Animal Learning and Intelligence News
June 15, 2025
Top Headlines
May 20, 2025 — African elephants are the largest land animals on earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian elephants have a 20 percent heavier brain, as ...
May 1, 2025 — Animal research on biomusicality, which looks at whether different species are capable of behaving in ways that show they recognize aspects of music, including rhythm and beat, remains a tantalizing ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Feb. 21, 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 ...
Feb. 20, 2025 — Large birds -- our closest relations to dinosaurs -- are capable of technical innovation, by solving a physical task to gain access to ...
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 information in the name of teamwork. The study also ...
Jan. 15, 2025 — People who eat more red meat, especially processed red meat like bacon, sausage and bologna, are more likely to have a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia when compared to those who eat very little red meat, according to a new ...
Dec. 19, 2024 — For healthy older adults, using antibiotics is not associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment or dementia, according to a new ...
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 ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:18pm EDT
Nov. 15, 2024 — Two conflicting memories can both be activated in a worm's brain, even if only one memory actively drives the animal's behavior, finds a new ...
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 ...
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 ...
Sep. 7, 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 ...
Sep. 3, 2024 — We all know the adage, 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks.' As we age, our ability to learn new skills, like mastering a foreign language or picking up a musical instrument, seems to fade. The ...
July 30, 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 ...
May 30, 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 ...
May 23, 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 ...
May 9, 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 ...
Earlier Headlines
Apr. 29, 2024 — Dinosaurs were likely as smart as reptiles but not as intelligent as ...
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 ...
Apr. 24, 2024 — Their first vocalizations help young zebra finch males to memorize the songs of ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Dec. 18, 2023 — Apes recognize photos of groupmates they haven't seen for more than 25 years and respond even more enthusiastically to pictures of their friends, a new study finds. The work, which demonstrates ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
July 12, 2023 — Heliconius butterflies' brains grew as they adopted a novel foraging behavior, scientists have ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Apr. 4, 2023 — Human culture and language may be the result of 'self-domestication': an evolutionary process that leads to less aggressive and more prosocial individuals. A research team argues that ...
Mar. 28, 2023 — Data from 124 societies shows that dogs' functions predict their treatment, with closer bonds forming in societies where dogs have multiple ...
Monday, April 29, 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Friday, March 22, 2024
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Monday, December 18, 2023
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Monday, August 7, 2023
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
- Butterfly Species' Big Brains Adapted Giving Them a Survival Edge, Study Finds
- Those Who Are Smarter Live Longer, at Least Among Mouse Lemurs