Giraffes seem above it all. They float over the savanna like two-story ascetics, peering down at the fray from behind those long lashes. For decades, many biologists thought giraffes extended this treatment to their peers as well, with one popular wildlife guide calling them “aloof” and capable of only “the most casual” associations.

Hope is powerful. Hope has given unbelievable power to people. It has the power to push your limits, it can control the mind.

The mirror test was developed by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr.1 in 1970 as a method for determining whether a non-human animal has the ability of self-recognition.

Every child knows that a proper game of hide-and-seek must follow a strict set of rules. Players can’t switch from being the “seeker” to the “hider” midway through the game, for example, and hiders have to stay put until they’re found. Now, scientists have discovered that lab rats can rapidly learn the rules to hide-and-seek and, so far as they can tell, love playing the game with people.

Who gives out more treats, dogs or wolves? By Becky Ferreira.

A marine biologist and her team were delighted to encounter a 50,000-pound (approx. 22,680-kilogram) whale on one of their snorkeling adventures. But delight soon turned to great fright, as the giant whale started pushing against her with its head. Whilst things looked like they could have turned ugly, it turned out that the massive whale had another purpose, and no one got hurt at the end of the day.

Why we need to change how we talk about how animals grieve

Scientists have long known that some beaked whales beach themselves and die in agony after exposure to naval sonar, and now they know why: the giant sea mammals suffer decompression sickness, just like scuba divers. At first blush, the explanation laid out today by 21 experts in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B seems implausible. Millions of years of evolution have turned whales into perfectly calibrated diving machines that plunge kilometres below the surface for hours at a stretch, foraging for food in the inky depths.

When you look in the mirror, you see yourself. That puts you in the company of animals like dolphins, elephants, chimpanzees, and magpies, all of whom have shown the ability to recognize their own reflections. The mirror test is often used as a way of measuring whether animals possess self-awareness. But now that a species of fish—the cleaner wasse—has also spotted its reflection, some scientists are wondering if the mirror test says more about the way humans think than...

Snowshoe hares eat meat, and they don't seem that picky about what kind it is, according to a paper published in the winter issue of Northwestern Naturalist. By Karen McColl.

In an ironic twist, the mammals also dine on carcasses of their main predator, the Canada lynx, a new study says.

Snowshoe hares eat meat, and they don't seem all that picky about what kind of animal it comes from. A natural history paper published recently in the journal Northwestern Naturalist documents hares in Yukon's boreal forest scavenging on grouse, loon, other hares and even lynx.

Wind turbines are a leading source of green energy which could supply 12% of the world’s energy by 2020. But their use is often criticised for its impact on wildlife, particularly birds. Larger birds can collide with turbines and some have even learned to avoid flying near them.

When a male shows off his trademark fan, the female doesn’t just see him. She also feels him with special vibration sensors in her crest.

Humpback whales sing increasingly complex songs, but University of Queensland researchers have discovered they may suddenly switch to something simpler, in a ‘cultural revolution’. The study examined the structure and complexity of songs sung by the eastern Australian humpback whale population over 13 consecutive years. Dr Jenny Allen from UQ’s Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory said members of humpback whale populations were known to sing the same song at any one time.

A new study shows that our beloved four-legged friends are moved to action when they see us in emotional distress.

An injured ring-tailed lemur’s personal scent plummets, and others can use that as a signal to swoop in on mates or territory. By Liz Langley.

In all, I tested 309 individual pairs of crows; or in other words, once again I freaked out a lot of Seattle residents wondering why there was a woman with a camera, binoculars, and some dead animals loitering in front of their house for long periods of time. By Kaeli Swift.

Occurred on February 4, 2018 / Mesquite, Texas, USA "This is an intersection where every year around this time birds hang out by the thousands. It's a mystery why."