Gorillas gather around and groom their dead

Date:  April 3, 2019

Source:  PeerJ

It is now known that many animals exhibit unique behaviors around same-species corpses, ranging from removal of the bodies and burial among social insects to quiet attendance and caregiving among elephants and primates. Researchers in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo have been able to take a close look at the behavioral responses to the deaths of three individuals -- both known and unknown -- in gorillas and have reported their findings in PeerJ -- the Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences.

Scientists from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the University of California Davis, Uppsala University, and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature observed and filmed the behavior of mountain gorillas around the corpses of a 35-year-old dominant adult male and a 38-year-old dominant adult female from the same social group living in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Both individuals had died a few hours earlier of illnesses possibly linked to their advanced age. Researchers also studied the behavior of a group of Grauer's gorillas who found the body of a recently deceased adult male in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Male bottlenose dolphins form bachelor groups with their relatives

When it comes to wooing the 'ladies', it turns out male bottlenose dolphins employ special tactics with their brothers or cousins to increase their odds of sexual success

Date:  March 6, 2019

Source:  Flinders University

When it comes to wooing the 'ladies', it turns out male bottle nose dolphins employ special tactics with their brothers or cousins to increase their odds of sexual success.

New research has analysed the behaviour of 12 dolphin social groups in South Australia's Coffin Bay region and shows males who team up in groups of two to five to form beneficial alliances may have more success.

The collaboration improves the bottle nose chances of finding and breeding with females in a competitive environment, ensures they stay fit, and leads to stronger family bonds over time.

Led by Dr Fernando Diaz-Aguirre at the Molecular Ecology at Flinders University, the study examined the social and genetic structure of Southern Australian dolphins dealing with population density, an unfavourable sex ratio, and their own behavioural characteristics.

"Our research shows males form tight groups likely to increase their chances at mating with limited numbers of females, and at the same time they can defend females and prevent other male groups from mating with them," says Dr Diaz-Aguirre.

"The study highlights which geographic and demographic factors directly influence how male dolphins go about increasing their success rate with females."

Male lions, chimpanzees and horses are known to form bachelor groups in the animal kingdom, but it's even more important for dolphins because females only give birth to a single calf every two to five years.

Previous research has shown other dolphin's types form similar relationships, but this study analysed why bonds are based on blood relations in the Coffin Bay region.

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Desperately Horny Australian Cane Toads Ride Snake Train to Sex Town – via Herp Digest

Tom McKay, Gizmodo, 12/31/18

Are these invasive cane toads waterlogged, or just really, really thirsty? The below photo, captured by one Andrew Mock of Kununurra in northern Australia, shows 10 cane toads riding out a storm that dumped nearly 70mm of rain by hitching themselves to the back of an approximately 3.5-meter python, the Guardian reported on Monday, though it seems as though their primary motivation may have been humping it.

68mm just fell in the last hour at Kununurra.  Flushed all the cane toads out of my brothers dam.  Some of them took the easy way out - hitching a ride on the back of a 3.5m python.

The paper wrote that the bizarre scene was originally discovered by Andrew Mock’s brother, Paul Mock, after which they quickly took a photo of the reptilian-amphibian Bang Bus:

Worried the dam and spillway might break its banks, Paul Mock ventured outside in the middle of the lightning and rain.

“The lake was so full it had filled the cane toad burrows around the bank and they were all sitting on top of the grass – thousands of them,” he told Guardian Australia.

“[The snake] was in the middle of the lawn, making for higher ground... He was literally moving across the grass at full speed with the frogs hanging on.”

According to Jodi Rowley, the curator of Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology at the Australian Museum, the cane toads in question may have been less interested in escaping the rainfall than desperately trying to bang the snake.

Cane toads are not native to Australia, and were introduced to the country in the 1930s in a misguided attempt to eliminate beetle infestations of sugar cane crops. That didn’t work, but the toads breed quickly and are highly adaptable, and every stage of their life cycle from eggs to adulthood are brimming with a potent venom that “can cause rapid heartbeat, excessive salivation, convulsions and paralysis and can result in death for many native animals,” according to the Australian government’s Department of the Environment and Energy. (The toxin even persists after death, meaning their corpses can poison carrion-eating animals or perhaps even ponds and puddles.)

There’s no way to know for sure, but per the BBC, the number of the toads across the country is estimated to have perhaps crossed into the billions:

“They probably have moved about halfway through that tropical region of Western Australia,” explained Rick Shine, a professor in biology at the University of Sydney. “They are in very inaccessible country now in the Kimberley. It is very hard to get detailed information on exactly where the front is but it seems to be moving at 50 to 60km (31 to 37 miles) per annum.”

The warty amphibians move only during the wet season. Although tracking studies have shown many hop less than 10 metres a day, those at the front line have grown bigger and faster.

Efforts to control the toad’s spread have included government-backed elimination campaigns (though funding was cut in 2014 as they outpaced the program) as well as air-dropping sausages of toad meat laced with a nauseating substance in an attempt to train predators not to eat the toxic toads. According to the Conversation, researchers recently sequenced the species’ genome, which could give conservation authorities better tools to finally crack down on their invasion of the continent.

Orca mother finally abandons dead calf she carried for more than two weeks

Researchers say endangered killer whale who lives off the coast of Seattle is back to feeding and frolicking with her pod

Guardian staff and agencies

Mon 13 Aug 2018 01.32 BSTLast modified on Mon 13 Aug 2018 10.02 BST

Researchers say an endangered killer whale that carried her dead calf on her head for more than two weeks has finally abandoned the calf’s body and is back to feeding and frolicking with her pod.

The Center for Whale Research in Washington state says it watched the orca, known as J35, chase a school of salmon in Haro Strait west of San Juan Island, between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, on Saturday afternoon.

J35’s calf died soon after birth on 24 July. The mother carried the baby on her head for at least 17 days, in an image of grief that struck an emotional chord worldwide.

She finally abandoned the carcass as it decomposed.

Center for Whale Research founder Ken Balcomb said he was immensely relieved to see J35 returning to typical behavior.

Three years have passed since an orca residing in the area has birthed a surviving calf. In the past 20 years, 40 orcas have been born into the group while 72 have died. Only 75 killer whales in the endangered group, known as southern resident orcas, remain.

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Are smarter animals bigger troublemakers?

Date:  June 18, 2018

Source:  University of Wyoming

You have probably encountered a raccoon raiding the trash in your neighborhood, seen a rat scurrying through the subway or tried to shoo away birds from your picnic. But have you ever wondered what makes these animals so good at living in suburbs and cities, and whether these same traits also make them such a nuisance?

A new paper in the journal Animal Behaviour written by Lisa P. Barrett, Lauren Stanton and Sarah Benson-Amram, of the University of Wyoming's Animal Behavior and Cognition Lab, takes an in-depth look at these questions.

The authors examine whether smarter animals might be better at learning to live in cities -- but, at the same time, also may come into more conflict with humans. For example, crows' memories allow them to predict and capitalize on sources of food, such as trash collection routines, but their memories also can bring them into conflict with humans when the birds strew trash on the street or congregate in agricultural fields or on buildings.

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Sperm whale 'clicks' help scientists understand behaviour

April 10, 2018

Australian researchers hope the audio recordings will eventually help them measure the number of sperm whales that use Antarctic waters

Scientists have recorded thousands of hours of "clicks" that sperm whales make to forage for food and communicate, helping them better understand the behaviour of one of the Southern Ocean's key predators.

Sperm whales, which can measure up to 20 metres (67 feet) long, are listed as "vulnerable" to extinction.

The Australian researchers hope the audio recordings will eventually help them measure the number of sperm whales that use Antarctic waters, which will in turn assist with efforts to manage their survival.

They recorded whale vocalisations over six years using custom-designed and built acoustic moorings, and found they had four types—slow clicks, usual clicks, creaks and codas.

"Slow clicks and codas are thought to be linked to communication, while usual clicks and creaks are linked with echolocation and foraging," said Australian Antarctic Division acoustician Brian Miller, who worked with ecologist Elanor Miller on the project.

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Rudeness Wins: Bonobos Are Attracted to Creeps

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | January 5, 2018 12:53pm ET

"You like me because I'm a scoundrel," interstellar smuggler Han Solo confidently told Princess Leia Organa in the 1981 film "The Empire Strikes Back." And scientists recently discovered a similar preference in bonobos, the great apes that are close relatives of chimpanzees.

Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are helpful sweethearts compared with their more aggressive chimp cousins (Pan troglogytes). But a new study found that these generally peaceful primates were also more likely to respond positively to individuals that were selfish, bullying or downright mean.

In other words, they're drawn to jerks. [8 Humanlike Behaviors of Primates]

Of course, Han Solo ultimately proved that he was quite a bit nicer than his self-serving manner initially suggested. But bonobos demonstrated in a series of trials that they were more likely to favor individuals that treated others poorly.

Prior research has shown that bonobos go out of their way to help others, even when their assistance hasn't been requested and they receive no reward for lending a hand. But when scientists showed bonobos videos in which some characters prevented others from reaching a goal, the bonobo subjects unexpectedly preferred the harmful individuals to the helpful ones.

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Sex between snow monkeys and sika deer may be 'new behavioural tradition'

Following a report of monkey-deer interactions earlier this year, researchers have now recorded the behaviour in another group of monkeys

Nicola Davis

Friday 15 December 2017 14.20 GMTLast modified on Friday 15 December 2017 22.01 GMT

Sexual interactions between snow monkeys and sika deer could be a new behavioural tradition within a group of monkeys observed in Japan, researchers have suggested.

While the first report of a male Japanese macaque, or snow monkey, and female sika deer taking to each other was revealed earlier this year, scientists say they are now confident the behaviour is sexual after scrutinising adolescent females suggestively interacting with stags at Minoo in Japan.

“The monkey-deer sexual interactions reported in our paper may reflect the early stage development of a new behavioural tradition at Minoo,” said Dr Noëlle Gunst-Leca, co-author of the study from the University of Lethbridge in Canada.

While sexual interactions between closely related species have been seen for all manner of animals, from various species of fish to species of baboon, such liaisons are rare, with the sexual assault of king penguins by Antarctic fur seals the only other known example between distant species.

But earlier this year, a study revealed a male Japanese macaque had been filmed mounting a female Sika deer at Yakushima island in southern Japan. Gunst-Leca said it wasn’t clear quite what was going on.

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Bonobos help strangers without being asked

November 7, 2017 by Robin A. Smith

A passer-by drops something and you spring to pick it up. Or maybe you hold the door for someone behind you. Such acts of kindness to strangers were long thought to be unique to humans, but recent research on bonobos suggests our species is not as exceptional in this regard as we like to think.

Famously friendly apes from Africa's Congo Basin, bonobos will go out of their way to help strangers too, said Jingzhi Tan, a postdoctoral associate in evolutionary anthropology at Duke University.

A previous study by Tan and associate professor of evolutionary anthropology Brian Hare found that bonobos share food with strangers. Now, in a new series of experiments, the team is trying to find out just how far this kindness goes.

The researchers studied wild-born bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In one experiment, they found that bonobos will help a stranger get food even when there is no immediate payback.

Sixteen bonobos were led one at a time into one of two adjacent rooms separated by a fence. The researchers hung a piece of apple from a rope just above the empty room, visible but out of reach.

The apes couldn't access the fruit or the rope. But if they climbed the fence they could reach a wooden pin holding the rope to the ceiling and release the dangling fruit, causing it to drop within reach of any bonobo that entered the next room.

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Animation meets biology: Shedding new light on animal behavior

Date:  November 6, 2017

Source:  British Ecological Society (BES)

Summary:

Many animals rely on movement to find prey and avoid predators. Movement is also an essential component of the territorial displays of lizards, comprising tail, limb, head and whole-body movements.

Read more  

How environment plays key role in changing movement behavior of animals

Mathematicians develop theory which helps to unravel long-standing mysteries of animal movement

Date:  October 30, 2017

Source:  University of Leicester

Mathematicians from the University of Leicester have developed a theory which explains how small animals, such as bats, insects and birds, adjust their movement behaviour based on cues within their environment.

In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the researchers propose a unified theory of animal movement that relates the movement pattern to an animal's biological traits such as its mass and body shape and to the properties of the environment.

The theory shows how different movement patterns may arise naturally from the interplay between an animal's force, the environmental drag, and an animal's behavioural response to the environmental cues. The cues include information about an animal's movement environment, in particular the information about the location of food sources, predators and mating partners.

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Swansea Uni study: African wild dogs 'sneeze to vote'

6 September 2017

African wild dogs vote over pack decisions by sneezing, a new study has found.

The joint research by academics from Swansea, Australia and the United States monitored endangered dogs at the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust.

They found the dogs used sneezes to decide when to move off to hunt after making camp for greeting ceremonies called "social rallies".

Dr Andrew King, of Swansea University, said the sneezes acted as a "quorum".

The study was carried out by zoologists from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, Brown University, in the United States, and Swansea University's College of Science.

Previously it had been thought the dogs, which are among the world's most-endangered species, were simply clearing their airways.

But, while zoologists recorded the details of 68 social rallies, they noticed the more sneezes there were, the more likely it was the pack moved off and started hunting.

Dr King said: "The sneezes act as a type of quorum, and the sneezes have to reach a certain threshold before the group changes activity.

"Quorums are also used by other social carnivores such as meerkats."

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When fish swim in the holodeck

Virtual worlds allow new experimental designs for the study of brain function

Date: August 21, 2017

Source: University of Vienna

Summary:

Standard behavior experiments to investigate behavior in popular lab animals only incompletely mimic natural conditions. The understanding of behavior and brain function is thus limited. Virtual Reality helps in generating a more natural experimental environment but requires immobilization of the animal, disrupting sensorimotor experience and causing altered neuronal and behavioral responses. Researchers have now developed a VR system for freely moving animals to overcome most of these limitations.

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Moving Nose to Tail, Shrew 'Conga Line' Shimmies Online

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | July 27, 2017 04:52pm ET

A creepy, crawly video of tiny critters holding each other's tails and scurrying across the ground like a furry centipede has captured the internet's attention.

Called "The NOPE train," the video has garnered nearly 3 million views since it was posted to Imgur on Monday (July 24). Commenters got creative, calling the furry unit "the human centipede: mice edition," a "rat king in the making" and a "fluffy snake." One user wryly posted, "The caboose is a bit wobbly."

At least two commenters got the animal right: They're shrews. And not just any shrews — that fuzzy conga is a mother shrew leading her babies in a train, known as a caravan, according to Cynthia Alvarado, a clinical veterinarian at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

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Unexpected flipper flapping in humpback whales observed

Date:  July 10, 2017

Source:  Stanford University

Summary:  Humpback whales flap their foreflippers like penguins or sea lions, researchers have discovered. This unexpected observation helps explain whale maneuvering and could improve designs inspired by their movement.

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Monkey mafia steal your stuff, then sell it back for a cracker

25 May 2017

By Brian Owens

Long-tailed macaques living near an Indonesian temple have figured out how to run a ransom racket on visiting tourists.

The monkeys grab valuables, such as glasses, hats, cameras or, in one case, a wad of cash from the ticket booth, then wait for temple staff to offer them food before dropping their ill-gotten gains and dashing off with the tasty prize (see video below).

Although this behaviour has been reported anecdotally at Uluwatu Temple on the island of Bali for years, it had never been studied scientifically in the wild. So Fany Brotcorne, a primatologist at the University of Liège in Belgium, and her colleagues set out to discover how and why it has spread through the monkey population.

“It’s a unique behaviour. The Uluwatu Temple is the only place in Bali where it’s found,” she says, which suggests it is a learned behaviour rather than an innate ability.

Brotcorne wanted to determine whether it was indeed cultural, which could help us better understand the monkey’s cognitive abilities, and even human evolution.

Robbing and bartering
She spent four months observing four different groups of monkeys that live near the temple. The two groups that spent the most time around tourists had the highest rates of robbing and bartering, supporting the idea that they were learning the behaviour by watching each other. Groups with more young males, who are more prone to risky behaviour, also had higher rates than other groups.

Although this study is based on only a small sample, Brotcorne believes her team has found the first preliminary evidence that the behaviour is a cultural one, transmitted across generations by monkeys learning from each other.

In the years since these observations, she has gathered more evidence: the members of a fifth group of macaques that moved into the area around the temple have also started to learn that they can barter stolen goods for snacks.

Serge Wich, a primatologist at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, says Brotcorne’s work provides “a novel and quite spectacular example of flexibility in primate behaviour in response to environmental changes”.

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Birds, bees and other critters have scruples, and for good reason

Date: May 24, 2017
Source: University of California - Berkeley

Humans are not the only species to show a strong work ethic and scruples. UC Berkeley researchers have found evidence of conscientiousness in insects, reptiles, birds, fish and other critters.

In reviewing nearly 4,000 animal behavior studies, UC Berkeley psychologists Mikel Delgado and Frank Sulloway tracked such attributes as industriousness, neatness, tenacity, cautiousness and self-discipline across a broad range of creatures great and small.

Just as in humans, conscientiousness in animals -- which includes working hard, paying attention to detail and striving to do the right thing -- has such evolutionary benefits as giving them an edge in hunting and gathering, attracting mates, procreating and fending off predators, according to the review published in the online issue of the journal Psychological Bulletin.

"Honeybees who are more likely to remove bee carcasses from their hive have more offspring, and birds who keep their nests tidier are less susceptible to being preyed on," said Delgado, a UC Berkeley doctoral student in psychology. "Also, for many bird species, mastering song is key to mating success."

And, "in some bird species, females carefully inspect the display nests that are built by males," she added. "Those males that build the best display nests and that have chosen nesting sites that are well hidden from predators, are more likely to be selected as mates."

Delgado and Sulloway divided the conscientious characteristics they found in animals into two main categories: "order and Industriousness," which includes organization and cleanliness, and "achievement striving and competence," which covers mastery and deliberation.


Read on

Diverse populations make rational collective decisions

Date: May 17, 2017

Source: Hokkaido University

Understanding how ant colonies make collective decisions could provide insight into the functioning of the human brain.

Yes/no binary decisions by individual ants can lead to a rational decision as a collective when the individuals have differing preferences to the subject, according to research recently published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. This binary mechanism of decision-making could provide a basis for understanding how neurons in the human brain, which also make binary choices, work together.

Honey bees are known to "dance" with varying levels of enthusiasm depending on the quality of nectar they find. The more attractive the nectar is, the stronger they dance, appealing to other members. As a result, the majority of the members, and later the entire colony, gather to the better option. However, this mechanism doesn't explain how a collective rationality within the brain is made because neurons can only make binary decisions.

Tatsuhiro Yamamoto and Eisuke Hasegawa of Hokkaido University's Laboratory of Animal Ecology set up six experimental colonies of 56 Myrmica kotokui ants. Each individual ant was marked to distinguish them from one another.

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