How does a herd decide which direction to head in? Researchers put GPS collars on a gathering of goats to find out. Here's what they learned — and how it might apply to humans.
The ASPCA's Behavioral Rehabilitation Center works with severely fearful dogs rescued from puppy mills and hoarders. The shelter has an 87% success rate in rehabilitating undersocialized dogs.
"Relationships with animals are simple," notes one researcher. In a year when life feels fraught, pets have been healers, helping human companions get exercise, quell anxiety and make new friends.
Experiments in people have long shown that the presence of indifferent bystanders hurts the chances that someone will help a stranger in an emergency. Rats, it turns out, behave the same way.
Scientists have found that dolphins learn a neat trick to trap fish by watching their close associates do it. This means that dolphins aren't just motivated to learn from their mothers.
Move over, fruit flies, rats and zebrafish. Squid and octopuses have elaborate brains and behaviors, and scientists say studying them in the laboratory could yield important biological insights.
Scientists say comedian Lewis Black has a lot in common with fruit flies. They're both really good at acting angry, probably because human anger has roots in animal aggression.
The drug makes the usually antisocial creatures much more interested in friendly contact with other octopuses. It's one more sign that the chemistry of social behavior has deep evolutionary roots.
Do you know which paw your cat uses first when coming down the stairs? Anthropologist and cat lover Barbara J. King discusses with researchers why a new finding of paw preference matters for our pets.