14 July 2023
Llamas are able to learn from other llamas and even more effectively from humans, possibly because thousands of years of domestication gave them the ability to read human social cues
20 June 2023
Our closest relatives, chimpanzees, seem able to think ahead and prepare for two possible futures – the only animal apart from humans known to do so
14 June 2023
Male harbour seals use vocalisations to woo females and they appear to learn these songs years before they need them
6 May 2023
Communal wound licking has been documented in a hoofed mammal for the first time. American bison may use the behaviour to boost social connections and reduce stress
2 May 2023
In lab experiments, chimpanzees and bonobos share peanuts and grapes with other apes who shared food first, doing so at about the same rate as 4-year-old children
18 January 2023
In a task based on switching between two sets of rules, 5-year-olds score highly, while 4-year-olds and chimpanzees lag behind
20 December 2022
A comparison of 138 species finds that dragonflies perceive changes in their environment five times faster than humans and 400 times faster than starfish
5 December 2022
Scientists studying a small group of wild Adélie penguins say the birds seem to understand they are looking at themselves when they see their reflection in a mirror, but the results may not show that the penguins are fully self-aware
12 October 2022
When researchers take away a black widow’s prey, the spider can remember how large the prey was and where it was in the web, and it will search harder for larger missing grubs
20 September 2022
The brain circuitry that lets birds learn songs is active when woodpeckers drum on trees, suggesting the abilities may have emerged from similar evolutionary processes
