animal behavior

Squirrels closely mimic bird warning calls and help spread the alarm through the forest that hawks, owls or other predators are nearby.

Squirrels Mimic Bird Alarms To Foil The Enemy

1:49pm September 04, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

It can take more than just a keen ear to figure out what animals are saying. Sometimes, scientists are learning, you have to talk back to map the rich networks of conversation in a forest.

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Froggy Went A-Courtin', But Lady Frogs Chose Second-Best Guy Instead

6:23pm August 27, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Given two choices of attractive mates, female frogs pick the top vocalist. But add a third, inferior male to the mix, and females go for No. 2. The "decoy effect" shapes some human choices, too.

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It Took A Musician's Ear To Decode The Complex Song In Whale Calls

4:25pm August 19, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

Male humpback whales create "songs" together, scientists say. Katy Payne was the first to hear the shifts in pitch and pattern in the collective calls as complex music — haunting, evolving tunes.

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Family means a lot on Cayo Santiago, an island and monkey research colony off the coast of Puerto Rico. The colony of rhesus macaques living on the island since the 1930s has allowed scientists to trace kinship ties and effects across an extended communit

Puerto Rico's Monkey Island Lures Scientists For Generations

8:37am July 16, 2015

by Anders Kelto

The isle of Cayo Santiago has been home to at least nine generations of rhesus monkeys since the colony's founding in 1938. Primatologists here seek clues to primate kinship, cognition and ecology.

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Unless there's a serious pileup, ants in traffic tend to bypass a collision and just keep going. A physicist has found a way to model this behavior with a mathematical equation.

Why Ants Handle Traffic Better Than You Do

10:52am June 24, 2015

by Joe Palca

Ants don't show road rage. In fact, some research shows they rarely get into traffic jams and are able to maintain a steady speed even as their numbers swell. Can physics explain it?

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One of these things is not like the other: A 3-D printed model of a beige cowbird egg stands out from its robin's egg nest mates, though their shape and heft are similar.

Higher-Tech Fake Eggs Offer Better Clues To Wild-Bird Behavior

8:42pm May 26, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Faux eggs made with 3-D printers are better than sculpted versions, researchers say, because it's easier to systematically vary their size, weight and other features. Next goal: 3-D fragile shells.

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Veterinarian Vint Virga says that animals in zoos, like this lion, need to have a bit of control over their environment.

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Cat PDA Vs. Human PDA, And Other Animal Behavior Explained

10:43am May 01, 2015

Veterinarian Vint Virga works with pets and zoo animals on behavior disorders. He talks about how house cats are more fulfilled when they forage for food, and how to show animals affection.

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