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.
Many bat species emit echolocation calls and use the returning echoes to find their way, detect the presence of fluttering insects, and locate and catch them. A new study investigated this behavior in greater horseshoe bats ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 23, 2026
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Some fish swim in synchrony. Others, it turns out, breathe in synchrony. This is true for arapaimas, an obligate air-breathing species living in the Amazon. A new study in Communications Biology, led by the Leibniz Institute ...
Ecology
Jun 23, 2026
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White barn owls are effective killing machines. They fly silently through the night air and swoop down on unsuspecting prey with their sharp talons. But they have something you would think goes against being a stealth predator: ...
In a novel experiment at the University of Cincinnati, researchers recently isolated kissing bugs, fruit flies, mosquitoes and spider beetles in a climate- and light-controlled environment and found that they responded predictably ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2026
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Domestic cats age in remarkably similar ways to humans and show comparable age-related patterns of brain deterioration, according to an international collaboration among the University of Bath in the U.K., Auburn University ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jun 22, 2026
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20
Habits are often seen as automatic and inflexible behaviors. But a new study, published in Evolution Letters, suggests that habits may have evolved as a way for animals to handle several tasks at once. By shifting to habitual ...
Evolution
Jun 22, 2026
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Cats are the most popular companion animals worldwide, and many people have multiple cats at home. In these multicat households, not all the cats get along equally well. Until recently, it was thought that if a cat licks ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2026
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231
Many animal species that live in groups are known to adjust their behavior to strengthen their social bonds or increase their coordination with others around them. For instance, humans and some other animals exhibit vocal ...
Bumblebees see the world differently under stress, processing visual information more sharply and making quicker decisions, new research from Newcastle University reveals.
Plants & Animals
Jun 21, 2026
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62
Frightened bat rays produce a chemical cue to warn other rays of danger, a well-known anti-predator strategy for bony fish that has not been documented in cartilaginous fish until now. Oregon State University researchers ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2026
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