Being too friendly can be costly. When a new alpha male takes over, female capuchin monkeys are more likely to lose their offspring to infanticide if they have an extensive network of social contacts than if they don’t. Image: inottawa
Read More
It is not just about speed. The only songbird known to perform a rapid tap dance during courtship makes more noise with its feet during its routines than at other times. Image: acornjfl
Read More
Is this a real example of the blind leading the blind? A group of geologists think they have found evidence that eyeless “woodlice”, known as trilobites, marched across the ocean floor in prehistoric conga lines. Image: Katrina Koger
Read More
It’s a social network like no other. The dolphins of the Bahamas forage and play together and forge alliances – even though they belong to two distinct species. They’re not the only example of mixed-species dolphin groups, but this level of interaction is unprecedented. Image: harrisongavin18
Read More
It’s a mould breaker. Researchers have discovered the first fungus that behaves like a farmer. We already know that soil fungi can help bacteria travel quickly from A to B. The fungal filaments provide favourable conditions for the bacteria, and so act as “highways” through the soil. But these highways may impose a toll, says Pilar Junier at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Image: ushishir
Read More
Different strokes for different folks? Not when it comes to the aquatic ape: the first detailed observations of swimming chimpanzees and orang-utans suggest that they, like us, tend to swim using a form of breaststroke. The findings imply that we may owe our swimming style to our evolutionary past. Image: Tambako the Jaguar
Read More
Male dinosaurs may not have had a caring side after all. Five years ago a study of theropod dinosaur nests and fossils concluded that it was the male of the species that incubated the eggs. Now a new analysis of the same data suggests there are problems with that conclusion. Image: Georg Schwalbach (GS1311)
Read More
A tiny microscope mounted to the head of a mouse makes it possible to watch brain cell activity...
Read More
Animal behavioural studies are blurring the boundaries between humans and animals, and challenging...
Read More
Concentrating on a recent meal turns out to significantly reduce the desire to snack, suggesting...
Read More
Whoever heard of birds cooperating on a project together? Sure, a pair may build a nest together, but cooperating on a single task to get food is something only primates have been thought capable of. Now it turns out that rooks, like chimps, can cooperate – although they may lack the competitive edge needed understand teamwork properly. Image: foxypar4
Read More
Macaques can predict the future actions of others, casting doubt on the idea that monkeys...
Read More
