Latest news with #animalBehavior
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Science
- The Independent
Chimpanzees are aping robots and scientists are scratching their heads
A new study reveals that chimpanzees can "catch" yawns from an android robot that imitates human facial expressions. Researchers found that chimpanzees yawned and lay down in response to yawns made by the android robot, suggesting that observing another individual yawn may act as a cue to rest. The study involved exposing 14 adult chimpanzees to an android head that simulated facial expressions, including yawns, gaping, and neutral expressions. Eight of the 14 chimpanzees yawned in response to the android's "yawn" expression, with the highest contagion occurring when the android displayed a fully wide-open mouth. The findings shed light on primates' susceptibility to contagiously induced behaviours, but the exact biological mechanisms surrounding contagious yawning remain unclear, prompting further research.
Times
3 hours ago
- General
- Times
Chimps ‘catch' yawns from a robot — and think it's time for a rest
When robots attain sentience and rise up to take over the world, the chances are that chimpanzees will find the whole thing rather boring. Or at least, this is how it could appear, after scientists found new proof that yawning can be contagious — and believe they may have finally figured out why. They did this via the unusual method of showing that chimps can 'catch' yawns from robots that have been programmed to mimic human facial expressions. Scientists remain puzzled by the contagious nature of yawning and are unsure how or why it evolved in a number of animal species that live in social groups, including mammals and even some fish. The chimpanzee study provided new proof that yawning could be contagious ALAMY Studies have found that more than two thirds of humans end up yawning after seeing someone else do the same, and that yawns can even be contagious between species, for example when a dog yawns after seeing its owner do the same. Some theories suggest that seeing a yawn triggers wiring in the brain known as mirror neurons, which not only fire when the body carries out a particular action but also when you witness someone else performing that action. Catching yawns from others may therefore play a role in a phenomenon known as 'social mirroring', used as a tool to display empathy with your companions. Scientists now think, however, that the brain may see someone else yawning and interpret it as a sign to take a rest, after their study found that chimps not only yawn when seeing a robot do the same, but also then lie down. • King of the swingers: chimps drum like jazz musicians Researchers from City St George's university in London programmed a humanoid robotic head with lifelike skin and facial features to yawn as humans do. They exposed 14 adult chimps aged between 10 and 33 at a sanctuary in Spain to the 'yawnbot', showing them a range of expressions including yawning, 'gaping' and a neutral face, with each lasting ten seconds. The 'yawnbot' used in the study CITY ST GEORGE'S, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that 'chimpanzees will both yawn and lie down in response to yawns made by an android, suggesting that it may act as a cue to rest rather than simply triggering an automatic response'. After a large yawn, the chimps tended to yawn too and would then 'gather bedding materials before lying down'. It is the first time that yawning has been shown to be contagious from an inanimate object and shows just how susceptible non-human primates are to such triggers. They found that yawning not only prompts someone to mimic the action, but sends the message that it is time for bed, suggesting that yawning had 'rest-related inferences for the chimpanzees'. It is possible that yawning can help a social group to co-ordinate their sleep cycles.
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cats distinguish their owner's scent from stranger's, study finds
Domestic cats can tell the difference between the smell of their owner and that of a stranger, a new study study by Tokyo University of Agriculture found cats spent significantly longer sniffing tubes containing the odours of unknown people compared to tubes containing their owner's suggests cats can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar humans based on their odour, the researchers say, but that it is unclear whether they can identify specific are known to use their strong sense of smell to identify and communicate with other cats, but researchers had not yet studied whether they can also use it to distinguish between people. Previous studies of human recognition by cats have shown they are able to distinguish between voices, interpret someone's gaze to find food, and change their behaviour according to a person's emotional state that is recognised via their the study published on Wednesday, researchers presented 30 cats with plastic tubes containing either a swab containing the odour of their owner, a swab containing the odour of a person of the same sex as their owner who they had never met, or a clean swabs containing odours had been rubbed under the armpit, behind the ear, and between the toes of the owner or spent significantly more time sniffing the odours of unknown people compared to those of their owner or the empty tube, suggesting they can discriminate between the smells of familiar and unfamiliar people, the researchers idea of sniffing an unknown stimulus for longer has been shown before in cats - weaned kittens sniff unknown female cats for longer compared to their the researchers cautioned that it cannot be concluded the cats can identify specific people such as their owner."The odour stimuli used in this study were only those of known and unknown persons," said one of the study's authors, Hidehiko Uchiyama."Behavioural experiments in which cats are presented with multiple known-person odour stimuli would be needed, and we would need to find specific behavioural patterns in cats that appear only in response to the owner's odour." Serenella d'Ingeo, a researcher at the University of Bari who was not involved in this study but who has studied cat responses to human odours, also said the results demonstrated cats react differently to familiar and unfamiliar smells, but that conclusions couldn't be drawn over their motivations."We don't know how the animal felt during the sniffing... We don't know for instance whether the animal was relaxed or tense," she d'Ingeo added that the presentation of samples to cats by their own owners, who naturally added their own odour to the environment, could have increased the cats' interest in the unfamiliar ones."In that situation, owners present not only their visual presence but also their odour," she said."So of course if they present other odours that are different from their personal one, in a way they engage more the cat."The study's authors concluded that "cats use their olfaction [smell] for the recognition of humans".They also noted cats rubbed their faces against the tubes after sniffing - which cats do to mark their scent on something - indicating that sniffing may be an exploratory behaviour that precedes odour researchers cautioned that this relationship needs further investigation, along with the theory of whether cats can recognise a specific person from their smell.
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
These birds form life-long friendships just like humans, study finds
Almost two decades of research shows strong evidence of long-term friendship among African starlings, a discovery that sheds fresh light on helping behaviour in the animal kingdom. Animals often help direct blood relatives due to a natural tendency to promote their genes, a phenomenon known as ' kin selection'. Humans routinely deviate from this behaviour and form lifelong friendships with even non-relatives. In the case of animals, though, this kind of cooperation is far harder to establish as it requires collecting and examining large amounts of data over years. But a new study, published in the journal Nature, reveals that African starlings, a diverse group of birds known for their vibrant colours, do exhibit this kind of long-term friendship. Drawing on nearly 20 years of observational data, the study concludes that while the starlings do preferentially help their relatives, many also help non-relatives. 'Although we detected kin-biased helping, non-kin helping was common despite opportunities to aid kin,' the study notes. The non-relative helping behaviour occurs through the formation of reciprocal helping relationships, which tend to take place over many years. 'Starling societies aren't just simple families, they are much more complex, containing a mixture of related and unrelated individuals that live together, much in the way that humans do,' according to study co-author Dustin Rubenstein. Researchers studied thousands of interactions between hundreds of African starlings and collected DNA from individual birds to examine their genetic relationships. Overall, they collected behavioural and genetic data from 40 breeding seasons. They found that starlings preferentially aided relatives but also consistently helped specific non-relative birds even when relatives were available to help. 'Unexpectedly, specific pairs maintained long-term reciprocal helping relationships by swapping social roles across their lifetimes,' they noted. The findings challenge the prevalent view of helping in the animal kingdom purely as a form of altruism due to kin selection. 'Our next step is to explore how these relationships form, how long they last, why some relationships stay robust, while others fall apart,' Dr Rubenstein said. 'I think this kind of reciprocal helping behaviour is likely going on in a lot of animal societies, and people just haven't studied them long enough to be able to detect it.'
Jordan Times
19-05-2025
- Science
- Jordan Times
Monkeys kidnap babies of another species in weird 'fad'
This photograph taken on March 20, 2023 by Brendan Barrett and released by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour shows a howler infant on the back of a subadult capuchin carrier who is using stone tools at an anvil site on the Jicaron Island (AFP photo) PARIS — A new trend is catching on among bored young male capuchins: Kidnapping baby howler monkeys, in what scientists say is the first time animals have been recorded stealing another species' infants for no apparent reason. PhD student Zoe Goldsborough first noticed something wrong in 2022 while sifting through footage captured by motion-triggered cameras on Jicaron, an island off the coast of Panama. "I was very shocked" to see a white-faced capuchin monkey with a baby howler monkey on its back, Goldsborough, a researcher at Germany's Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, told AFP. The scientists nicknamed the capuchin Joker because the small scar at the side of its mouth reminded them of the "Batman" villain. After reviewing more footage, they spotted Joker carrying four different howler monkey babies. At first, they thought this was the "heartwarming story of a weird capuchin adopting these infants", said Goldsborough, the lead author of a new study in the journal Current Biology. Then the scientists started finding other cases not involving Joker. They eventually observed five capuchins carrying 11 different howler infants over a 15-month period. Then team then discovered footage of mournful howler monkey parents calling for their lost babies, showing that the infants had actually been abducted. A deadly trend The researchers were puzzled because the capuchins did not eat or prey on the babies, nor did they seem to enjoy playing with them. Goldsborough said they eventually realised these abductions were a social tradition or "fad" among the island's young male capuchins. It is the first time one species has been documented repeatedly abducting the infants of another due to the spread of such a tradition, study co-author Brendan Barrett told AFP. The trend came with a high price: Four howler babies were observed to have died, but the researchers believe none survived. Exactly how the capuchins manage to kidnap the babies remains a mystery. The abduction likely takes place in the trees, and the cameras cover only the ground at the island's Coiba National Park. "They're very successful at it, because they seem to even be able to get a one- or two-day-old infant off its mother," Goldsborough said. The capuchins also do not suffer injuries, despite adult howler monkeys being three times their size. Cultural fads spreading among animals is rare but not unheard of. Barrett has previously studied capuchins in Costa Rica that suddenly started grooming porcupines, before growing bored of the trend. And back in the 1980s, killer whales took to donning dead salmon on their heads off the north-western US coast. This trend returned decades later when orcas were again spotted wearing these "salmon hats" last year. 'Agents of chaos' The researchers started recording the capuchins in 2017 because they skilfully use stone tools to crack nuts and shellfish. The capuchins have no predators and plenty of food on the island, leaving them a lot of free time to mess around. "They're little exploratory agents of chaos," Barrett said. While this extra time to experiment could result in socially learned traditions such as using tools, it could also lead to "seemingly arbitrary things" like stealing the howler infants, he said. The study covered only abductions recorded until July 2023, but Goldsborough said there had been at least one more baby taken since, though they have not been through all the footage. There might have been a drop in kidnappings simply because the capuchins have fewer babies to steal -- the island's howler monkeys are classified as endangered. The researchers also want to study whether the normally docile howler monkeys will start becoming more fearful -- or aggressive -- towards the previously harmless capuchins. Page 2
