Animal Learning and Intelligence News

March 27, 2025

Top Headlines

Insomniac Fruit Fly Mutants Show Enhanced Memory Despite Severe Sleep Loss

Mar. 20, 2025 — Fruit fly mutants that have severe sleep deficits perform better at olfactory learning and memory tasks, according to a new study. The paradox of enhanced memory despite sleep loss could be explained by protein kinase A (PKA) signaling in the ...

Brain Imaging Reveals Surprises About Learning

Mar. 19, 2025 — By revealing for the first time what happens in the brain when an animal makes a mistake, researchers are shedding light on the holy grail of neuroscience: the mechanics of how we learn. The team pinpointed the exact moment mice learned a new skill ...

Some Animals Cooperate With Members of Other Species

Feb. 25, 2025 — Some animals are capable of cooperating with members of other species. An interdisciplinary team explores the cognitive underpinnings of such cross-species collaborations, opening up a new perspective on the evolution of intelligence and cooperation ...

'Smarts' Count: Evolution of Intelligence

Feb. 25, 2025 — The Beatles said it best: Love is all you need. And according to new research, the same may be true in the animal kingdom. Well, at least for mosquitofish -- a matchstick-sized fish endemic to Central America and now found globally. According to the ...

Latest Headlines

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Predator Robots Help Researchers Uncover How Larval Zebrafish Rapidly Learn

Feb. 20, 2025 — A novel system that chases larval zebrafish around an arena with predator robots is enabling scientists to understand how these days-old fish quickly learn in the real ...

Big Birds Like Emus Are Technical Innovators, Study Shows

Feb. 20, 2025 — Large birds -- our closest relations to dinosaurs -- are capable of technical innovation, by solving a physical task to gain access to ...

Don't Know Something? Apes Can Tell

Feb. 3, 2025 — To get treats, apes eagerly pointed them out to humans who didn't know where they were, a seemingly simple experiment that demonstrated for the first time that apes will communicate unknown ...

Study Finds Antibiotics Not Linked to Dementia

Dec. 18, 2024 — For healthy older adults, using antibiotics is not associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment or dementia, according to a new ...

Dogs Use Two-Word Button Combos to Communicate

Dec. 9, 2024 — A new study shows that dogs trained to use soundboards to 'talk' are capable of making two-word button combinations that go beyond random behavior or simple imitation of their ...

Bird Brain from the Age of Dinosaurs Reveals Roots of Avian Intelligence

Nov. 13, 2024 — A 'one of a kind' fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate ...

Oct. 30, 2024 — In common marmosets, the brain regions that process social interactions develop very slowly, extending until early adulthood, like in humans. During this time, all group members are involved in ...

Butterfly Brains Reveal the Tweaks Required for Cognitive Innovation

Oct. 18, 2024 — A species of tropical butterfly with unusually expanded brain structures display a fascinating mosaic pattern of neural expansion linked to a cognitive ...

New Chickadee Research Finds Cognitive Skills Impact Lifespan

Sep. 6, 2024 — Western animal behavior and cognition researchers tracked the spatial cognition and lifespan of 227 mountain chickadees for more than a decade. They found the birds with better spatial learning and ...

Exploring Consciousness With Eureka Moments

July 25, 2024 — We all know what it's like when the penny suddenly drops. Animals too experience such moments of insight. They could prove useful for research of ...

Smarter Foragers Do Not Forage Smarter

May 28, 2024 — Why do primates have big brains? In the Panamanian rainforest, scientists pitted large-brained primates against smaller-brained mammals to find out who was the smartest ...

Cooperative Hunting Requires Less Brainpower Than Previously Thought

May 20, 2024 — Through the use of artificial intelligence technology, a team of scientists has shown that advanced cognitive abilities are unnecessary for cooperative hunting. Their findings suggest that ...

Chimps Learn and Improve Tool-Using Skills Even as Adults, Study Finds

May 7, 2024 — Chimpanzees continue to learn and hone their skills well into adulthood, a capacity that might be essential for the evolution of complex and varied tool use, according to a new ...

T. Rex Not as Smart as Previously Claimed

Apr. 29, 2024 — Dinosaurs were likely as smart as reptiles but not as intelligent as ...

Test Reveals Mice Think Like Babies

Apr. 26, 2024 — Are mice clever enough to be strategic? A neuroscientist who studies learning in humans and animals, and who has long worked with mice, wondered why rodents often performed poorly in tests when they ...

Zebra Finch Chicks Don't Babble for No Reason

Apr. 24, 2024 — Their first vocalizations help young zebra finch males to memorize the songs of ...

Can Animals Count?

Apr. 16, 2024 — Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the ...

Your Dog Understands That Some Words 'Stand For' Objects

Mar. 22, 2024 — It's no surprise that your dog can learn to sit when you say 'sit' and come when called. But a new study has made the unexpected discovery that dogs generally also know that certain ...

Bee-2-Bee Influencing: Bees Master Complex Tasks Through Social Interaction

Mar. 6, 2024 — Bumblebees successfully learned a two-step puzzle box task through social observation. This task was too complex for individual bees to learn on their own. Observing trained demonstrator bees ...

A Model for the Evolution of Intelligence

Mar. 4, 2024 — When certain species of wild birds and primates discover new ways of finding food in the wild, it can serve to measure their flexibility and intelligence. In the largest experimental study ever ...

Scientists Can Tell Where a Mouse Is Looking and Located Based on Its Neural Activity

Feb. 22, 2024 — Researchers have paired a deep learning model with experimental data to 'decode' mouse neural activity. Using the method, they can accurately determine where a mouse is located within an ...

Wild Asian Elephants Display Unique Puzzle Solving Skills

Sep. 28, 2023 — A new study has documented the abilities of individual wild Asian elephants to access food by solving puzzles that unlocked storage boxes. It is the first research study to show that individual wild ...

Vocal Learning Linked to Problem Solving Skills and Brain Size

Sep. 14, 2023 — The better a songbird is at working its way around obstacles to retrieve a snack, the more complex its vocal learning ability will ...

Dogs With Less Complex Facial Markings Found to Be More Expressive in Their Communication With Humans

Aug. 7, 2023 — New study explores the relationship between a canine's facial appearance and how expressive they appear to be when communicating with their human ...

Butterfly Species' Big Brains Adapted Giving Them a Survival Edge, Study Finds

July 12, 2023 — Heliconius butterflies' brains grew as they adopted a novel foraging behavior, scientists have ...

Those Who Are Smarter Live Longer, at Least Among Mouse Lemurs

July 12, 2023 — Being smart pays off, as it allows for more balanced decision-making. However, the origins of these abilities during evolution remain largely unexplored. Only if smarter individuals enjoy better ...

Slow Walking Could Be Sign of Dementia in Older Dogs

June 27, 2023 — Dogs who slow down physically also slow down mentally, according to a new study. Measuring gait speed in senior dogs could be a simple way to monitor their health and to document decline in their ...

Study Finds Socially Tolerant Monkeys Have Better Impulse Control

June 8, 2023 — Socially tolerant species are better at controlling their emotions and behaviors, according to a new study of one of humanity's closest ...

Dinosaurs Were the First to Take the Perspectives of Others

May 22, 2023 — Understanding that others hold different viewpoints from your own is essential for human sociality. Adopting another person's visual perspective is a complex skill that emerges around the age of ...

This Elephant's Self-Taught Banana Peeling Offers Glimpse of Elephants' Broader Abilities

Apr. 10, 2023 — Elephants like to eat bananas, but they don't usually peel them first in the way humans do. A new report however, shows that one very special Asian elephant named Pang Pha picked up banana ...