Thousands of red crabs swarming in low-oxygen waters off the coast of Panama have been captured on video during a recent diving expedition. The crabs were identified by DNA as Pleuroncodes planipes, or Tuna Crabs, which have never been seen in waters so far south. The lead author, Jesús Pineda, said “when we dove down […]
Tag: animal behaviour
Salmon like the dark side
Salmon living in tanks with darker backgrounds are typically less aggressive than those living in a lighter coloured environment, according to new research. The researchers divided 100 Coho Salmon into 10 different tanks, each with different colour patterns, and monitored their behaviour. They found that the salmon prefered the darker areas, and were less aggressive […]
Which chick to feed? How birds choose
Which chick gets fed first in a brood seems to depend more on the environment than a chick’s begging or its size. That’s what researchers report after reviewing data on 143 different bird species. When food is plentiful and supplies are stable, birds will usually feed the chicks who beg the most and are […]
Cutting away at the mystery of leafcutting bees
Leafcutting bees use pieces of various plant leaves to build their nests, however determining which plants they prefer has been a challenge. In the past, researchers had to either observe leafcutting bees visiting a plant or identify pieces of leaf in the nest in to know which plant the bees relied on. Now, using DNA […]
When snails fly
A snail that flies may sound like science-fiction, but it’s not – quite. The Limacina helicina, a zooplanktonic sea butterfly, is a type of sea snail (the “butterfly” is a misnomer) that moves through the water in the same way a fruit fly flies, by moving its wings in a figure eight pattern. Using […]
Ravens on their mind
Ravens possess the “Theory of Mind”, or the ability to predict the mental state of others, according to a new study. This is the first time the “Theory of Mind” has been confirmed in an animal other than humans or non-human primates. The researchers fed individual ravens in an enclosed study area, while playing raven […]
Shipping noises potentially harming Vancouver Island’s Killer Whales
New findings suggest noise from ships overlaps frequencies used for communication and foraging by orcas, potentially affecting the endangered Southern Resident orcas living in the waters around Vancouver Island, B.C. The researchers found container ships created the highest levels of background noise at frequencies below 20,000 Hz, and military vessels typically had some of the […]
T.V.’s newest hit drama – The Secret Lives of Octopuses
Contrary to their reputation, octopuses are indeed a social bunch. That’s what researchers realized after watching over 52 hours of film of the shallow-water Octopus tetricus in Jervis Bay, Australia. They saw footage of octopuses communicating with each other using body postures and by changing colours. For example when an octopus with a dark body […]
Studying autism with genetically modified monkeys
Genetically modified monkeys showing autism-like behaviours could help the development of strategies to treat the symptoms of autism disorders, according to researchers. Currently one of the major challenges for researchers studying autism spectrum disorders is the lack of animals models that reproduce symptoms typically found in human patients. These monkeys, and their offspring, show behavioural […]
Branching out of the family
Crows spend most of their social time with family members, but when they need a little extra help to get some food – they’re not averse to enlisting others, according to researchers. New Caledonian crows are a clever group – a species known to use tools to get hard to reach food. Analyzing the activity […]
What we can learn from jellyfish
Jellyfish and lamprey eels have some of the lowest energy costs for swimming of any animal, and now scientists have figured out how they do it. Fish, humans, and boats move forward by propelling water backwards thereby generating thrust. Jellyfish and eels however are able to generate low pressure regions that help pull them through the […]
Farming fungus: A new bee-haviour
An accident in the lab has lead to the discovery that a specific species of bee, native to Brazil, farms fungus for their larvae to eat. This finding raises concerns about the use of fungicides in agriculture. Researchers made the discovery while attempting to breed queen bees, but found white fungus growing out of control, […]
Unlocking the secrets of electric eels
Videos of the electric eels in the experiment are available here, and here. (Video credit: Kenneth Catania) Electric eels use their high-voltage discharge not only to stun their prey, but to also to track it before attacking, according to new research. The eels are able to track prey in this manner without the use of […]
You catch more flies with a frog’s tongue
Frogs capture their prey with the flick of a sticky tongue, and now new research is showing just how the tongue can be as sticky as adhesive tape. Now, by filming frog tongues at high-speed, researchers have captured, for the first time, how the tongue manages to immediately adhere to different surfaces. The video showed […]
How Sperm whales speak
Sperm whales learn different ‘dialects’ of their ‘click’ sounds through cultural learning, a method of learning found in both Orcas and humans, say researchers. This reinforces the idea that the same processes responsible for the formation of human cultures can operate in animal societies. Sperm whales live in clans – groups of families that can […]
Eastern Golden Eagle populations and environmental change
Using GPS trackers and studying feather samples from 42 Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) researchers found that they exhibit migratory connectivity, as individuals from the same breeding population migrate to the same wintering area. This means that subpopulations of the Golden Eagle are more vulnerable to environmental changes than currently expected. The authors found that individual […]
