Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
I’m starting a new animal science news section in my blog. Here I’ll write about animal behavior and cognition, share news articles and science topics about animals, and hopefully have discussions with you. Let’s begin!
Animal Science Topics Of The Week
Starting off the animal science topics with a short summary of several new studies on animal behavior I recently found. I haven’t read all of them yet, so see this as a ‘to read’ list that I’m sharing with you.
Sharks, Dogs, and More
- Puppies solving problems: Male and female puppies had to complete a food retrieval task. The study found differences between males and females: the males were faster in solving the problem, but females showed more social interest. This suggested that sex differences in dogs emerge earlier than previously thought. Find the study here.
- How do insects navigate? You probably already read about bird migration and bees in my blog. If you want to have a more in-depth look into the fascinating behavior of navigation (e.g., migration, homing), check out this review paper on visual navigation in insects.
- Smart sharks: Sharks are not mindless killing machines, and they can learn and adapt. No wonder they are top predators! Read the review here.
- How animal minds can help reveal the human mind? I don’t know, since this paper is painfully locked behind a paywall that even my institute cannot break. Nonetheless, this paper sound intriguing. Check out here to see if you have access.
- Assessing tests of animal consciousness: This paper aims to assess how valid are the tests used to examine animal consciousness. You can find it here.
- Dangerous breeds? This study compared several breeds of dogs, including “dangerous dogs” (that is, breeds that are subject to legislation in some countries). The dogs were assessed using different tests of impulsivity and sensitivity to positive/negative stimuli. As there were large differences in individual behavior within each breed, the authors conclude that the breed alone is not a good predictor of behavioral tendencies. Read it here.
And that’s it for this week’s science news!
Learn About Animals
What Do You Think?
I’d love to dig deeper into some of these topics, so if you find anything interesting, let me know in the comments below.