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    Subscribe to animal behavior

    animal behavior

    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    Taco has kept Devin Green busy and her anxiety at bay. "I'm consumed with him more than the worries in my mind."
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    Pandemic Pet Therapy: What's So Special About A Critter Friend?

    Nov 22, 2020
    "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.
    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    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).
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    To Come To The Rescue Or Not? Rats, Like People, Take Cues From Bystanders

    Jul 08, 2020
    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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    NPR
    Science
    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

    Jun 25, 2020
    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.
    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    A California two-spot octopus extends a sucker-lined arm from its den. In 2015, this was the first octopus <strong></strong>species to have its full genetic sequence published.
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    Why Octopuses Might Be The Next Lab Rats

    Jun 03, 2019
    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.
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    NPR
    Shots - Health News
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    From Fruit Fly To Stink Eye: Searching For Anger's Animal Roots

    Jan 29, 2019
    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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    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    Friend or foe? A California two-spot octopus (<em>Octopus bimaculoides</em>) gives observers the eye at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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    Octopuses Get Strangely Cuddly On The Mood Drug Ecstasy

    Sep 20, 2018
    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.
    NPR
    Hidden Brain
    "Hang in there," Dr. Levy tells his students. "This is going to work."
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    When Everything Clicks: The Power Of Judgment-Free Learning

    Jun 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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    NPR
    13.7: Cosmos And Culture
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    Cat Lovers, Is Your Cat Right- Or Left-Pawed?

    Jan 18, 2018
    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.
    NPR
    13.7: Cosmos And Culture
    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?

    Jan 11, 2018
    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.
    NPR
    Shots - Health News
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    It's Not Just A Cold, It's 'Sickness Behavior'

    Jan 06, 2018
    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."
    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    Two bonobos play fight at the Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary in  Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012.
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    Unlike Humans, Bonobos Shun Helpers And Befriend The Bullies

    Jan 04, 2018
    Given a choice, bonobos tend to prefer people who act like jerks and dominate. That's very different than humans, who even as infants consistently prefer people who are cooperative and not mean.
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    NPR
    13.7: Cosmos And Culture
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    Um, Uh, Huh? Are These Words Clues To Understanding Human Language?

    Nov 13, 2017
    Tiny filler words in human rapid-fire conversation hold the key to understanding how language is unique, according to a new book. But anthropologist Barbara J. King raises some questions.
    NPR
    13.7: Cosmos And Culture
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    Video: What Is This Wild Condor Doing?

    Jun 25, 2017
    Could the condor in this video that went viral be expressing affection or, even, gratitude? Anthropologist Barbara J. King explores what's really happening.
    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    Turns out that humans aren't the only animals that contagiously yawn.
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    Yawning May Promote Social Bonding Even Between Dogs And Humans

    May 15, 2017
    Bears do it, bats do it. So do dogs and humans. They all yawn. It's a common behavior, but why is a bit of a mystery. Researchers think yawning may perk up the brain and help with social bonding.
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    NPR
    All Tech Considered
    Black bears are tracked in Yosemite National Park using telemetry and GPS collars.
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    Yosemite Rangers Use Technology To Save Bears From Cars

    Apr 20, 2017
    Speeding cars have become the biggest threat for bears in Yosemite. But rangers hope tracking tools, like the website where the public can track bears, will help keep both humans and bears safe.
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    NPR
    The Two-Way
    A man holds elvers, young glass eels, in Portland, Maine, in 2012.
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    Eels May Use 'Magnetic Maps' As They Slither Across The Ocean

    Apr 13, 2017
    Eels sometimes swim thousands of miles from their birthplace in the Atlantic to rivers and lakes where they live. Researchers say the creatures might use the Earth's magnetic field to find their way.
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    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    This wounded ant <em>(Megaponera analis),</em> with two termites clinging to it, is alive but likely too exhausted after battle to get back to the nest without help.
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    No Ant Left Behind: Warrior Ants Carry Injured Comrades Home

    Apr 12, 2017
    Don't call it empathy, scientists say. These termite-eating ants only retrieve injured comrades on the way home from a hunt, not before. But the hurt ants do recover better at home — to fight again.
    NPR
    The Salt
    Bumblebees have 100,000 times fewer neurons than humans do, but they can learn new skills quickly when there's a sweet reward at the end.
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    Could A Bumblebee Learn To Play Fetch? Probably

    Feb 24, 2017
    Scientists found that bumblebees are nimble learners, especially when there's a sugary reward at the end. No wonder they're such good pollinators.
    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    Shaunzi, an Asian elephant at the zoo in California's central valley, approaches a network of feeding structures that include dangling barrels, chains and other items. Research shows that female elephants in captivity who have to puzzle out a task to get
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    Fitness Trackers Aim To Improve The Health And Happiness Of Zoo Elephants

    Jan 11, 2017
    OK, so they're not using Fitbits. But zoos across America are using software to minutely track the activity, behavior and physiology of captive elephants, and using that data to improve zoo life.
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    NPR
    Shots - Health News
    A male mantis shrimp reflects a particular type of polarized light from the surface of parts of its body. That reflected light serves as a secret signal that only other shrimp can see.
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    WATCH: Mantis Shrimp's Incredible Eyesight Yields Clues For Detecting Cancer

    Nov 15, 2016
    Cancer cells, it turns out, reflect light in a particular, polarized way that mantis shrimp can see. A tiny camera based on the shrimp's eye might help doctors better visualize tumors during surgery.
    NPR
    Science
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    To Make A Wild Comeback, Cranes Need More Than Flying Lessons

    Mar 02, 2016

    The 15-year project wasn't a flight of fancy. Biologists used a plane to successfully teach many young, captive-bred whooping cranes to migrate cross-country. But the birds aren't reproducing well.

    NPR
    The Two-Way
    In response to the dark octopus standing tall in the background, the pale, flattened one in the foreground has lost his color and stretches an arm behind him, preparing to flee.
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    Shifting Colors Of An Octopus May Hint At A Rich, Nasty Social Life

    Jan 28, 2016
    When the gloomy octopus of Australia turns dark and towers threateningly over his neighbor, he's likely signaling aggression, scientists now say. Neighbors get the message — they turn pale and flee.
    NPR
    Health
    Though reporter Fred Mogul's dog, Lily, makes her home in Brooklyn, N.Y., she took to chasing sheep like a wolf, the instructor said. That's the instinct trainers look for.
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    Do City Dogs Dream Of Chasing Country Sheep?

    Sep 09, 2015
    Many people spend summertime in the great outdoors, enjoying simpler living. Reporter Fred Mogul took his city dog to a farm in Pennsylvania to see if she might enjoy exploring her shepherding roots.
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    NPR
    Close Listening: Decoding Nature Through Sound
    Biologist Erick Greene's team used a robotic horned owl (left) and a robotic hawk to provoke other birds into making various alarm calls he could record and study.
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    Warning Calls Decoded: Squirrels Take Up Bird Alarms To Foil The Enemy

    Sep 03, 2015
    It can take more than just a keen ear to figure out what animals are saying. Sometimes, scientists are learning, you have to talk back to map the rich networks of conversation in a forest.
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    NPR
    Science

    Froggy Went A-Courtin', But Lady Frogs Chose Second-Best Guy Instead

    Aug 27, 2015
    Given two choices of attractive mates, female frogs pick the top vocalist. But add a third, inferior male to the mix, and females go for No. 2. The "decoy effect" shapes some human choices, too.
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