Tag

Animal Behavior

All articles tagged with #animal behavior

science55 minutes ago•10 min saved

Octopuses Lead Mixed-Species Hunts by Punishing Lagging Fish Partners

New Red Sea footage shows day octopuses punching lagging fish partners during mixed-species hunts, sometimes with no immediate food payoff. A 2024 study expanding the 2021 report finds the octopus often acts as the group’s decision-maker, inhibiting movement until the timing is right while faster foragers locate prey and slower fish hang back. Researchers discuss possible reasons—from punishment to partner control to spite—and caution that interpretations vary, but the work reveals a structured division of labor rather than random host–predator dynamics.

via Space Daily|

#animal-behavior #cooperative-hunting #mixed-species-groups

science4 hours ago•12 min saved

Drones Capture Sperm Whales Using Heads in Rare Head-On Encounters

Drone footage off the Azores and Balearic Islands provides the first direct observations of sperm whales colliding head-on, lending empirical support to the idea that the spermaceti organ functions as a battering ram. The three documented head clashes involved sub-adults, leaving the exact purpose—whether in mating contests or other social interactions—unresolved. While the findings confirm a long-standing anatomical hypothesis, they also underscore the need for more extensive drone-based monitoring to determine how common and why this behavior occurs.

via Space Daily|

#animal-behavior #drones #headbutting

science6 days ago•12 min saved

Blood for a Roost-Mate: Vampire Bats Echo a Tiny Favor Economy

Vampire bats regurgitate blood to feed starving roost-mates, including non-relatives, and remember who helped them, forming a memory-based reciprocity rather than kin-based sharing. Across decades of experiments, donors tend to give back to partners that have fed them before, with 64% of sharing pairs not related and returns about 8.5 times higher than kin-based expectations. Initial low-cost grooming can escalate to food donations, suggesting a cautious audition process that builds partnerships over time. While captivity and lab studies have limits and researchers caution against anthropomorphizing, the evidence supports a small, memory-driven ‘favour economy’ among bats.

via Space Daily|

#altruism #animal-behavior #memory

science7 days ago•3 min saved

Dolphins Use Seashell Tools to Fish, Calf Copies Tactic in Rare Display

Australian researchers filmed bottlenose dolphins using seashells as fishing tools (shelling), with two adult females observed in 2025 and a calf mimicking the technique, suggesting the behavior may be more widespread and learnable across generations, though it is not always clear whether a meal is captured.

via Gizmodo|

#animal-behavior #dolphins #marine-mammals

science14 days ago•11 min saved

Magpies outsmart GPS trackers through cooperative harness removal

Researchers fitted five Australian magpies with GPS trackers to map movements, but within minutes untagged flockmates helped each other remove the harnesses, turning a failed tracking pilot into a notable observation of cooperation and highlighting how tracking gear can affect behavior and data in social animals.

via Space Daily|

#animal-behavior #cooperation #fieldwork

science19 days ago•12 min saved

When Primates Befriend Other Species: A New Look at Cross-Species Bonds

A study compiling 427 documented cases of primates interacting with 127 other species across 88 primate species (spanning 1970s–2025) finds that play, grooming, and even adoption occur across species, revealing broad social flexibility with implications for conservation, animal welfare, and public health as human–wildlife contact rises.

via The Conversation|

#animal-behavior #conservation #interspecies-interactions

science24 days ago•8 min saved

Cross-Species Bonds: What Primates’ Friendships Reveal About Pets

Observations like Fortunata, a marmoset raised by capuchins in Brazil, show cross-species caregiving can resemble pet-keeping; a new Primates review catalogs 427 cross-species interactions across 88 primate species and 127 other animals, finding patterns where juveniles play, adults groom, and some bonds persist for weeks or months, challenging strict lines between adoption and abduction and suggesting proto-pet-keeping may have deep evolutionary roots, especially in captivity or human-adjacent environments.

via Defector|

#animal-behavior #cross-species-interactions #evolution

science29 days ago•14 min saved

Rats show helping behavior, but chocolate twist fuels empathy debate

A 2011 Science study found a free rat learned to open a tube to release a trapped cagemate, and when chocolate was added as a competing reward the latencies were similar and the free rat ate fewer chocolate chips, suggesting prosocial behavior but not definitive empathy. Subsequent work questions whether the behavior reflects true concern for others or social/interest factors, and the debate about rat empathy continues.

via Space Daily|

#animal-behavior #empathy #experiments

science1 month ago•7 min saved

Ape Huddles: Gentle Touch Builds Peace Among Chimps and Bonobos

Scientists observing chimpanzees and bonobos at sanctuaries found that, five minutes before peanuts arrive, they engage in reassuring physical contact—touching, hugging and even kissing—to build trust. Those who touched more tended to share food and eat peacefully; researchers described sequences of multiple embraces as 'reassurance trains.' They suggest this ancient social toolkit for building cooperation predates language by millions of years, dating back to at least seven million years ago.

via BBC|

#animal-behavior #bonobos #chimpanzees

science1 month ago•13 min saved

Elephants mimic play signals in sub-second timing to coordinate games

A study of 15 captive African savannah elephants found that when one elephant performed a distinctive trunk or head movement during play, a partner was more likely to reproduce that exact movement within one second. This rapid motor mimicry indicates a sub-second form of behavioral matching that may help coordinate vigorous play, distinct from slower contagion that spreads through a group. The effect was observed in a limited sample (eight elephants exposed to target movements) and did not establish broader emotional states like laughter; age, sex, and affiliation did not predict mimicry, and replication in more groups and wild populations is needed.

via Space Daily|

#animal-behavior #contagion #elephants

science1 month ago•10 min saved

Dogs See Blues and Yellows: Two-Cones Shape Canine Color Vision

Dogs are not color-blind in the sense of grayscale; they have two types of cone cells and primarily perceive blues and yellows, with reds and greens appearing as dull browns or greys. Their color perception is similar to human red-green color blindness, and they distinguish objects more by brightness than by hue.

via Space Daily|

#animal-behavior #canine-vision #color-vision

science1 month ago•3 min saved

Bees Exhibit Liking and Disliking Cues in Taste Tests, Hinting at an Inner Life

Researchers filmed bumblebees tasting droplets (60% sugar, 20% sugar, water, 5% salt, 1 mM quinine) and observed post‑consumption licking after sweet solutions, versus mouth‑wiping or head shaking for salty or bitter ones. The responses are read as potential “liking” and “disliking” cues—similar to mammals—suggesting an inner state in bees. Effects varied with context (e.g., heat stress, fullness, or drug exposure) across 18 colonies, and the study, published in PNAS, fuels ongoing debate about insect sentience.

via The Guardian|

#animal-behavior #bees #bumblebees

science1 month ago•2 min saved

Laughs Across Evolution: Humans and Apes Share Similar Giggle Rhythm

Researchers reanalyzed decades-old recordings of ape laughter and compared them to new footage of children's laughs, finding that humans and great apes share similar rhythmic patterns in their giggles, suggesting laughter evolved from a common ancestor about 15 million years ago. While human laughter can be faster and more context-dependent, its core rhythm remains similar to apes, highlighting laughter as a social bonding tool. The study, published in Communications Biology, underscores the need for more cross-species recordings to illuminate what makes human laughter unique.

via ScienceAlert|

#animal-behavior #evolution #humans

science2 months ago•2 min saved

Ape Chuckles Trace the Rhythm of Laughter Through Evolution

A new study of chimpanzees, gorillas and other great apes (including human children) shows laughter across the group shares a regular rhythmic pattern; nonhuman apes tend to fixed tempos, while humans vary tempo and timing with context, suggesting laughter evolved as a flexible social signal across species.

via The New York Times|

#animal-behavior #evolution #laughter

science2 months ago•10 min saved

When Packs Strike: Ten cooperative hunters that outsize their prey

The article catalogs ten species that hunt in groups—from wolves and African wild dogs to Harris’s hawks, sailfish, driver ants, social spiders, Cuban boas, Volta’s electric eels, and orcas—showing how teamwork, sheer numbers, and specialized roles enable them to take down prey larger than any single hunter, with notes on methods, efficiency, and trade-offs across different ecosystems.

via BBC Wildlife Magazine|

#animal-behavior #cooperative-hunting #ecology