Animal Minds

The neuroscience of behavior in the wild.

Mary Bates Ph.D.

Pain Insensitivity in Mole-Rats, and How It Could Help Us

What can the physiological peculiarities of naked mole-rats and their kin teach us about pain relief?

C. cursor.

Ant Colonies Have Specialized First Responders

Some ant colonies have workers with special jobs: to rescue those who are trapped. Research shows these ant first responders inherit their specialization from their dads.

The Social Smarts of Horses

Horses are group-living animals that share a close relationship with humans. What sorts of sophisticated social skills have they evolved to manage their social lives?

Marine Mammals Actively Explore Their Environment With Whiskers

Seals, sea lions, and walruses have highly prominent and sensitive whiskers. Are they as adept at using them as land-living whisker specialists such as rats and shrews?

Bumble Bees Can Recognize Objects Across Senses

Bumble bees can discriminate objects they have only experienced through sight by touch and vice versa. Does it mean they have mental imagery?

How Cows Express Emotions

According to new research, cows talk to one another, expressing their emotions, both positive and negative, through individualized voices.

Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

Can animals predict earthquakes? A study of farm animals in Italy shows that, collectively, they may be sensitive to some precursors of seismic activity.

Birds Hiss Like Snakes to Protect Nests

Some birds hiss like snakes to keep intruders out of their nests, but is it a true case of mimicry?

Giant Turtles Have Surprisingly Strong Memories

Once described as "living rocks," giant tortoises are proving that they have giant learning and memory prowess, too.

Empathy as a "Danger Antenna”

What can rats tell us about the evolution of empathy? Is it all about avoiding danger rather than helping others?

Delay of Gratification in Kids and Crows

What factors affect the ability to delay gratification? Researchers test the self-control of kids and crows under varying conditions.

Dogs Demonstrate Episodic-Like Memory

Does your dog remember specific personal events like you do? A new study suggests that they can form and use episodic-like memories.

Vampire Bat Friendships Persist from the Lab to the Wild

Mutual grooming and blood regurgitation form the basis of long-term social relationships in vampire bats.

These Fish Navigate with Electricity

How can a fish use electricity to navigate without the help of vision?

Ants Discriminate Snake Friends and Foes

These ants welcome one snake species into their nest, which may help protect them from another kind of snake.

Rats and Researchers Play Hide-and-Seek

Rats quickly learn to play hide-and-seek with humans—and they turn out to be quite strategic players!

Squirrels Eavesdrop on Bird Chatter as Sign of Safety

Squirrels look to neighboring songbirds for signs of danger, or signals that it's safe.

Why Do Female Birds Sing?

Male birds aren't the only ones who sing. But much less is known about when and why female birds break into song.

Giant Frogs Are Attentive Parents

Could building nests for their tadpoles be the reason Goliath frogs grow to be giants?

Octopus Arms Have Minds of Their Own

Octopuses represent an alternative evolutionary path towards intelligence.

Playful Meerkats Mirror One Another’s Expressions

When play fighting, meerkats swiftly and automatically mimic playmates’ facial expressions to share their positive mood.

Elephants Smell Out Differences in Quantity

Elephants have a nose for quantity discrimination—they can distinguish between containers of more and less food using only their sense of smell.

Social Isolation Destroys Wasps’ Ability to Learn Faces

Golden paper wasps learn and recognize the faces of their nestmates. But social isolation completely wipes out this ability.

Do Artificial Lights Cause Drinking Problems in Bats?

Light pollution hurts bats: they won't drink when a site is illuminated.

Who’s the Daddy? For Lion Cubs, It’s Safer Not to Know

Asiatic lionesses avoid infanticide and sexual harassment by practicing promiscuous sex, thereby confusing paternity of their cubs.

Rats Feel One Another’s Pain

Why do we cringe when we see someone get hurt? A study in rats suggests it's due to emotional mirror neurons that fire in response to our own pain and the pain of others.

When Animals Are Both Defended and Defenseless

Fenced ecosanctuaries protect native animals from invasive predators. But the ability to recognize and react to these predators can disappear over time.

The Arachnid That Smells With Its Legs

Whip spiders are arachnids that walk on six legs—the other two are sensory structures that they use to smell their way back home.

Do Spiders Think?

Are we underestimating the possible cognitive abilities of tiny animals? Orb-weaving spiders’ flexible behavior during web construction points to some degree of insight.

Bats Provide Pest Control Services to Deer

A new relationship between bats and deer is discovered that may benefit both partners.

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