Australian research finds little lizards learn very quickly

JULY 15, 2019

by Macquarie University

Young Australian eastern blue-tongue lizards (Tiliqua scincoides) are every bit as clever as adults, researchers have found.

Life is hard for baby blue-tongues. As soon as they are born, they are on their own, with neither parental support nor protection. Adults of the species can grow to 600 millimetres long and enjoy the benefits of thick scales and a powerful bite, but the young are much smaller and thus more vulnerable to predation.

And that means they have to box clever if they are to survive.

To establish just how smart baby blueys are, researchers Birgit Szabo and Martin Whiting from Australia's Macquarie University, together with colleagues from the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, and St Andrews University in Scotland, put wild-caught adult and juvenile lizards through a series of tasks designed to test their cognitive abilities.

A dozen adults, all over two years old, took part in the tests, along with 16 captive-born juveniles, all aged between 23 and 56 days.

Continued

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.

Continued  

Are Octopuses Smart?

By Sarah B. Puschmann, Staff Writer | August 18, 2017 11:44am ET

In 2014, one of Roy Caldwell's octopuses went missing.

Caldwell, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, had kept the reef octopuses (Abdopus aculeatus) he and his team collected on Lizard Island in Australia in separate, sealed tanks. Puzzled, he peered into the female octopus's tank and found spermatophores, the capsules that contain octopus sperm, floating in the water. He looked closer and found the male there, too, buried in the gravel.

The only way the male octopus could have made it into the female's tank, Caldwell said, is for the male to have wriggled through the pipe that fed water into both octopuses' tanks, an act some might deem proof of a calculated nighttime tryst.  

Continued

Elephants' 'body awareness' adds to increasing evidence of their intelligence

April 12, 2017 

Asian elephants are able to recognise their bodies as obstacles to success in problem-solving, further strengthening evidence of their intelligence and self-awareness, according to a new study from the University of Cambridge. 

Self-awareness in both animals and young children is usually tested using the 'mirror self-recognition test' to see if they understand that the reflection in front of them is actually their own. Only a few species have so far shown themselves capable of self-recognition - great apes, dolphins, magpies and elephants. It is thought to be linked to more complex forms of perspective taking and empathy.

Critics, however, have argued that this test is limited in its ability to investigate complex thoughts and understanding, and that it may be less useful in testing animals who rely less on vision than other species.

One potential complement to the mirror test as a measure of self-understanding may be a test of 'body-awareness'. This test looks at how individuals may recognise their bodies as obstacles to success in a problem-solving task. Such a task could demonstrate an individual's understanding of its body in relation to its physical environment, which may be easier to define than the distinction between oneself and another demonstrated through success at the mirror test.

Read more at: 

Cats may be as intelligent as dogs, say scientists

By Helen Briggs BBC News

25 January 2017

The idea that dogs are more intelligent than cats has been called into question.

Japanese scientists say cats are as good as dogs at certain memory tests, suggesting they may be just as smart.

A study - involving 49 domestic cats - shows felines can recall memories of pleasant experiences, such as eating a favourite snack.

Dogs show this type of recollection - a unique memory of a specific event known as episodic memory.

Humans often consciously try to reconstruct past events that have taken place in their lives, such as what they ate for breakfast, their first day in a new job or a family wedding.

These memories are linked with an individual take on events, so they are unique to that person.

Have you got a clever cat or dog? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your pictures and videos.

Saho Takagi, a psychologist at Kyoto University, said cats, as well as dogs, used memories of a single past experience, which may imply they have episodic memory similar to that of humans.

"Episodic memory is viewed as being related to introspective function of the mind; our study may imply a type of consciousness in cats," she told BBC News. Image copyright T Allen Image caption Do cats enjoy remembering past experiences?

"An interesting speculation is that they may enjoy actively recalling memories of their experience like humans."



continued

Chimp intelligence 'runs in families,' environment less important

Date:

July 10, 2014

Source:

Georgia State University

Summary:

A chimpanzee’s intelligence is largely determined by its genes, while environmental factors may be less important than scientists previously thought, according to a Georgia State University research study.

Continued

Researcher finds that fish are intelligent and feel pain like humans

Are clown fish more intelligent than we give them credit for?

New research suggests that fish are, in fact, far more intelligent than many previously believed.

They have very good memories, live in complex social communities where they keep track of individuals, and can learn from one another. This helps to develop stable cultural traditions.

Fish even recognise themselves and others. They also cooperate with one another and show signs of Machiavellian intelligence, such as cooperation and reconciliation. They build complex structures, are capable of using tools, and use the same methods for keeping track of quantities as humans do.

These findings, published by Culum Brown of Macquarie University in Australia in the journal Animal Cognition, argue that more consideration should be given to fish welfare and anti-cruelty issues.

For the most part the primary senses of fish are just as good, says Brown, and in many cases better than those of humans.

Their behaviour is very much the same as that of primates, except that fish do not have the ability to imitate.

Continued

Are Cats Smarter Than Dogs?

By Joseph Castro, Live Science Contributor | May 20, 2014 11:50am ET

While pet owners may have loads of anecdotal data to show that cats are smarter than dogs or vice versa, there's little scientific evidence to back up those claims.

Simply looking at the structure of the animals' brains only reveals so much about their intelligence.

Cats' brains account for about 0.9 percent of their body mass, whereas dogs' brains make up 1.2 percent of their body mass.

Continued

Neanderthals were not less intelligent than modern humans, scientists find

Researchers say there is no evidence that modern humans' cognitive superiority led to demise of Neanderthals

Ian Sample, science correspondent

The Guardian, Wednesday 30 April 2014 22.00 BST

Scientists have concluded that Neanderthals were not the primitive dimwits they are commonly portrayed to have been.

The view of Neanderthals as club-wielding brutes is one of the most enduring stereotypes in science, but researchers who trawled the archaeological evidence say the image has no basis whatsoever.

They said scientists had fuelled the impression of Neanderthals being less than gifted in scores of theories that purport to explain why they died out while supposedly superior modern humans survived.

Wil Roebroeks at Leiden University in the Netherlands said: "The connotation is generally negative. For instance, after incidents with the Dutch Ajax football hooligans about a week ago, one Dutch newspaper piece pleaded to make football stadiums off-limits for such 'Neanderthals'."

Continued

Goats are far more clever than previously thought, and have an excellent memory

Date:

March 26, 2014

Source:

Queen Mary, University of London

Summary:

Goats learn how to solve complicated tasks quickly and can recall how to perform them for at least 10 months, which might explain their remarkable ability to adapt to harsh environments, say researchers. The goats' ability to remember the task was tested after one month and again at 10 months. They learned the task within 12 trials and took less than two minutes to remember the challenge.

Continued

Are plants more intelligent than we assumed?

Plants are also able to make complex decisions. At least this is what scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Göttingen have concluded from their investigations on Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), which is able to abort its own seeds to prevent parasite infestation. The results are the first ecological evidence of complex behaviour in plants. They indicate that this species has a structural memory, is able to differentiate between inner and outer conditions as well as anticipate future risks, scientists write in the renowned journal American Naturalist —the premier peer-reviewed American journal for theoretical ecology.

Read more at:

Orangutans taught how to order their lunch on iPads - video

Orangutans are being taught to communicate with zoo keepers at a Miami Zoo using iPads.

Linda Jacobs, who is a keeper at Jungle Island Zoo, wants the apes to use apps to tell keepers what they want to eat.

Jacobs said: "They have all the intelligence they need to communicate with us.

"But what they don't have is developed vocal chords and voiceboxes. This gives them a voice."

Watch the video below to see the orangutans using the iPads:


Continued and video:  http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a392065/orangutans-taught-how-to-order-their-lunch-on-ipads-video.html

Dolphins 'Deserve Same Rights As Humans'

A team of experts has said dolphins should be given the same rights to life and liberty as humans because of their high levels of intelligence and self-awareness.

Scientists meeting in Canada were told the mammals deserved to be treated as non-human "persons" who were given the same ethical considerations as humans.

A small group of experts in philosophy, conservation and dolphin behaviour were canvassing support for a "Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans".

It is hoped recognising cetaceans' rights could mean an end to whaling and the captivity of dolphins and whales, or their use in entertainment.

The move is based on years of research that has shown dolphins and whales to have large, complex brains and a human-like level of self-awareness.

This has led experts to conclude that the animals are "people" in a philosophical sense, which has far-reaching implications.

Read on:  http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16174092

Bird demands walkies with grieving dog owner

Every day Lu Xiao Lin's pet mynah bird wakes him up shouting: 'Time for walkies' and he has to dutifully take the bird down the road for a stroll.

The 61-year-old said: 'I had a dog and I wanted to have another pet so he was not lonely when I was out and as I didn't have space for a second hound I bought the bird.

'They told me in the shop that Mynah birds are very intelligent and I found that out when I discovered that it could talk.

'It quickly started mimicking me when I called the dog to say it was time to go for a walk - or dinner.

'The dog died last year but the bird does not forget and insists on being taken for a walk twice a day - and tells me when it's time for dinner as well.'


http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/844480-bird-demands-walkies-with-grieving-dog-owner

Dolphin species attempt 'common language'

Thursday, 30 September 2010
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

When two dolphin species come together, they attempt to find a common language, preliminary research suggests.

Bottlenose and Guyana dolphins, two distantly related species, often come together to socialise in waters off the coast of Costa Rica.

Both species make unique sounds, but when they gather, they change the way they communicate, and begin using an intermediate language.

That raises the possibility the two species are communicating in some way.

Details are published in the journal Ethology.

It is not yet clear exactly what is taking place between the two dolphin species, but it is the first evidence that the animals modify their communications in the presence of other species, not just other dolphins of their own kind.

Biologist Dr Laura May-Collado of the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan made the discovery studying dolphins swimming in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge of the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are larger, measuring up to 3.8m long, with a long dorsal fin.

Guyana dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) are much smaller, measuring 2.1m long, and have a smaller dorsal fin and longer snout, known as a rostrum.

Both species swim in groups made up of their own kind.

When bottlenose dolphins swim together, they emit longer, lower frequency calls, that are modulated.

In contrast, Guyana dolphins usually communicate using higher frequency whistles that have their own particular structure.

But often, the two species swim together in one group. These interactions are usually antagonistic, as the larger bottlenose dolphins harass the smaller Guyana dolphins.

When the two dolphins gather, they produce quite different calls, Dr May-Collado has discovered.

Crucially, calls emitted during these multi-species encounters are of an intermediate frequency and duration.

In other words, the dolphins start communicating in a style that is somewhere between those of the two separate species.

"I was surprised by these findings, as I was expecting both species to emphasise, perhaps exaggerate, their species-specific signals," Dr May-Collado told the BBC.

"Instead the signals recorded during these encounters became more homogenous.

"This was a very exciting discovery."

As yet, Dr May-Collado cannot be sure if both species are changing the way they communicate, or whether it is one species attempting to call more like the other.

That is because her sound equipment could only record the total calls produced by mixed species groups of dolphins, and could not separate out sounds made by individuals.

"This limits how much I can say about how much they are communicating," says Dr May-Collado.

However, dolphins are known to have an extraordinary ability to change their calls when 'talking' to other individuals, or to ensure they are heard over the din of background noise pollution.

So "I wouldn't be surprised that they can modify their signals to mimic, and even possibly communicate with other species. Particularly when their home ranges force them to interact on a daily basis, which is the case of this study," she says.

It is also unclear whether the two species are simply learning to communicate using a common language, or whether the Guyana dolphins alone are making the new sounds due to stress.

It could even be that the Guyana dolphins are attempting "to emit threatening sounds in the language of the intruder", in a bid to make the bottlenose dolphins desist, Dr May-Collado says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9045000/9045389.stm
(Submitted by Chad Arment)

Orangutans use mime to communicate messages

August 13, 2010 12:00 PM

Scientists who analysed video footage of orangutans amassed over 20 years, claim the creatures are able to explain things to each other, and humans, via mime.

The boffins say they found 18 occasions in which orangutans used "elaborated gestures of pantomime" to get what they wanted.

Examples ranged from rubbing a leaf on their forehead and then passing it to a human as an instruction to clean them, to holding an object over their head because the want an umbrella passing to them.

Professor Anne Russon said the finding could offer new insight into the evolutionary origins of human language.

Which is all well and good… but what we want to know is when will the world's first inter-species charades tournament take place.

Russon - of York University in Toronto - added that if the mime is not understood by a human the orangutans get a look on their faces as if to say ‘Are you stupid?

http://newslite.tv/2010/08/13/orangutans-use-mime-to-communi.html

Chimpanzees use sex tools

May 5, 2010 by Lin Edwards

(PhysOrg.com) -- Many animals are known to use tools, but chimpanzees (our closest living relatives) show the most varied and complex use of tools, and the males in one group of chimps have even been observed using sex tools to attract a mate.

The definition of "tool" varies, but most scientists recognize objects as tools if they are inanimate objects outside the body of the user, if they are used to alter the environment in some way or to gain information about it, and if they are modified in some way in function, form or position. Chimpanzees were first observed using tools by Jane Goodall in 1960, when she documented chimps using blades of grass to extract termites, and chimps are now known to use a "tool kit" of around 20 tools, with the tools in the kit varying from one colony to another.

Researchers working in Tanzania have observed male chimpanzees plucking and breaking the dry, brittle leaves in front of their visible erection, and using the rasping sound to attract the attention of a female. If she is interested, the behavior is followed by mating. The use of leaves in this way has not been seen in other chimp groups, but chimps everywhere have been seen to use tools and combinations of tools in complex sequences to attain their goals, which may involve food, social rituals, or in this case, sexual desires.

In an essay in Science, primatologist and university lecturer in biological anthropology, Dr. William C. McGrew from the University of Cambridge, described the latest findings on tool use in chimpanzees. He said the leaves used by the Tanzanian chimps fit the definition of a tool because the chimps are using an external object to obtain a specific goal, which is to interest the female chimp in mating.

Dr McGrew is the author of the book “The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural Primatology” and hundreds of scientific publications on non-human primates.

More information: William C. McGrew, Chimpanzee Technology, Science 30 April 2010: Vol. 328. no. 5978, pp. 579 - 580. DOI:10.1126/science.1187921

http://www.physorg.com/news192258277.html
(Submitted by Richard Freeman)

Clever crows can use up to three tools (Video)

April 21, 2010 3:20 PM

Researchers have found that New Caledonian crows are capable of using three tools in succession in order to reach food.


Boffins from the University of Auckland set up a test to demonstrate the tool-using prowess of crows which has been seen in the wild.

In their experiment birds had to work out how to access food they could not initially reach.

This had to be done by first releasing a short string which was attached to a perch, and using this to reach a longer stick from behind bars.

The longer stick was then used to retrieve a scrap of food from within a perspex box… the scientists are now hoping the birds will write up the experiment themselves.

Professor Russell Gray, from the University of Auckland, said: "The crows needed to understand they needed the short tool on the piece of string to get the long tool, and then use the long tool to get the food."

Writing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers added: "This innovative use of established behaviours in novel contexts was not based on resurgence, chaining and conditional reinforcement.

"Instead, the performance was consistent with the transfer of an abstract, causal rule: ‘out-of-reach objects can be accessed using a tool’.

"This suggests that high innovation rates in the wild may reflect complex cognitive abilities that supplement basic learning mechanisms."


LINKS
University of Auckland

http://newslite.tv/2010/04/21/clever-crows-can-use-up-to-thr.html

Octopus steals underwater camera from diver - while it's recording

Tom Phillips - 21st April, 2010

A New Zealand diver was forced to chase an underwater camera-stealing octopus which wrestled his brand new device from his hands and swam away, with the camera still recording.

The incredible video gives a tentacle-covered view of the five-minute chase, which only ended after the diver used his speargun to prise the camera back from the thieving octopus's grip.

Victor Huang was diving near the Wahine Memorial off the south coast of Wellington on Thursday when the octopus suddenly burst out of a bed of kelp. Huang 'freaked out' at first as he thought the octopus was attacking him - before realising that the octopus was actually just after his shiny new Panasonic Lumix camera.

A wrestling match ensued between the two as Huang tried to hold onto the camera as the octopus attempted to prise it from his grip. And in the end, the tentacle proved too strong - and the octopus 'swam away very quickly like a naughty shoplifter', Hung said on his YouTube video of the event.

The video then shows the camera's-eye view of the chase that followed - mostly covered in suckers - as Huang frantically swam after the octopus in an attempt to get his camera back.

It took five minute for him to catch up with the creature, at which point he managed to get his speargun under the creature and, when it grabbed hold of that as well, use it to pry the camera from its grasp.

He then spent a few more minutes taking the octopus for a ride on his speargun, which he says the octopus seemed to enjoy. He doesn't think the octopus meant him any harm - it had just become fascinated by the gadget.

'I honestly believe that it saw the bright blue digital camera and went ‘oh I need that’, you know?' Huang told stuff.co.nz.

HDTV reveals brainy octopus has no personality

12:32 12 March 2010 by Shanta Barley

Octopuses make for discerning TV viewers: it seems they prefer high-definition to traditional cathode ray images (CRT). What's more, the first study using video to trick octopuses, finds that they may be the Jekyll and Hydes of the oceans: aggressive one day, shrinking violets the next.

"People have been trying for over a decade to get proper behavioural responses from octopuses and other cephalopods using videos," says Roger Hanlon, an octopus researcher at the Marine Resources Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the study. "But this is the first time anyone has managed it."

Gloomy octopuses (Octopus tetricus) reacted to films shown on liquid crystal high definition television (HDTV) as if they were seeing the real thing, according to a new study by Renata Pronk at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues. "They lunge forwards to attack crabs and back off from other octopuses, much as they do in the wild," says Hanlon.

Surprisingly, an octopus that was bold, aggressive and exploratory on one day was just as likely to be shy, submissive and stationary the next. "This suggests that the gloomy octopus does not have personality," writes Pronk in the new study.

No personality

By "personality", researchers mean consistency in behaviour. You might expect an individual to respond to crabs, other octopuses, jars, for example, by being consistently bold, shy or aggressive.

In contrast, the octopuses in Pronk's study were more moody than gloomy. The team captured 31 gloomy octopuses in Sydney harbour and showed them a set of 3-minute videos displayed on a screen at the front of their tank. The videos were filmed at 50 frames per second and featured a crab (their prey), another gloomy octopus, a jar and a water-filled aquarium.

Previous attempts to get octopuses to respond to videos failed, probably because they used CRT, which displays footage at a rate of 24 frames per second – too slowly for their sophisticated eyes. "The images that they see on CRT screens are incomplete and probably incoherent," says Hanlon.

To Pronk's surprise, the octopuses behaved as if animals in the film were real. They lunged forwards at crabs using jet propulsion, often striking the front of the aquarium. But when they saw films of other octopuses, which they avoid in the wild, they cowered behind a terracotta pot placed in the aquarium.

Octopuses that reacted to one film aggressively tended to respond to all films on a particular day in the same way. But over longer periods of time, any trace of "personality" or consistency evaporated. They might react aggressively one day, but much less so on another day. "It's a bit of a surprise," says Hanlon. Other cephalopods, such as the dumpling squid, display consistent personalities for most of their lives.

Huge brains

This lack of consistent behaviour may be related to octopuses's huge brain size, relative to other cephalopods. Big brains may "afford octopuses considerable behavioural flexibility that allows them to change their behaviour adaptively over time," write the researchers.

Lack of personality may not necessarily be a bad thing. They live in dynamic environments (shallow coastal waters and reefs) and "these conditions may select for behavioural flexibility as individuals could then optimise their behaviour in a variety of typical environmental conditions". For example, behaving shyly may be an octopus's best response when it is threatened by a predator, but behaving boldly may be the best behaviour when foraging.

Hormones may drive short-term changes in the octopuses' behaviour from day to day, the authors also speculate.

The new video technology used in the experiment could help to settle several long-standing debates, says Hanlon. "For example, scientists have debated since 1992 whether or not an octopus can learn behaviours simply by watching each other," he says. "This technology will open many doors."

Journal reference: The Journal of Experimental Biology, DOI: 10.1242/jeb.040675

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18640-hdtv-reveals-brainy-octopus-has-no-personality.html
(Submitted by Tim Chapman)