it's taking up a smaller portion of overall new credit. The firm predicts such borrowing will account for 45 per cent of new total social financing -- which includes bank loans, shadow banking credit and corporate bonds -- down from 50 per cent last year.

Plunging borrowing costs have made it less expensive for Chinese companies to gain access to fresh cash. The rate on five-year corporate debt with AAA ratings dropped to a five-year low of 3.69 per cent on October 29 and was last at 3.95 per cent.

At the same time, policy makers are taking steps to insure credit keeps flowing to borrowers in need. Chinese banks shouldn't cut or withdraw lending to companies in "temporary" difficulties, Premier Li Keqiang said last month, adding that the government will take steps to prevent systemic risks. The People's Bank of China has cut its benchmark one-year lending rate to 4.35 per cent from 6 per cent a year ago, helping to fuel 6.6 per cent growth in outstanding corporate bonds this year to 19.2 trillion yuan as of October.

Defaults forecast

"The lower funding rates have lessened the interest burden on Chinese companies," said Xia Le, a Hong Kong-based economist at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

Defaults will probably keep rising as profits fail to keep up with interest expenses at some Chinese borrowers, according to Zhou Hao, a senior economist at Commerzbank in Singapore. Earnings at Chinese industrial firms shrank for a fourth straight month in September, while producer prices fell for the 44th consecutive month in October. China's economic growth will probably slow to 6.9 per cent this year, the weakest pace since 1990, from 7.3 per cent in 2014, according to economist estimates.

"We will see more defaults and rising bad loans in the financial system," Zhou said.

Bloomberg

Woolworths' new loyalty scheme a better deal, but unlikely to win new customers

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Woolworths' loyalty program versus Coles' Fly Buys

Woolworths have dumped Qantas in their revamped loyalty program, but is it better and how does it compare to Coles' Fly Buys?

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Woolworths' new loyalty scheme is a better deal for existing shoppers but is unlikely to win the struggling supermarket new customers, industry watchers say.

The supermarket announced on Sunday it would ditch its existing system, which rewards customers with Qantas frequent flyer points, with a simpler and more generous scheme that is based around discounts on groceries and alcohol.

The basic simple question I said was 'how much do I have to spend to get a dollar?', and they really couldn't answer.

Dr Paul Harrison

Under the new system, shoppers receive "Woolworths Dollars" when they buy products with orange price tickets, earning about 15 per cent of the value of those products on their loyalty card.

Woolworths remains the most shorted stock on the ASX by value, Morgans says. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

Customers can then spend their reward at Woolworths supermarkets or BWS liquor stores when they accumulate $10.

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A typical shopper will save about $1.25 for every they $100 spend under the new scheme, according to Monash University's Australian Consumer, Retail and Services Research Unit, which examined the program before it was announced.

ACRS researcher Teagan Altschwager said this "earn rate" of 1.25 per cent trumped that of Woolworths' existing Everyday Rewards program, which was between 0.1 and 0.4 per cent.

A typical shopper will save about $1.25 for every they $100 spend under the new scheme. Photo: Louie Douvis

Dr Altschwager said Coles' flybuys program had a return rate of between 0.5 and 0.57 per cent, depending on how the points were redeemed.

But Dr Paul Harrison, senior lecturer in marketing at Deakin University, said loyalty cards rarely had any substantial impact in the fight for new customers.

"The evidence is they reward people who are already customers, and it may well make those customers feel more loyal, but it rarely works in terms of converting customers across brands," he said.

Dr Harrison said he spoke to representatives from Woolworths' loyalty program last week, ahead of the new scheme's announcement, and said their claims of it being a simpler program did not bear out .

"The basic simple question I said was 'how much do I have to spend to get a dollar?', and they really couldn't answer," he said.

"The problem with these sorts of loyalty schemes is that they are really complex ��� and to pretend consumers are going to understand them more, even if you simplify them somewhat, is a little bit naive."

J.P. Morgan analyst Shaun Cousins said the new rewards scheme was a better program and a "medium term positive" for Woolworths that also showed the company was finally focusing on customers, instead of shareholders.

However, he said that the benefits of the new scheme would need to be carefully explained to customers in order to have any impact on Woolworths' bottom line.

"Unfortunately, marketing has not been strong for Woolworths in recent years," Mr Cousins wrote in a note to his clients.

Mr Cousins said Woolworths would struggle to hold on to a "vocal minority of customers for whom Qantas Points are extremely valuable".

Coles' general manager of loyalty, Adam Story, said customers wanted a choice of where they could redeem their loyalty points, as they could across the flybuys network of Kmart, Target, AGL, Telstra, OPSM, Medibank, NAB.

"Flybuys members earn rewards on every dollar they spend in our supermarkets and fuel and liquor stores, not just the specific products we want them to buy," he said.

The Everyday Rewards program will run to the end of the year, while Woolworths will send out Woolworths Rewards cards to its 9 million existing loyalty club members this week.

Woolworths will announce its first quarter sales results this Thursday, which Deutsche Bank has forecast will be down 0.5 per cent on food and liquor.

China 'losing confidence' of global lenders

China is rapidly losing the confidence of global lenders and capital outflows risk turning virulent if the current policy paralysis continues, the world's top banking body has warned.

The IIF, the chief global body for the banking industry, calculates that capital outflows from China reached $US676 billion last year. Photo: Tamara Voninski

"There is a perception that the renminbi could weaken drastically," said Charles Collyns, the managing director of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Washington.

Mr Collyns said the authorities had so far failed to articulate a coherent policy, and there were serious worries that outflows of capital could accelerate, broadening into a flood that would be hard to control.

"The Chinese have not been rigorous and they have not been very convincing," he told The Daily Telegraph in London.

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Mr Collyns said China had already allowed the renminbi (yuan) to weaken against the country's new trade-weighted basket of currencies, stoking suspicions that the recent shift from a crawling dollar-peg to a more opaque foreign-exchange regime is really a cover for devaluation.

The IIF, the chief global body for the banking industry, calculates that capital outflows from China reached $US676 billion last year. The central bank has been burning through foreign exchange reserves to offset the bleeding and shore up the currency.

A big drop in the yuan would send a deflationary shockwave through a fragile world economy already on the cusp of a debt-deflation trap, and do so at a time when the eurozone and Japan are actively driving down their currencies.

Mark Tinker, head of equities for AXA Framlington in Asia, said the bulk of the outflows from China were to pay off liabilities.

"Chinese corporates are issuing corporate bonds in record quantities and using the capital to restructure their balance sheets, both onshore and offshore. This is not capital flight, it is asset liability matching, both duration and currency. It is a good thing being presented as a bad thing," said Mr Tinker.

The IIF's Mr Collyns, a former assistant US Treasury Secretary, is less sanguine. He calculates that total dollar debt in China peaked at roughly $US1.5 trillion in late 2014, if all forms of exposure are included.

"We think they have paid off a third of this. Half of the outflows have to repay dollar debt," he said.

"What is worrying is that there could be a broadening of the outflows. There has been a surge in the 'errors and emissions' and this is ominous. A lot of it is below board through inflated trade invoices and other forms of subterfuge, and some of it is ending up in the London property market," he said.

Mr Collyns said there was no guarantee that the outflows would slow, even if all the dollar debt were paid off, since Chinese companies might start taking out "long" positions in the currency markets if they feared that Beijing was losing control.

"The Chinese have to restore confidence by pushing through reforms. There must be greater transparency in fiscal and monetary policy, and they must tackle excess industrial capacity. At the moment they won't impose losses on anybody," he said.

The warnings come as China's $US3.3 trillion foreign reserves fall to the bottom end of the safe band under the International Monetary Fund's measure of reserve adequacy (ARA). These reserves are relatively low by emerging market standards, given that Beijing is trying to defend a semi-fixed exchange rate and do so within a framework of heavy capital flows. The Philippines, Thailand, Peru, Brazil, India and even Russia score higher.

The IMF recommends a band of 100 per cent to 150 per cent of its complex ARA measure.

China is currently near 120 per centpc and almost certainly fell further in January. Societe Generale said the safe level for China was $US2.75 trillion. After that, Beijing will lose operational flexibility. The country has roughly $US600 billion left before it finds itself in a very uncomfortable situation.

"They haven't got as much headroom as people think," said Albert Edwards, the bank's global strategist.

The Daily Telegraph, London

66 Ancient Skeletons Found in Indonesian Cave

Professor Truman Simanjuntak holding an exact replica of an ancient stone hand axe excavated from East Java.

University of Wollongong

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Talk about your archaeological jackpots: Researchers in Indonesia have reportedly discovered the 3,000-year-old remains of 66 people in a cave in Sumatra.

"Sixty-six is very strange," Truman Simanjuntak of Jakarta's National Research and Development Center for Archaeology said in a statement. He and his colleagues have never before found that many remains in a single cave, Simanjuntak added.

The cave is known as Harimaru or Tiger Cave, and also contains chicken, dog and pig remains. Thousands of years ago, the Tiger Cave and other limestone caverns nearby were occupied by Indonesia's first farmers. They used the caves to bury their dead, explaining the 3,000-year-old cemetery unearthed by Simanjuntak's team. The ancient farmers also manufactured tools in the caves.

And they apparently made art. Tiger Cave contains the first evidence of rock art from Sumatra, Simanjuntak said. And the cave is only partially excavated.

"There are still occupation traces deeper and deeper in the cave, where we have not excavated yet," he said. "So it means the cave is very promising."

The dates of the discoveries so far peg the cave's occupation to a time when the Earth's entire population was only about 50 million. The Zhou dynasty ruled China, and ancient Egypt's prosperous New Kingdom era, during which Tutankamun riegned, was nearing its end.

Though a first for Sumatra, the newly discovered rock art is brand-new by archaeological standards: The oldest rock art known is found in France and dates back 37,000 years.

This article originally appeared on LiveScience.com.Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pig Perfume' Stops Dogs From Behaving Badly

'Pig Perfume' Stops Dogs From Behaving Badly
View Caption + #1: Among the
many things we learned this week, one story was of the amazing friendship formed between a tiger named Amur and a goat named Timur .

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Gallery

Most Amazing Animal Friendships: Photos

many things we learned this week, one story was of the amazing friendship formed between a tiger named Amur and a goat named Timur . Timur was supposed to be a meal for the big cat, but the friendly goat had other ideas. Now, so far, they are best buds. They're not the only unusual animal friendships, though. Let's look at a few more. Tiger And Goat Forge Unlikely Friendship In Russian Zoo

Youtube Screen Capture/Inside Edition

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Here's another pair of cute, fast friends. Meet Kumbali and Kago -- a puppy and a cheetah cub (Kumbali's the cheetah and the lab mix is Kago). They live at Virginia's Metro Richmond Zoo. It's not clear how long they will remain together, but they seem to love each other's company. (Check out this video , if you can handle all the cuteness.) Next we'll take a look at some unforgettable pictures from Rocky Ridge Refuge , which knows a thing or two about unlikely animal friendships, as you will see. Cheetah Cub, Puppy Make Fast Friends At Va. Zoo

Metro Richmond Zoo

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It's not every day you see a baby skunk and a kitten getting to know each other on your couch. But it was a typical day for Janice Wolf, her menagerie of dogs, sheep, donkeys, horses, emus, and countless cats, ducks, rabbits, turtles -- and whatever animal may need a home that day. Wolf runs Rocky Ridge Refuge in Gassville, Ark. The refuge is her personal labor of love for abandoned, abused and injured animals of every shape, size, species and ailment. Wolf's rescues generally enter the refuge with horrific tales of neglect and abuse. But through Wolf's perseverance many of the animals go on to live long, happy lives -- filled with some of the most amazing interspecies friendships. "The only rule we have here is 'we gotta get along,'" said Wolf. "And they do." Above, we see an abandoned kitten (part of a litter left for dead when the kittens were just a day old) that engaged Josh, the resident skunk. Josh was raised by humans and then abandoned and didn't have the necessary skills to survive in the wild. Cop Saves Baby Skunk From Yogurt Cup In Viral Video Gem

Janice Wolf

View Caption +

Shown is one of Rocky Ridge's great success stories, Tristan, a three-legged dog (top left), who came from a horribly abusive home and went on to make frequent visits to nursing homes, as a therapy dog. His friendship with Fiesta, an orphaned deer, was also legendary. "He just assigned himself the protector," recalls Wolf. "He came from such a terrible place but he was so loving and forgiving. That’s the great thing about animals -- they pay it forward." Meanwhile, Duncan, the dog at right, also came to Rocky Ridge Refuge "from a bad situation." But he never seemed to hold it against any person or animal. Here, he uses Nabisco the fawn as a pillow.

Janice Wolf

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You'd never know it from Parfait's belly-up smile and her gentle demeanor with Mark, the emu chick, that she was once so abused her collar had become embedded in her neck. Parfait came to Rocky Ridge Refuge after living on the streets of St. Louis. Rescuers found her with a litter of puppies that had frozen to death. Parfait, too, was close to death, according to Wolf, who spent time nursing the pitbull back to health. Parfait broke the boundaries of pit bull prejudice, enjoying all things cute and fluffy, from chicks to bunnies. Famous Animals Of The Big And Small Screen: Photos

Janice Wolf

View Caption +

Here Rocky Ridge's capybara Cheesecake befriends dogs. Cornbread, a deaf bull terrier (bottom right) and Cheesecake were instant friends, according to Wolf. 10 Oldest Dog Breeds: Photos

Janice Wolf

View Caption +

Ivan, the Catahoula mix, started going blind at about a year old, but it never stopped him from "nannying" Rocky Ridge's orphans, like Raoul the raccoon. Hibernators Stretch After Long Winter's Nap: Photos

Janice Wolf

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Blade, the Irish wolfhound, came to Rocky Ridge Refuge as a puppy and then spent the next year of his life recovering from paralysis of all four limbs. With lots of physical therapy and love, Wolf was able to help Blade learn to walk on his own. Before he could walk, however, he was a favorite of the other baby refugees, who often kept him company inside while the other dogs were able to roam outside. Look closely and you can see that Blade is cuddling with a duckling. Funky Ducks Thrive At NYC's Central Park: Photos

Janice Wolf

View Caption +

This photo may be the true image of brotherly love. The orphaned lamb was adopted by the mother of the puppy he's sleeping atop. The mother dog gave birth to 10 puppies on Wolf's bed just a week after being brought to Rocky Ridge Refuge. She "insisted," on caring for the lamb as though it were one of her puppies, according to Wolf. The lamb nursed (and cuddled) along with the rest of the pups. The final (and largest) piece of this snuggle puzzle is Krispin, a St. Bernard puppy who came to the refuge with a broken leg. VIDEO: Why Do Puppies Yawn?

Janice Wolf

View Caption +

Lurch may have been Rocky Ridge Refuge's most famous resident of all time. The African Watusi steer holds the record for the largest circumference of horns -- ever. He was even recognized by Guinness World Records. Lurch was also the leader of Rocky Ridge's motley pack until his death in 2010, according to Wolf. His size never prevented him from befriending other refugees, including Isaiah the cat. Here, a young Lurch (with his horns yet to reach their 8-foot span) grazes while little Isaiah enjoys the ride. Cats Don't Actually Ignore Us

Janice Wolf

View Caption +

Finally, meet Janice Wolf herself. Here she is posing in 2012 for a photo with two of Rocky Ridge's refugees. The animal rescue organization was a life-long dream of hers. "I was born to do it," says Wolf, recalling that her first "rescue" was a pelican when she was just a toddler growing up in Florida. For more than 20 years she's used her experience as a veterinary technician and holistic medicine practitioner to help animals. You can follow the stories of her animals on the Rocky Ridge Refuge website and Facebook page . Selfish Dog Moms Fueled Domestication

Janice Wolf

Spritzing dogs with a “pig perfume” helps prevent them from barking incessantly, jumping frantically on house guests and from engaging in other unwanted behaviors, according to new research.

The eau de oink, aka “Boar Mate” or “Stop That,” was formulated by Texas Tech scientist John McGlone, who was looking for a way to curb his Cairn terrier Toto’s non-stop barking. One spritz of the pig perfume seemed to do the trick in an instant without harming his dog.

“It was completely serendipitous,” McGlone, who works in the university’s Animal and Food Sciences department of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, said in a press release. “One of the most difficult problems is that dogs bark a lot, and it’s one of the top reasons they are given back to shelters or pounds.”

The key ingredient is androstenone, a steroid and pheromone produced by male pigs and released in their saliva and fat. When detected by female pigs in heat, they seem to find the male more attractive. (The females assume a mating stance.) One can imagine that dogs spritzed with the scent should not hang around amorous female pigs, but other than that, the product seems to work, according to McGlone.

Androstenone smells pungent and is not very appealing to humans, but it can have an effect on mammal behavior, he said.

He and his colleagues tested the product on four different groups of barking dogs in separate kennels. The researchers were looking at not only the possible effectiveness of the key ingredient, but also if the spritzing itself (sound and liquid around face) dumbfounded the dogs.

For the study, the first group of dogs simply had a person with another dog stand in front of the kennels. The second group of dogs was sprayed with a placebo that made a startling spritz noise. The third group of dogs was sprayed with the noise and a lower concentration of androstenone in isopropyl alcohol. The fourth group was sprayed with a higher concentration of androstenone in isopropyl alcohol that also made the spritz sound.

In the first group, 25 percent (3 out of 12 dogs) stopped barking. In the second group, 44 percent (4 of 9 dogs) stopped barking. In the third group, sprayed with the lower concentration of the pheromone, 78 percent (7 of 9 dogs) stopped barking. In the fourth group, sprayed with the higher concentration of androstenone, 100 percent (6 of 6 dogs) stopped barking.

“We sprayed it in their nose or toward their head while they were barking…barking and jumping, running back and forth,” McGlone said. “This whole behavior stopped. You could almost see them thinking, ‘What was that?’”

The good news is that the product had no impact on the heart rate/cardio function of the dogs, which was the main side effect that they were worried about. Androstenone, in addition to being a pheromone in pigs, appears to also be an intermone, which refers to a product that is, McGlone explained, a “pheromone in one species and has a behavioral effect in another species, but we do not know if it is a pheromone (naturally produced) in the other species.”

He indicated that the product stops cats in their tracks too.

McGlone, though, quickly added, “It’s best used as a training tool rather than a circus act to stop animals from doing what they’re doing.”

He’s now testing pheromones released by dogs, cats, pigs and horses to see if any might be useful in commercial products. Other researchers continue to look at human pheromones as well, hoping to create the perfect Love Potion #9 and other hopefully beneficial formulations.

Photo: A pig gives a dog some love. Credit: ThinkStock

Oops! Etruscan Warrior Prince Really a Princess

A 2,600-year-old tomb unearthed in Tuscany, thought to hold a warrior prince actually contains the remains of a middle-age warrior princess holding a lance.

View Related Gallery »

Mandolesi

Gallery

Ancient Etruscan Prince Emerges From Tomb: Photos

View Caption +

Italian archaeologists have unearthed a 2,600-year-old intact Etruscan tomb that promises to reveal new depths of one of the ancient world’s most fascinating and mysterious cultures.

Rossella Lorenzi

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The unique burial was found in Tarquinia, a hill town about 50 miles northwest of Rome famous for its Etruscan art treasures. The tomb was just a few feet away from the so-called Queen's Tomb, pictured here.

SBAEM/UNITO

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Blocked by a perfectly sealed stone slab, the rock-cut tomb in appeared promising even before opening it, just by dint of its location next to known royal tombs.

Rossella Lorenzi

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After 2,600 years, the heavy stone slab in front of the tomb was removed.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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The archaeologists were left breathless by what they found inside.

Rossella Lorenzi

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In the small vaulted chamber, the complete skeleton of an individual was resting on a stone bed on the left. A spear lay along the body, while brooches, on the chest indicated that the man was probably once dressed with a mantle.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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At his feet stood a dish used during the funeral meal. Food remains were still there, after 2,600 years.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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Near the dish with the food remains stood a large bronze basin, possibly used to wash the hands after the meal.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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A stone table directly across from the man might contain the incinerated remains of another person.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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Decorated with a red strip, the upper part of the wall featured, along with several nails, a small hanging vase, which might have contained some ointment.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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A number of grave goods, which included large Greek Corinthian vases and precious ornaments, lay on the floor.

Massimo Legni/SBAEM/UNITO

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According to Mandolesi, the fact that the newly discovered burial lies a few feet away from the Queen’s Tomb indicates that it belonged to one of the princes of Tarquinia, someone strictly related to the owners of the Queen’s Tomb. A rare find indeed.

Rossella Lorenzi

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Last month, archaeologists announced a stunning find: a completely sealed tomb cut into the rock in Tuscany, Italy.

The untouched tomb held what looked like the body of an Etruscan prince holding a spear, along with the ashes of his wife. Several news outlets reported on the discovery of the 2,600-year-old warrior prince.

But the grave held one more surprise.

An Etruscan house emerges from a hillside in Italy.

DCL

A bone analysis has revealed the warrior prince was actually a princess, as Judith Weingarten, an alumna of the British School at Athens noted on her blog, Zenobia: Empress of the East. ( See Photos of the Unsealed Etruscan Tomb)

Etruscan tomb

Historians know relatively little about the Etruscan culturethat flourished in what is now Italy until its absorption into the Roman civilization around 400 B.C. Unlike their better-known counterparts, the ancient Greeks and the Romans, the Etruscans left no historical documents, so their graves provide a unique insight into their culture.

The new tomb, unsealed by archaeologists in Tuscany, was found in the Etruscan necropolisof Tarquinia, a UNESCO World Heritage site where more than 6,000 graves have been cut into the rock.

"The underground chamber dates back to the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Inside, there are two funerary beds carved into the rock," Alessandro Mandolesi, the University of Turin archaeologist who excavated the site, wrote in an email.

When the team removed the sealed slab blocking the tomb, they saw two large platforms. On one platform lay a skeleton bearing a lance. On another lay a partially incinerated skeleton. The team also found several pieces of jewelry and a bronze-plated box, which may have belonged to a woman, according to the researchers.

"On the inner wall, still hanging from a nail, was an aryballos [a type of flask] oil-painted in the Greek-Corinthian style," Mandolesi said.

Initially, the lance suggested the skeleton on the biggest platform was a male warrior, possibly an Etruscan prince. The jewelry likely belonged to the second body, the warrior prince’s wife.

But bone analysis revealed the prince holding the lance was actually a 35- to 40-year-old woman, whereas the second skeleton belonged to a man.

Given that, what do archaeologists make of the spear?

"The spear, most likely, was placed as a symbol of union between the two deceased," Mandolesi told Viterbo News 24 on Sept. 26.

Weingarten doesn't believe the symbol of unity explanation. Instead, she thinks the spear shows the woman's high status.

Their explanation is "highly unlikely," Weingarten told LiveScience. "She was buried with it next to her, not him."

Gendered assumptions

The mix-up highlights just how easily both modern and old biases can color the interpretation of ancient graves.

In this instance, the lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and Romans may have skewed the view of the tomb. Whereas Greek women were cloistered away, Etruscan women, according to Greek historian Theopompus, were more carefree, working out, lounging nude, drinking freely, consorting with many men and raising children who did not know their fathers' identities.

Instead of using objects found in a grave to interpret the sites, archaeologists should first rely on bone analysis or other sophisticated techniques before rushing to conclusions, Weingarten said.

"Until very recently, and sadly still in some countries, sex determination is based on grave goods. And that, in turn, is based almost entirely on our preconceptions. A clear illustration is jewelry: We associate jewelry with women, but that is nonsense in much of the ancient world," Weingarten said. "Guys liked bling, too."

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Pigs Unearth Hunter-Gatherer Civilization: Page 2

Archaeologist Karen Wicks with the pigs that found stone tools belonging to hunter-gatherers who lived 12,000 years ago on the Isle of Islay, Scotland.

Steven Mithen and Karen Wicks, University of Reading

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Islay then, according to Mithen, “would have been largely a frozen tundra, with a mix of grasses and shrubs, with possibly some dwarf birch, much like the far north today.”

Reindeer flourished there at the time, and were clearly a favorite of the hunters. Their tools suggest that they used every part of the animal, from the horns to the meat to the hide.

The lives of Roman gladiators and the wide reach of the bloody games throughout the empire is coming more into focus thanks to the discovery of a gladiator graveyard in Britain.

Heather Bonney / Museum of London

Basking sharks, seals, otters and other animals are also in the region, so the researchers believe the hunter-gatherers were tracking down some of these animals too -- especially meaty seals.

Despite the remoteness of the site, Mithen said it is even plausible that the area’s natural resources sustained Neanderthals long beforehand.

“The nearest Neanderthal-like remains come from a cave in North Wales and date to 230,000 years ago,” he said. “It is not inconceivable that they might have reached western Scotland, but the last ice sheets and glaciers are likely to have destroyed all evidence.”

Traveling to the remote location would have been a challenge even for the hunter-gatherers who lived on Islay 12,000 years ago. Felix Reide of Aarhus University, who is an expert on Late Glacial Period tool making, believes that these people developed “a maritime adaption” that enabled them to explore northern regions, including Scandinavia and Scotland.

Their legacy likely lives on to this day.

“It is possible,” Mithen said, “that some genes from the Ice Age hunters are still present in modern day Scottish populations.”

As for the novelty of “pig archaeology,” British Archaeology editor Mike Pitts told Discovery News that many years ago, he “came across a pair of very nice Neolithic flint axeheads that had been said to have been dug up by pigs.”

“Pigs find things when they root about with their noses and front feet, digging for food,” Pitts said. "It helps if there is someone there at the time to see the find!”

Roman Road Reveals Oldest Potholes

View Caption + #1: July 29, 2011 -
A 2,000-year-old mosaic has emerged beneath the Trajan baths on the southern slopes of Oppian Hill in Rome.

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Apollo Mosaic Found in Rome Tunnel: Photos

A 2,000-year-old mosaic has emerged beneath the Trajan baths on the southern slopes of Oppian Hill in Rome. The fresco was buried in the tunnel built to support the second-century A.D. bath complex in an underground passageway once used by Napoleon's troops to store explosives. It has been hailed as an "exceptional archaeological discovery" by Umberto Broccoli, superintendent for the city's cultural heritage.

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The wall mosaic , which extends for more than 32 feet, dates to the second half of the first century A.D. It features a naked male character with a mantle on his shoulder, holding a harp. Beautifully portrayed, with the chest and abdominal muscles finely carved, the figure has been identified as Apollo, the Greek god of music, poetry, prophecy, light, and healing. Apollo is also known as "Leader of the Muses."

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The mosaic also features a female character, most likely a muse, who stands in the composition with two other male figures, possibly philosophers.

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Several architectural features, such as capitals and columns decorated with garland plants, emerge from the background on which the characters stand. "Since 1998, we have known about the existence of a large mosaic, but we did not excavate because of a lack of funding. The complex was in need of more urgent intervention," said Rita Volpe, one of the archaeologists in charge of the project.

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In 1998 archaeologists found another fine mosaic on the exposed wall, showing a philosopher and a muse. "It decorated a room which also featured a nymphaeum, or fountain court," said the archaeologists.

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The entire area was first discovered in 1998, when archaeologists found a unique fresco, now called the "Painted City." An ambitious cityscape, the fresco provides an unparalleled depiction of an ancient metropolitan center. It shows an aerial view of a fortification with monumental towers -- some with conical tops of a type one would not expect in Roman times -- running alongside an azure river.

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Beyond the wall featuring the painted city, the archaeologists unearthed another mosaic in 2004, showing grape harvesting scenes.

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The archaeologists believe that the entire area was a Musaeum, a place which in antiquity was dedicated to the goddesses who inspire the creation of the arts. Here, by the fountain court, wealthy Romans gathered to discuss art, culture and music. "It should have been a beautiful, lavish villa. Unfortunately it was buried and forgotten to make room for the bath complex," Broccoli said.

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The so-called Tunnel of Wonders has so far revealed a unique fresco and several stunning mosaics. Here is their location within the underground passageway: A. The Painted City fresco, discovered in February 1998. B. Muse and Philosopher wall mosaic, discovered in May 1998 C. Grape harvesting wall mosaic, discovered in November 2004 D. Frescoed ceiling, discovered in December 2004 E. Apollo, Muse and Philosophers -- wall mosaic discovered in June-July 2011 Archaeologist Giovanni Caruso estimates another 32 feet of the decorated wall remains to be excavated.

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Potholes have been a nuisance to drivers as far back as the Roman Empire, a newly discovered Roman road has revealed.

Unearthed at Ipplepen, a site thought to be part of the largest Romano-British settlement in Devon outside of Exeter, U.K., the road featured wheel ruts similar to those found at Pompeii.

According to the archaeologists, the grooves were caused by horse-drawn carts being driven over the road over a long period of time.

“It’s intriguing to think what the horse-drawn carts may have been carrying and who was driving them. This is a fantastic opportunity to see a ‘snap shot’ of life 2000 years ago,” Danielle Wootton, the Devon Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, said.

Drivers at the time had to deal with hazardous road surfaces — archaeologists found evidence for some of the oldest-known potholes.

Holes were filled in with lots of tightly packed stones in order to make the surface smoother and easier for travlers.

“A smooth road surface meant that there was less chance of getting the wheels of your cart stuck,” Wootton said.

The signs of wear and maintenance on the road suggest that heavy traffic characterized the site at that time.

“For this reason, it was important to keep it in a good state of repair,” University of Exeter archaeologist Ioana Oltean told Discovery News.

Although archaeological evidence revealed the ancient Romans drove on the left in some parts of England, it wasn’t possible to tell if left-hand driving also ruled traffic at Ipplepen.

“Like their modern counterparts, Roman roads were made to accommodate traffic both ways,” Oltean said.

“Potholes or wheel ruts created in the process are indicative of the intensity of traffic on a particular stretch, but not of any traffic conventions,” she added.

Photo: Archaeologist Danielle Wootton at the Ipplepen road. Credit: Jim Wileman