Bird song, learning, and language
» What bird brains can teach us about language. [ 08/02/06 ]
rebecca's pocket
.: archive --> Nature --> animals
animals
Bottlenose dolphins recognize names
» Bottlenose dolphins use signature whistles as referential signals — ie, names. They respond to relatives' names, and will refer to a third dolphin when communicating with each other. [ 05/11/06 ]
Eaglecam babies
» Eaglecam Update: The note above the image says that three eaglets have hatched, but I see only one. (Requires IE and Windows Media for the live feed.) / (3) Comments / [ 05/04/06 ]
Bees' decision making skills better than most committees
» A new study shows that honeybees have a collective decision-making process that incorporates an open forum of ideas, frank "discussions" and friendly competition. "The bees' method, which is a product of disagreement and contest rather than consensus or compromise, consistently yields excellent collective decisions." Thomas Seeley, Professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell. / (1) Comments / [ 05/02/06 ]
Antweb uses Google Earth to map world's ants
» Have you heard of Antweb? It's a project from the California Academy of Sciences that uses Google Earth to create an interactive map of the earth's ant population. [ 04/26/06 ]
Eagle Cam
» A great way to waste time online: the Bald Eagle Cam. Update: They moved the EagleCam. Here is the new URL. / (5) Comments / [ 03/30/06 ]
Sumo and Jellyfish News:
» "A slimy jellyfish weighing as much as a sumo wrestler has Japan's fishing industry in the grip of its poisonous tentacles. Vast numbers of Echizen kurage, or Nomura's jellyfish, have appeared around Japan's coast since July, clogging and ripping fishing nets and forcing fishermen to spend hours hacking them apart before bringing home their reduced catches." (via dm) [ 01/19/06 ]
Ants can teach each other
» A pair of Bristol University researchers believe they have documented the first proof of teaching in non-human animals — ants. "Teaching isn't merely mimicry. It involves the teacher modifying its behavior in the presence of a naive observer at some initial cost to itself." Nigel Franks, Professor at Bristol University. [ 01/18/06 ]
Hamster and Snake are Friends
» "Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster... to [rat snake] Aochan as a tasty morsel in October, after the snake refused to eat frozen mice. But instead of indulging, Aochan decided to make friends with the furry rodent, according to keeper Kazuya Yamamoto. The pair have shared a cage since." You have to admit, she has those cute Japanese animal eyes. (thanks, neil!) [ 01/18/06 ]
