animal behavior

Taco has kept Devin Green busy and her anxiety at bay. "I'm consumed with him more than the worries in my mind."

Pandemic Pet Therapy: What's So Special About A Critter Friend?

7:00am November 22, 2020

by Patti Neighmond

"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.

Faced with a rat trapped in a restrainer, a free rat opens the trap's door to liberate the trapped animal (while stepping on its head — "very rat-ish behavior," says University of Chicago neurobiologist Peggy Mason).

To Come To The Rescue Or Not? Rats, Like People, Take Cues From Bystanders

4:50pm July 08, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

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.

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New research shows that dolphins can learn foraging behavior from other dolphins.

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Dolphins Learn Foraging Tricks From Each Other, Not Just From Mom

4:07pm June 25, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

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.

A California two-spot octopus extends a sucker-lined arm from its den. In 2015, this was the first octopus species to have its full genetic sequence published.

Why Octopuses Might Be The Next Lab Rats

5:29pm June 03, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

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.

People get angry. But what about animals? Scientists find similarities in animal and human behavior and biology.

From Fruit Fly To Stink Eye: Searching For Anger's Animal Roots

7:35pm January 29, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

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.

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Friend or foe? A California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) gives observers the eye at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Octopuses Get Strangely Cuddly On The Mood Drug Ecstasy

1:08pm September 20, 2018

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

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.

The clicker became a popular tool for dog training in the 1980s. Today, it has also caught on with humans--helping people to become better dancers, fishermen, golfers, and now, surgeons.

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When Everything Clicks: The Power Of Judgment-Free Learning

9:00pm June 04, 2018

There can be a lot of psychological noise involved in learning. And mental chit chat can make learning hard. One solution, silence it with a click.

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What can you learn from knowing whether your cat is right- or left-pawed?

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Cat Lovers, Is Your Cat Right- Or Left-Pawed?

11:32am January 18, 2018

by Barbara J. King

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.

Pasika and her infant have been traveling alone for more than seven months.

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Is This Gorilla Mother Consciously Protecting Her Baby?

12:33pm January 11, 2018

by Barbara J. King

In response to a report of "heroic" behavior by a female mountain gorilla aiming to protect her baby, anthropologist Barbara J. King explores questions of conscious awareness of infanticide in apes.

You'd be doing us and yourself a favor if you'd just stay in bed.

It's Not Just A Cold, It's 'Sickness Behavior'

11:51am January 06, 2018

by Nancy Shute

Feeling grumpy and antisocial because you've got a cold? That's not just a random side effect. It's your body saying, "Hey, slow down and rest so you can get better."