Contagious yawning in geladas

Yawning is a common phenomenon among vertebrates. Despite its widespread occurrence, the function of yawning remains a mystery 1. Indeed, yawning has been suggested as (i) a cooling mechanism for the brain to maintain cognitive function; (ii) a communicative behavior to indicate drowsiness or stress; (iii) a way to maintain vigilance/promote alertness among animals 2. [...]

A year (almost) in the field

My friend and colleague’s final essay in Nature’s post-doc journal has been published this week. You can read the summary of her research and reflections on nearly a year of fieldwork studying the behavior of wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada) in the chilly highlands of Ethiopia by following this link.

Paper wasps never forget, sort of

An elephant may never forget, but paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus) can remember fights with other wasps for up to a week. This is quite an accomplishment considering their brain is one-millionth the size of a human brain! P. fuscatus queens share nests with other queens, after establishing social dominance relationships through aggressive contests. Likewise, it [...]

If it feels good, do it (for capuchins)

Research published this week in PNAS suggests that capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) engage in “prosocial” behavior with another conspecific when that individual is familiar, visible, and receiving rewards of equal value (de Waal et al. 2008). The researchers presented capuchins with two differently marked tokens (de Waal et al. 2008). The tokens denoted different reward [...]

Magpie sees itself in mirror and realizes it is not a chimpanzee

Big news in the study of animal cognition was published this week in PLoS Biology. Magpies (Pica pica) were shown to engage in mirror-induced, self-directed behavior via a “mark test” (Prior et al. 2008). This research makes magpies the first bird species capable of self-recognition. The “mark test” is a common experiment used to test [...]