A bear in southern Arizona caused a brief power outage after it climbed up a power pole and became stuck. The utility company in the city of Willcox was notified a bear had become tangled in power lines, and workers quickly disabled the power. The linemen then climbed into a bucket lift to coax the animal down with a fibreglass stick, before the bear eventually went down on its own and retreated to the desert. It is the second time in a month a bear in the state has climbed a power pole
Continue reading...Category Archives: Animal behaviour
Monkeys adopt ‘accent’ of other species when in shared territory – study
Brazilian Amazon primates found to adapt their calls to get along better with their neighbours
Monkeys will use the “accent” of another species when they enter its territory to enhance communication, much like a British person living in the US might forgo their ‘tomahto’ for ‘tomayto, researchers have found.
Researchers investigated the behaviour of 15 groups of two roughly squirrel-sized primate species in the Brazilian Amazon: pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) and red-handed tamarins (Saguinus midas).
Continue reading...‘What appointments did these dogs have to keep?’: long lunches and brief liaisons in a radical new dogumentary
To mark National Puppy Day, Elizabeth Lo’s acclaimed film Stray gives humans rare insight into the canine gaze, courtesy of homeless mutts in Istanbul
From the moment Zeytin makes her first appearance in Elizabeth Lo’s feature Stray, there is no doubt you are in the presence of a unique spirit. As she surveys an Istanbul side street at dawn, her features are alert, her gaze is uncompromising and her deep, dark eyes sparkle with intelligence. There’s something of Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen about her, or maybe Brad Pitt in one of his less kempt moments. But non-dog comparisons don’t do her justice. This is one indomitable bitch.
Lo first encountered Zeytin and her friend Nazar on a 2017 casting trip to Turkey, and knew immediately that she had found the star she was looking for – which is to say, a dog who could carry a human film. “We were wandering through a busy underground tunnel filled with people when suddenly these two giant stray dogs streaked past us,” she says. “They were running with such a sense of purpose and it was so intriguing. What appointments did these dogs have to keep?”
Continue reading...Dolphins have similar personality traits to humans, study finds
Curiosity and sociability among traits found, despite dolphins having evolved separately for millions of years
Dolphins have developed a number of similar personality traits to humans, despite having evolved in vastly different environments, researchers have found.
A study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, looked at 134 male and female bottlenose dolphins from eight facilities across the world, with each dolphin’s personality being assessed by staff at the facilities. The results of the study found a convergence of certain personality traits, especially curiosity and sociability.
Continue reading...Pigs can be trained to use computer joysticks, say researchers
Study found pigs were able to move a cursor to hit a wall on a screen and earn a treat
They’ve long been thought of as smarter than your average animal, but now researchers claim they have taught pigs to use a joystick, suggesting they are even cleverer than previously thought.
Pigs have previously been found to be capable of a host of tasks, including solving multiple-choice puzzles, and learning commands such as “sit”.
Continue reading...Nice phone: Bali’s thieving monkeys can spot high-value items to ransom
Study finds macaques go for tourists’ electronics and wallets over empty bags and then maximise their profit
At the Uluwatu temple in Bali, monkeys mean business. The long-tailed macaques who roam the ancient site are infamous for brazenly robbing unsuspecting tourists and clinging on to their possessions until food is offered as ransom payment.
Researchers have found they are also skilled at judging which items their victims value the most and using this information to maximise their profit.
Continue reading...Baby sharks emerge from egg cases earlier and weaker in oceans warmed by climate crisis
Weaker sharks are less effective hunters, which can upset the balance of the ecosystem, say authors of study into impacts of hotter oceans
Baby sharks will emerge from their egg cases earlier and weaker as water temperatures rise, according to a new study that examined the impact of warming oceans on embryos.
About 40% of all shark species lay eggs, and the researchers found that one species unique to the Great Barrier Reef spent up to 25 days less in their egg cases under temperatures expected by the end of the century.
Continue reading...‘The platypuses were glowing’: the secret light of Australia’s marsupials
The discovery that bilbies, bandicoots, Tasmanian devils and echidnas emit bio-fluorescence under UV light has sparked the burning question. Why?
Dr Kenny Travouillon turned off the lights and headed straight for the shelf holding the stuffed platypus, armed with an ultraviolet torch to test something out. Would the monotreme glow?
“All the platypuses were glowing,” says Travouillon, the mammals curator at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. “We went through with other mammals and we found they were glowing too.”
Continue reading...‘What’s that Skip?’ Researchers say kangaroos can communicate with people
Study shows animals with no long history of domestication show patterns of interaction with humans similar to that of dogs or horses
The classic TV show Skippy, about a child speaking with a highly intelligent kangaroo, might not be as fictional as we once thought, according to Australian and UK researchers.
A study from the University of Sydney and the University of Roehampton in London suggests that kangaroos are capable of intentionally communicating with humans, suggesting a higher level of cognitive function than previously thought.
Continue reading...Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal
From the Strait of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crew
Full story: ‘I’ve never seen or heard of attacks’ – scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats
Scientists have been left baffled by incidents of orcas ramming sailing boats along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts.
In the last two months, from southern to northern Spain, sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage.
Continue reading...‘Smelly and create great stains’: emus banned from pub in outback Australia town
Kevin and Carol, friendly emus who wander the town of Yaraka in Queensland, have been barred from the only pub after leaving droppings on the floor and stealing toast
It can’t be easy being an emu in outback Australia at the best of times what with the heat and the perennial droughts.
But to be banned from your local pub for bad behaviour must now be added to the list of grievances inflicted upon the big birds.
Continue reading...Snake eels burst through the stomach of predators in bid to escape being eaten alive
Creatures’ attempts are in vain, and as they are unable to burrow through the fish’s ribcage, the eels become trapped in the gut of their captor
It’s no secret that nature can be brutal and violent, but a new Queensland Museum report on the death of some snake eels reads more like the plot of a horror movie than a scientific paper.
Snake eels are a family of eel species that live most of their lives burrowed in the soft sand on the floor of the ocean.
Continue reading...Why glass frogs have see-through skin becomes clear in study
While colour of body changes little, legs are more translucent to help amphibians to blend in
The mystery of why glass frogs have see-through skin has been solved, scientists say: the unusual feature is a type of camouflage.
Glass frogs are found in tropical Central and South America, and get their name from their skin.
Continue reading...BBC’s Andrew Cotter commentates penguin parade on Australia’s Phillip Island
Voiceover narrates fairy penguin’s high-stakes waddle from shoreline to burrows in parade that used to attract thousands of visitors nightly
With live sport now a scarce resource, BBC commentator Andrew Cotter has lent his distinctive voice to the fairy penguins of Phillip Island.
He has narrated the birds’ nightly waddle back to their burrows, turning Victoria’s famous penguin parade into a high-stakes, long-distance race.
Continue reading...Warty comb jelly, scourge of fisheries, also eats its young
Researchers say cannibalistic tendency may help explain why the invasive creatures thrive
When the going gets tough, most parents try to protect their offspring. But the warty comb jelly takes a different tack: it eats them.
Despite initial appearances, comb jellies are not jellyfish but belong to a different group of animals, ctenophora, which swim using tiny hair-like projections called cilia.
Continue reading...Fruity and irresistible: male lemurs’ wrist scent seduces females
‘Stink flirting’ observation may be first finding of primate sex pheromones, say scientists
An irresistible floral scent dabbed on the body may sound like a cliche from a perfume advert, but it appears to play a role in how male ring-tailed lemurs attract a mate.
Researchers in Japan say they have identified the odours males waft at females, and shown the latter’s attention is indeed captured by the pong.
Continue reading...Ranger captures moment grizzly bear emerges from hibernation in Canada – video
A hulking grizzly bear has found online stardom after he was caught groggily emerging from hibernation on camera. Canadian ranger Nicole Gagnon filmed the end of Boo's hibernation on her phone, a moment she said she had been waiting to document for eight years. It has since been viewed over 100,000 times on Twitter. Boo, 18, draws thousands of tourists every year to his 20-acre enclosure near the town of Golden, Canada
Continue reading...Moo swings? Cows go through disruptive puberty too – study
Scientists say animals can become more or less bold and adventurous as they grow up
Humans are not alone in enduring the rollercoaster ride of puberty as powerful hormones flood the body and cause mood swings from one day to the next. Scientists have found that dairy cows pass through a similar phase of emotional confusion that disturbs their otherwise rather stable personalities.
The findings emerged from extensive observations of Holstein dairy cattle as they matured from calves to adulthood. “Our study identified a period of inconsistency in personality traits over puberty,” said Nina Von Keyserlingk, a professor of animal welfare at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Continue reading...Scientists give cuttlefish 3D glasses and shrimp films for vision study
Researchers use 3D glasses, films and food to test whether cuttlefish use stereopsis to find prey
There are some questions in science that can only be answered by strapping a pair of 3D glasses to an unsuspecting cuttlefish and setting it loose in an underwater movie theatre.
That, at least, was the thinking of a team of researchers who set themselves the task of working out how the marine molluscs know how far away prey is before launching their explosive, tentacled attacks.
Continue reading...Cha-cha-chimp? Ape study suggests urge to dance is prehuman
Chimpanzees seen clapping, tapping and swaying along to piano rhythms in a music booth
Akira stands up and sways about. Pal is big on clapping. Ai is into tapping her foot, while Gon bangs and slaps the walls.
Not the latest teen band sensation, but a spectacle far more impressive: the moves of a group of chimpanzees that scientists believe shed light on the prehistoric origins of human dancing.
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