Animal behavior
5 articles-
Chimps and the Zen of Falling Water
There is a waterfall in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. Maybe 12 feet high, it’s fairly modestly sized, though even a modest waterfall is quite a magical thing. And it’s here that chimpanzees come to dance.You can watch a video online, narrated by the great primatologist Jane Goodall, who, as with so many chimpanzee behaviors, was […] -
When Does a Consciousness Test Not Test for Consciousness?
A pigeon looks at its reflection in the mirror. It sees a blue dot on the reflection’s breast. It reaches down and pecks at the dot on its own breast.This is the classic behavior required for passing the “mirror test,” an influential experiment used to test for self-awareness in animals. Chimpanzees became the first animal […] -
This Valentine’s Day, Go Public or Go Home
Ken Kraaijeveld unveils ancient secrets of seduction from the animal kingdom. -
You Didn’t Build That: The Best Animal Engineers
If an intelligent alien species landed on the small bit of galactic rock that we call home, they might get out of their spaceships, have a look around, and decide that we—that is, our species—are the master builders on our planet. There would be plenty of reasons to think so. We build bridges spanning enormous […] -
You Didn’t Build That FONT WEIGHT BUSTED
If an intelligent alien species landed on the small bit of galactic rock that we call home, they might get out of their spaceships, have a look around, and decide that we—that is, our species—are the master builders on our planet. There would be plenty of reasons to think so. We build bridges spanning enormous […]