Hacker News with Generative AI: Animal Behavior

Parrots and humans share a brain mechanism for speech (sciencenews.org)
When it comes to speech, parrots have the gift of gab. And the way the brains of small parrots known as budgerigars bestow this gift is remarkably similar to human speech, researchers report March 19 in Nature.
Neuroscience, Animal Behavior, Language, Birds
6 points by gmays 12 hours ago | 0 comments
The Ocean Sunfish: Why the Rant Is Wrong (2017) (imgur.com)
Ocean Sunfish, Biology, Animal Behavior, Opinion Pieces, Image Sharing
13 points by Tomte 7 days ago | 0 comments
Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools (sciencedaily.com)
Researchers have discovered that chimpanzees living in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania employ a degree of engineering when making their tools, deliberately choosing plants that provide materials that produce more flexible tools for termite fishing.
Animal Behavior, Primates, Tool Use, Engineering
93 points by docmechanic 9 days ago | 68 comments
North American spider species alters its webs to deal with urban noise pollution (nytimes.com)
Researchers have found evidence that a common North American spider species alters its webs to deal with urban noise pollution.
Science, Biology, Urbanization, Animal Behavior, Noise Pollution
21 points by perihelions 12 days ago | 5 comments
Ownership of High-Risk ("Vicious") Dogs as a Marker for Deviant Behaviors (researchgate.net)
Animal Behavior, Psychology, Sociology, Criminology
25 points by jnord 17 days ago | 49 comments
When the Animals Went Electric (nautil.us)
What a superpower sense tells us about evolutionary creativity
Evolution, Animal Behavior, Neuroscience, Superpowers
10 points by dnetesn 17 days ago | 0 comments
Mice perform 'first aid' to revive their stricken companions (thetimes.com)
Animal Behavior, Science, Biology, Mice
13 points by mrcode007 25 days ago | 6 comments
The first images of humpbacks having sex, and they're both males (cbc.ca)
Two male humpback whales are seen mating off the coast of Hawaii in 2022 in what scientists say is the first documented instance of humpback sex.
Animal Behavior, Science, Marine Biology, Whales
6 points by geox 28 days ago | 0 comments
Mice exhibit paramedic-like behaviors toward unresponsive peers, study finds (medicalxpress.com)
University of California, Los Angeles, researchers have identified neural mechanisms behind prosocial behaviors in mice directed toward unresponsive conspecifics.
Animal Behavior, Neuroscience, Social Behavior, Research
40 points by PaulHoule 30 days ago | 3 comments
Foraging seals enable scientists to measure fish abundance across the Pacific (phys.org)
Over the past 60 years, marine biologists at UC Santa Cruz have monitored the behavior of northern elephant seals that journey to nearby Año Nuevo Natural Reserve.
Marine Biology, Ecology, Animal Behavior, Research, Pacific Ocean
6 points by PaulHoule 36 days ago | 0 comments
Backyard bird has a lot to teach us about sex variability (scientificamerican.com)
It’s springtime in your backyard. You watch a pair of little brown songbirds flit about, their white throats flashing in the sun. One of the birds has striking black and white stripes on its crown and occasionally belts out its song, “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.” Its partner is more drab, with tan and gray stripes on its head and brown streaks through its white throat.
Animal Behavior, Biology, Science, Sexual Dimorphism
35 points by sohkamyung 37 days ago | 9 comments
Dogs may have domesticated themselves because they liked snacks, model suggests (livescience.com)
Dogs, Animal Behavior, Artificial Intelligence, Science
162 points by Stratoscope 38 days ago | 171 comments
Chimps prefer peeing together, 600 hours of study shows (asahi.com)
Animal Behavior, Primate Studies, Research, Science, Japan
13 points by rntn 38 days ago | 11 comments
A study on how turtles navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field (unc.edu)
Carolina researchers publish a groundbreaking study on how turtles navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field.
Science, Biology, Animal Behavior, Research
166 points by gmays 48 days ago | 67 comments
Bonobos recognize when humans are ignorant, try to help (arstechnica.com)
A lot of human society requires what's called a "theory of mind"—the ability to infer the mental state of another person and adjust our actions based on what we expect they know and are thinking.
Animal Behavior, Psychology, Primates
3 points by LinuxBender 59 days ago | 0 comments
Repeat offenders may be responsible for many shark attacks (nautil.us)
Veterinarian-turned-shark-expert Eric Clua knows how rare it is for a shark to attack a human. While dogs kill some 30,000 people annually, only 100 shark attacks are documented worldwide each year, and fewer than 15 percent of these are fatal. Still, he wants to understand why sharks attack when they do.
Shark Attacks, Animal Behavior, Science
42 points by rbanffy 63 days ago | 55 comments
Do Insects Feel Pain? (newyorker.com)
Insects make up about forty per cent of living species, and we tend to kill them without pause. New research explores the possibility that they are sentient.
Insects, Sentience, Science, Animal Behavior
20 points by Hooke 64 days ago | 72 comments
The Alpha Myth: How captive wolves led us astray (anthonydavidadams.substack.com)
In 1947, at Switzerland's Basel Zoo, animal behaviorist Rudolf Schenkel peered into an enclosure of captive wolves, meticulously documenting their interactions. What he witnessed – aggressive displays of dominance, rigid hierarchies, the emergence of an "alpha" male – would spawn decades of misunderstanding about power, leadership, and masculinity.
Animal Behavior, Science, Biology, Leadership, Masculinity
403 points by ada1981 66 days ago | 353 comments
Think your dog can understand words? This scientist says you might be right (cbc.ca)
The internet is filled with videos of dogs using soundboards to communicate with their humans — but have they just been trained on which buttons to push? A new study suggests dogs can understand the meaning behind specific words and respond appropriately.
Animal Behavior, Science, Language Understanding, Dogs, Communication
43 points by amichail 67 days ago | 61 comments
Peeing is contagious among chimps (arstechnica.com)
When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, and if it sometimes seems like the urge to pee seems more pressing when others nearby are letting loose—well, there's now a bit of science to back that up. It turns out that humans may not be the only species to experience "contagious urination," according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology.
Animal Behavior, Science, Biology
4 points by LinuxBender 73 days ago | 1 comments
How to Tell a Leopard from Its Roar (nautil.us)
Making a Shazam for conservationists
Conservation, Wildlife Identification, Animal Behavior, Technology
6 points by dnetesn 79 days ago | 2 comments
Stone selection by wild chimpanzees shares patterns with Oldowan hominins (sciencedirect.com)
The use of broad tool repertoires to increase dietary flexibility through extractive foraging behaviors is shared by humans and their closest living relatives (chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes).
Chimpanzees, Archaeology, Tool Use, Animal Behavior, Evolution
36 points by benbreen 87 days ago | 4 comments
Ants prove superior to humans in group problem-solving maze experiment (phys.org)
Anyone who has dealt with ants in the kitchen knows that ants are highly social creatures; it's rare to see one alone. Humans are social creatures too, even if some of us enjoy solitude. Ants and humans are also the only creatures in nature that consistently cooperate while transporting large loads that greatly exceed their own dimensions.
Science, Animal Behavior, Social Behavior, Research
5 points by pseudolus 101 days ago | 2 comments
AI Decodes the Calls of the Wild (nature.com)
Listening to sperm whales has taught Shane Gero the importance of seeing the animals he studies as individuals, each with a unique history.
Artificial Intelligence, Animal Behavior, Wildlife, Research, Oceanography
90 points by bookofjoe 103 days ago | 37 comments
California squirrels show carnivorous behavior for the first time (cnn.com)
California, Squirrels, Animal Behavior, Carnivores, Science
16 points by peutetre 106 days ago | 7 comments
Squirrels hunting and eating meat (gizmodo.com)
When you think of squirrels, you probably imagine cute, fluffy-tailed rodents stuffing their faces with nuts. This past summer, however, researchers photographed California ground squirrels viciously digging into rodent flesh.
Animal Behavior, Science, California, Wildlife
57 points by ulrischa 106 days ago | 52 comments
Why do animals adopt? (nautil.us)
Taking responsibility for another’s young reveals the deep evolutionary roots of care.
Animal Behavior, Evolution, Parenting
47 points by dnetesn 115 days ago | 53 comments
Monkeys Can Predict Election Outcomes (stevestewartwilliams.com)
This is insane: New research suggests that monkeys can accurately predict U.S. election outcomes. According to a fascinating preprint by researchers Yaoguang Jiang, Annamarie Huttunen, Naz Belkaya, and Michael Platt, our furry primate cousins have an uncanny knack for forecasting which candidates will win, simply by looking at their faces.
Politics, Animal Behavior, Research, Artificial Intelligence
10 points by MrBuddyCasino 117 days ago | 12 comments
Orcas start wearing dead salmon hats again after ditching the trend for 37 years (livescience.com)
Orcas, Animal Behavior, Trends, Marine Biology, Wildlife
15 points by pseudolus 124 days ago | 4 comments
I taught rats to drive a car, and it may help us lead happier lives (bbc.com)
Teaching rats to drive a tiny car around a laboratory had some far-reaching effects – it taught scientists a lot about the benefits of anticipating the joy brought by the things we love.
Animal Behavior, Science, Psychology, Research
44 points by PotatoNinja 126 days ago | 25 comments