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Apes prefer breaststroke
The first detailed observations of swimming chimpanzees and orangutans suggest that they, like us, tend to swim using a form of breaststroke. The findings imply that we may owe our swimming style to our evolutionary past.
More info: newscientist.com
5 Extreme Life-Forms
There are some pretty extreme life forms out there living under conditions that seem almost impossible. Imagen species thriving in water temperatures at the boiling point of 212° Fahrenheit (1000° Celsius), and creatures that can handle a thousand times the radiation we can!
Learn more at: nationalgeographic.com
Dolphins keep lifelong social memories
Of the non-human species dolphins has the longest social memory ever recorded. They can recognize their old tank mates’ whistles after being separated for more than 20 years!
Reference and more info: UChicagoNews
Wild wolves can be recognised by their howls
Have you ever thought about the fact that behind every howl there is an individual? A research conducted by PhD student Holly Root-Gutteridge has now found a way to identify individual wild wolves just by their howls (with impressively 100% accuracy!).
Reference and more info: BBC Nature.
Do Lemurs Have Personalities?
A study conducted at Duke Lemur Center show that lemurs have personality traits that are possible to identify and are consistent from situation to situation.
Reference and more info: National Geographic Magazine
Illustrasjonsfoto: MauritsV (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Plants ‘do maths’
UK scientists have recently found that plants have the capacity to do sophisticated arithmetic calculation. Not bad for someone without consciousness!
Reference and more info: BBC News
Strongest Evidence of Animal Culture
Both philosophers and scientists have long thought that only humans have culture. This idea is now about to be crushed as recent research has found that cultural transmission do take place in animals, including fish, insects, meerkats, birds, monkeys, and apes. One example that may seem a bit bizarre is the recently developed trend among some capuchin monkeys where they poke each other’s eyeballs with their long, sharp fingernails. This behaviour originated among a small group of individuals and has spread over time.
Learn more at: http://news.sciencemag.org
Apes Get Emotional Over Games of Chance
“Like some humans, chimpanzees and bonobos exhibit emotional responses to outcomes of their decisions by pouting or throwing angry tantrums when a risk-taking strategy fails to pay off, according to research published May 29 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Alexandra Rosati from Yale University and Brian Hare from Duke University.”
Reference: http://www.sciencedaily.com
How Narwhals Work
The narwhal’s tusk isn’t unique at first glance. Elephants, rhinos and walruses all have these long, protruding teeth. But this one is different from any other tooth you’ve ever seen.
Learn why at: http://science.howstuffworks.com
Plants Communicate with Help of Fungi
“Symbiotic fungi on the roots of bean plants can act as an underground signaling network, transmitting early warnings of impending aphid attacks.”
Learn more at: TheScientist
Environmental ethics 