Animal behavior is the scientific study of the observable actions, interactions, and behavioral patterns of animals, typically investigated within ethology, behavioral ecology, and comparative psychology. It encompasses mechanisms (proximate causes such as neural, hormonal, and genetic control), development (ontogeny and learning), function (adaptive value in survival and reproductive success), and evolution (phylogenetic history and divergence among taxa). Research on animal behavior quantifies activities such as foraging, mating systems, parental care, communication, social organization, and antipredator strategies, often integrating experimental, observational, and modeling approaches to understand how behavior emerges from organism–environment interactions and contributes to fitness and ecological dynamics.
During their search for food, most insects head specifically for the flowers that promise the highest reward. But how do they know which ones to choose? Researchers from the University of Konstanz and the University of Würzburg ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 2, 2026
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Protected natural areas across Europe are changing. Climate change, with rising temperatures and heavy rainfall, is turbocharging the growth of shrubs and trees, choking the flowers and insects that need the light and heat ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 2, 2026
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Adaptation is essential for survival. Across species, it occurs over many generations through evolution and natural selection. Individual animals, however, can also adapt within their own lifetimes—through learning. For many ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 2, 2026
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On a hazy day in June 2023, doctoral students Trifosa Simamora and Timothy Boycott noticed that the birds at their field site had gone quiet. Now in a study published in Biological Conservation, they show that the culprit ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 2, 2026
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Early mammalian ancestors were nocturnal, sleeping during the day while the dinosaurs dominated the land. However, some mammalian lineages, including human ancestors, independently transitioned to diurnality (active during ...
Evolution
Feb 27, 2026
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At newly colonized high-elevation sites in the central Italian Apennines, female Daubenton's bats take turns using the same hunting spots instead of feeding side by side. A study published by a research team from the University ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 27, 2026
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Should you ever find yourself playing a trivia game on the topic of moths and butterflies, here are a few facts that might help. Collectively called Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies account for nearly 10% of all animal ...
Evolution
Feb 26, 2026
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Why does your dog rush to "help" when you are searching for something, while your cat seems… eh, less concerned? New research suggests that this difference may stem from deep evolutionary roots—and that, in certain situations, ...
Evolution
Feb 26, 2026
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211
An egg-citing plot twist has emerged in what's already been an eventful nesting season for Big Bear's celebrity bald eagle couple. Jackie laid an egg on Tuesday afternoon, offering new hope for babies this year after a previous ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 26, 2026
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A new study has found that the wild can be a "death trap" for animals that are released from captivity after previously being rescued. The research, published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, involved Anglia ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 25, 2026
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