behavioral science
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OK, But Can We Teach The Rats To Race?
Scientists have previously run experiments teaching rats how to play hide-and-seek. Now researchers at the University of Richmond in Virginia have managed to teach 17 rats how to drive tiny electric cars around in pursuit of food, with the rats apparently loving it.
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Heartbreaking New Observations Suggest Gorillas May Grieve For Their Dead
Wild gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda exhibit a variety of behaviours around dead individuals, according to new research. Behaviours such as grooming, sniffing, and poking the dead, and in one case a young gorilla’s attempt at comfort nursing, suggests these primates, like humans, grieve for their dead.
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The ‘Shower Rat’ Is Very Obviously Not Showering
It’s very easy to look at an animal mimicking a human-like behaviour and think, “Wow! That animal is doing a human thing! It looks so cute and happy.” (Because humans are so cute and happy, right?) That is almost never the case. If an animal looks weird, it probably is weird – and not in…
