Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 29, 2008

Small Rodents Taught To Use Tools

Researchers in Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research have taught degus how to use rakes to obtain food. Degus are small rodents closely related to chinchillas. This is apparently the first instance in which rodents have been taught to use tools. The degu is placed on one side of...

Dec 31, 2007

Study: Monkeys 'Pay' for Sex by Grooming

SINGAPORE (AP) — Male macaque monkeys pay for sex by grooming females, according to a recent study that suggests the primates may treat sex as a commodity. In primate societies, grooming is the underlying fabric of it all, Dr. Michael Gumert, a primatologist at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore,...

Nov 30, 2009

Wild Dingoes Remember Human Gestures

Dingoes were semidomesticated village dogs once, in Southeast Asia. Then, about 4,000 years ago, they got loose in Australia, where their behavior reverted to that of their ancestor, the wolf. They howl, live in packs, and fear humans. But even after so long on the lam they’ve retained at least...

Oct 31, 2009

Female Wild Horses Stick Together

Wild mares that form strong social bonds with other mares produce more foals than those that don’t, researchers have found, in what may be the first documented link between “friendship” and reproductive success outside of primates. The study followed bands of feral horses in the Kaimanawa Mountains of New Zealand...

Oct 31, 2009

Really Rare Rhinos Found by Dung-Sniffing Dogs

We all know dogs like to smell just about everything, including other animals' poo. Now scientists have figured out how to put the canines' odd pastimes to work to help sniff out the dung of endangered rhinos in Vietnam. The collected dung will help scientists to figure out how many...

Oct 31, 2009

Chimps Enjoy a Good Tune, Too

Love of music is universal among people, but when did that taste evolve? Do other primates share our preference for consonant rather than dissonant chords? Cotton-top tamarins do not, according to past research. Our closest cousins, chimpanzees, had never been tested, however—until now. It’s hard for researchers to find a...

Oct 31, 2009

Naked Mole Rats Survive Extreme Oxygen Deprivation

The air in underground colonies of naked mole rats is disgusting and limited, high in carbon dioxide and low in oxygen. If you had to breathe it, you would not only be grossed out, but you'd get brain damage. Yet these blind and nearly hairless creatures have adapted to survive...

Sep 30, 2009

Big Cats Picky About Habitat

Many species of large cats, including the leopard, are particularly fussy about where they live, actively avoiding certain areas, a new study in Tanzania finds. Surprisingly, all the species surveyed tended to avoid croplands, the researchers found, suggesting that habitat conversion to agricultural land could have serious implications for carnivore...

Aug 31, 2009

Chimps Catch Yawns from Cartoon

In a bizarre twist on the odd phenomenon of contagious yawning, chimps have been found to yawn when they watch an animated chimp do so. Scientists don't know for sure why yawning is contagious in humans, but the phenomenon is recognized as real. Researchers suspect it has to do with...

Jul 31, 2009

Dogs as Smart as 2-year-old Kids

The canine IQ test results are in: Even the average dog has the mental abilities of a 2-year-old child. The finding is based on a language development test, revealing average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20...

May 31, 2009

Crying Baby Monkeys Get on Everyone's Nerves

When baby rhesus monkeys want to suckle, they do what human infants do: cry, cry, cry. Mothers often give in, naturally. When they don't, the babies' cries get on everyone's nerves — sometimes with nasty consequences. In rhesus society, dominant individuals aren't shy about showing anger by chasing, pushing, hitting,...

Apr 30, 2009

The Puppy Mummy

Egyptians were known to preserve cats, birds and even crocodiles. Now researchers have found a mummified puppy at the feet of a human mummy. The dog has been named Hapi-Puppy after an inscription on the tomb, which read Hapi-Men. Not exactly as catchy as King Tut, but at 2,300 years...

Apr 30, 2009

Monkey See, Monkey Really Do

The old adage monkey see, monkey do applies not only to mimicking movements, but also to following gaze — monkeys quickly look in a particular direction if they see other monkeys looking that way. Now, scientists think they have found the area of the brain responsible for this mirroring behavior....

Mar 31, 2009

Chimps Barter for Sex

The oldest profession isn't restricted to humans. A new study found that wild chimpanzees exchange meat for sex. By stealthily following a group of about 20 adult chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire's Taï National Park, behavioral ecologists Cristina Gomes and Christophe Boesch of Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany...

Mar 31, 2009

Cow Genome Decoded

The genome of a cow has been decoded, and the work could lead to breeders selecting for features that would make higher quality milk and better beef. At a cost of $53 million in a project involving more than 300 researchers, one would hope so. The work has shown that...