In the complex social world of mice, a newcomer can instantly size up a stranger’s social rank without ever having met them before. A new study from the Francis Crick Institute shows these rodents rely on their keen sense of smell to make quick social judgments – using chemical cues to decide whether to stand … Read more
On an island off Panama’s coast, scientists have documented a peculiar new behavior among white-faced capuchin monkeys that began with one curious individual and spread into a concerning cultural phenomenon. Using motion-triggered cameras, researchers captured young male capuchins abducting and carrying baby howler monkeys for days at a time—with no apparent benefit to themselves but … Read more
From the scorpion-hunting meerkats of the Kalahari to Kenya’s powerful hyenas, mammals with vastly different lifestyles appear to follow remarkably similar behavioral patterns, according to research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The surprising findings suggest an underlying architecture that may organize how animals sequence their daily activities, regardless … Read more
Researchers studying chimpanzees in Uganda have documented something remarkable — these apes don’t just treat their own injuries with medicinal plants, but also provide healthcare to injured community members. This discovery, published Wednesday in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, suggests that prosocial healthcare in our closest relatives may be more widespread than previously recognized, potentially … Read more
Not all orangutan mothers parent alike, according to pioneering research that tracked wild Sumatran orangutans for 15 years. The study, published Tuesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, documents for the first time how individual orangutan mothers consistently differ in their parenting approaches—even with different offspring. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Animal … Read more
Ever wonder if your favorite music beat has anything in common with animal sounds? Scientists just discovered something mind-blowing: the rhythm patterns in chimp drumming, human speech, and music all connect in ways we never knew before. In a study published in March 2025, researchers revealed that the mathematical tools used to analyze these different … Read more
Scientists have discovered that cuttlefish use distinct arm movements to communicate with each other, adding another dimension to these already remarkable marine creatures. Researchers from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and the Italian Institute of Technology have identified specific arm gestures they’ve named “arm wave signs” that appear to serve as a communication system … Read more
Orangutans living in zoos are far more curious and investigative than their wild counterparts, engaging in more frequent, diverse, and complex exploration behaviors throughout their lives, according to groundbreaking research published in Scientific Reports. The study, which analyzed over 12,000 instances of exploratory object manipulation across 51 Sumatran orangutans ranging from six months to 76 … Read more
What if your entire personality could change within a few weeks? For social “hippie” spiders, that’s exactly what happens, according to groundbreaking research that challenges how scientists understand animal individuality. A team led by the University of Portsmouth tracked African social spiders (Stegodyphus dumicola) over four months, testing their behavior every two weeks. Unlike previous … Read more
Have you ever comforted a friend who was upset? It turns out our closest ape relatives do exactly the same thing – and in ways that challenge what scientists have believed for decades. A groundbreaking new study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior has discovered that bonobos and chimpanzees console their distressed friends … Read more