The coast of British Columbia is experiencing a crab problem. But trying to control the crab problem appears to have surfaced an unexpected wolf problem—one that reveals the surprising capacity of wolves as intelligent crab thieves. Researchers set up remote cameras to catch a mysterious crab thief, but they weren’t prepared for the scene that […]
Yes, You Should Yell at Seagulls
It’s happened to most beachgoers. You sit on a towel and unwrap your sandwich, prepared to savor a waterfront lunch with your feet in the sand. But then you look up, and you see them—seagulls everywhere, prowling closer and closer to your ham and cheese. If your gut reaction is to shout at them, new […]
Some Naked Mole-Rats Are Just Born to Clean Toilets, Study Suggests
Perhaps you live in the kind of household that likes to divide up the chores. You take the dishes, while someone else does the trash. If so, you are not so far off from the habits of a naked mole-rat, according to a new study. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, show […]
Jane Goodall, Who Forever Changed How We See Animals, Dies at 91
Anyone proposing to offer a master class on changing the world for the better, without becoming negative, cynical, angry, or narrow-minded in the process, could model their advice on the life and work of pioneering animal behavior scholar Jane Goodall. Goodall’s life journey stretches from marveling at the somewhat unremarkable creatures—though she would never call […]
Was Your Dog Harder to Train During the Pandemic? Science Says You’re Not Alone
Lockdown during the covid pandemic was hard on everyone, including our dogs. New research out today suggests dogs were harder to train in the years following 2020 but became more teachable as restrictions loosened. A study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One analyzed owner-reported behavioral data for more than 47,000 companion dogs during and […]
Great Tits Sometimes Break Up, Bird Researchers Find
We’re talking about the birds. Great tits are small, yellowish songbirds common to the woodlands of Europe. Tit pairs are known to be monogamous during breeding season, splitting up after fully raising their offspring. But new research suggests that this “tit divorce” may be the product of complex social relationships formed during and after the […]
Scientists Discover Secret Weapon That Allows Pythons to Digest Bones
Pythons are notorious for their eating habits. After suffocating their prey with their lithe bodies, these large snakes swallow the animal whole. Now, researchers have shed new light on the cellular mechanisms that allow them to digest entire skeletons. The study, presented July 9 at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Belgium and […]
Ed the Runaway Pet Zebra Finally Caught After Week on the Lam
The wayward journey of a runaway pet zebra named Ed has come to a dramatic close. Tennessee police nabbed the zebra on Sunday, just over a week after he had first escaped his owners’ confines. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office detailed Ed’s capture on its Facebook page, complete with a video of the zebra being airlifted […]
This Hawk Figured Out Traffic Signals to Ambush Its Prey
Birds continue to be amazing. Crows can use tools and hold grudges against specific people. Magpies can recognize themselves in mirrors. And now, hawks are using traffic signals to hunt down prey, according to a study published today in the journal Frontiers in Ethology. The story starts with Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University […]
Capuchins Are Abducting Baby Howler Monkeys in Strange, Deadly New Trend
A young male capuchin named Joker may just be the world’s first primate influencer. But the trend he started—abducting babies belonging to a separate species—has deadly consequences. Joker is one of many white-faced capuchins living on Jicarón Island off the coast of Panama. Researchers had been using cameras to observe the behavior of these round-headed, […]