Most dog owners are aware that their pooch is smart enough to know a few choice phraseswalkies, for instance, or, perhaps more likely, time for dinner. Some particularly intelligent canines can even identify more than 100 words. And incredibly, a few genius doggies may be able to learn words not by being taught but purely by eavesdropping on human conversations.
I write this post with a clear but demanding purpose. I aim to apply insights from animal behavior research to gain a deeper understanding of how humans behave, struggle, and adapt. As a clinical psychologist, much of my work centers on two closely related questions. Why do people do what they do? And why is changing what does not work for them so often more difficult than it appears?
No, I don't want a candle that smells like turkey, because, well, we'll be cooking turkey. Nor do I want a sunrise alarm clock that mimics natural light, because I can leave the curtains open. And I definitely don't want a salmon DNA pink collagen jelly mask (Good Housekeeping's Best for Beauty Lovers), because said DNA comes from milt. AKA semen. If I wanted fish sperm on my face, I would tickle some pollocks.
With the use of a bootstrap experimental setup consisting of a large polystyrene ball, a curved computer monitor, and a small straw that dispenses sugar water, Tóth managed to teach a rat how to play the classic 1994 video game Doom II. The rat's movements translated into rotations of the ball, which were then translated into movement inside the iconic first-person shooter. The sugar water served as a treat whenever the rat completed a milestone, like walking down a corridor.
That could be deadly for young sea otters, according to Shayla Zink, who works at the center in Morro Bay. That pup is really relying on everything it learns from the mother to be able to survive in the ocean, Zink said, adding that a mother sea otter cares for her pup for up to nine months, often carrying her small baby on her chest.
When I was seven years old, something happened that I still think about today. It was in Astana, Kazakhstan - back then it was called Akmola. After school, I would walk home with my stepbrother, his two friends, and my best friend. It was a quick 10-minute walk, and we usually stopped by her apartment on the way. One rainy day, she invited us in to wait out the rain.
They're not sad at all, said Gedman. The question of whether the gorillas at Bristol Zoo Gardens might be sad has made headlines in the UK tabloids and provoked concern from animal lovers around the world. Three years ago the site near the Clifton Suspension Bridge closed to the public and most of the animals were moved to a new site, Bristol Zoo Project, on the edge of the city, where they have larger, leafier enclosures.
In both cases, the test subjects were presented with visual stimuli in the form of two white plastic cards. Sizes differed for the doves and the guppies, but each card showed an array of six black circles with a bit of food serving as the center "circle": red millet seeds for the doves and commercial flake food for the guppies.
Dog: Smelled some organic compounds on his breath. Picked up traces of blood in his stool. It's either cancer or the worst case of Happy-Tail Syndrome I've ever seen. Doctor B: I don't buy it. I want a full workup. Blood, imaging. Dog: While you do that, I'll do a full workup on a hair ball the size of a colostomy bag. Tomorrow, I'll still be right and there's a good chance your patient will be dead.
"When I did this experiment, I hoped that I would win the Ig Nobel. It's my dream. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable," said Tomoki Kojima, whose team put tape on Japanese beef cows and then spray-painted them with white stripes. Kojima appeared on stage in stripes and was surrounded by his fellow researchers who harassed him with cardboard flies.
The narrative of wildlife documentaries often begins with sweeping shots of the African savannah, establishing a familiar, bittersweet cycle of life and death among species.
"I think more and more we are really understanding the extent to which social behavior influences animals' lives," says Adelaide Abraham, a PhD student at the University of Oxford and first author of the study. "It's hugely, hugely important."
