Welcome to my blog.
All tagged animalbehavior
The rights of seven chimpanzees, currently behind bars at the DeYoung Family Zoo in Wallace, Michigan, is being heard this week by the Michigan Court of Appeals. At issue is whether the chimps should be granted habeas corpus, a protection against unlawful imprisonment.
Earlier this month, the Aquarium of the Pacific announced that its giant Pacific octopus named Ghost had laid a clutch of eggs, but that her days were numbered. She had entered the last stage of her life cycle, senescence, when a female lays eggs that won’t hatch.
Orcas are attacking sailboats off the Iberian Peninsula again, destroying rudders and stranding crews. In August, killer whales tore the rudder off a German boat in the Vigo estuary in Galicia, Spanish newspaper Faro de Vigo reported.
Gorillas are social animals that live in troops, typically headed by a dominant male, along with several adult females and their offspring. Often a female will leave the troop and relocate – a behavior primatologists call “dispersal.” New research shows that the females tend to seek out other females they already know when they join a new troop, upending a long held view that the males are running the show.
Marine scientists who study orcas have been busy. They’ve seen the killer whales wearing fish as a fashion statement, using kelp to exfoliate, and of course harassing yachtsmen, just to be jerks. Now comes news that the apex predators are engaging in more altruistic behavior: they’re bringing us gifts.
Marine biologists in the north Pacific have observed orcas taking the killer whale version of a spa day: using kelp to massage each other. The behavior, which involves fashioning a tubular piece of seaweed and using it for a planned purpose, marks the first time a marine animal has been seen using tools.
In mammalian social groups males tend to dominate, but among one of our closest relatives – the bonobo – it’s females who have the upper hand. Primatologists believe the ladies get and maintain power with a simple tactic: they work together.
Wild chimpanzees drum with rhythm, according to a new study by primatologists from the University of St Andrews. Not only that, chimps from either side of Africa have their own distinct beats.
A group of chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau’s Cantanhez National Park was seen recently sharing a huge piece of fruit containing alcohol. Their little party was being monitored by a research team from the University of Exeter.
On April 11, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook Southern California for a few minutes. No big deal, by California standards, but during the tremors the elephants at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were caught on camera displaying their survival plan, namely by forming a protective circle around their young.
It’s been nearly 40 years since killer whales off the west coast of North America were spotted wearing dead salmon on their heads. No one knows why this whacky trend began or why it ended, but we do know it’s back.
Five years ago a bottlenose dolphin strayed far from his usual habitat and ended up in the chilly waters off the Danish coast. He hung around, the locals named him Delle, and marine biologists at the University of Southern Denmark began studying the 17-year-old loner.
There are plenty of anecdotes about animals getting squiffy on fermented fruits in the wild, but we tend to think of these drunken episodes as rare and accidental. New research, which appears in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, challenges this assumption.
Humans have been kissing each other – for one reason or another – for thousands of years. Evolutionary psychologist Adriano Lameira wants to know why, so he’s been spying on our kissing cousins (other apes) to see if they offer any clues that might reveal the purpose, if any, of a good smooch.
Sphen the gentoo penguin has died in Australia, aged 11. He is mourned by his partner, Magic, along with much of the rest of the world, which had celebrated the unusual union since 2018, when the pair met and fell in love at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.
Spider-gazing researchers in China say that the orb-weaving spider (Araneus ventricosus) entices male fireflies into its web, then it gets freaky. Somehow the spider manipulates its prey into mimicking a female firefly’s flashing light, which lures more amorous males into the deathtrap.
The smell of human stress affects dogs’ emotions – and their decision-making – according to a study conducted by the University of Bristol, Cardiff University, and the British charity Medical Detection Dogs. Their research appears in Scientific Reports.
There is something about ginger cats. They tend to be more confident, more outgoing, and generally more cheeky – especially the toms. BBC News asked biologist and cat behavior expert Roger Tabor if there was a reason for ginger adventurousness.
The Australian animated series Bluey has pre-school fans all over the world. Plenty of adults love the show too, and so do their dogs for some reason. People magazine consulted with Amanda Farah, the National Training & Behavior Coordinator for Best Friends Animal Society, to break down why the show has become known as “dog entertainment.”
A family-friendly zoo in England has an R-rated problem: five African grey parrots that curse a blue streak. The foul-mouthed birds are spicing up the proceedings at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Friskney.
