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Bats can learn to copy sounds and it may teach us about human speech

14 April 2020

Pale spear-nosed bats can learn to alter their calls to mimic different sounds – a rare skill that could help us understand the biology of human speech and language

Find out how outrageously weird octopuses are – take our quiz

5 October 2018

They have multiple brains, amazing camouflage abilities and are surprisingly intelligent. But there’s plenty more you might not know about these alien creatures

Sperm whales are tracking fishing boats and stealing their fish

8 June 2018

Fishing boats in the Gulf of Alaska are being stalked by enormous sperm whales, which charge in and rip huge volumes of fish from the lines

Chimp evolution was shaped by sex with their bonobo relatives

24 May 2018

Some chimpanzee populations gained useful DNA from interbreeding with bonobos, and one may even have become more gentle and “bonobo-like” in its brain structure and behaviour

Ape ‘midwives’ spotted helping female bonobos give birth

18 May 2018

When female bonobos went into labour, other females gathered around to keep them safe, swatting away flies and even seemingly trying to catch the baby as it emerged

Cute but dim quolls have been taught to stop eating toxic toads

27 April 2018

Northern quolls are an endangered species thanks to an epidemic of poisonous cane toads in Australia, but now some of them have been trained to steer clear

Horses remember if you smiled or frowned when they last saw you

26 April 2018

Horses can remember the expressions on people’s faces and use them to make judgements about whether people are nice or unpleasant

Wasps drum with their stomachs to tell each other about food

6 April 2018

German yellowjacket wasps alert each other to food by drumming their abdomens against the nest wall, in a wasp equivalent of the famous honeybee “waggle dance”