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.
A decade-long study led by Penguin Watch, at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, has uncovered a record shift in the breeding season of Antarctic penguins, likely in response to climate change.
Plants & Animals
Jan 20, 2026
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894
Lions in Kenya respond very differently to human land use, climate and conservation practices. That is the conclusion of thesis from Leiden biologist Monica Chege. A uniform approach is therefore insufficient. "Effective ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 13, 2026
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489
During conversation, people sometimes synchronize their voices in ways that often go completely unnoticed. Talking speeds converge, sentence lengths shift, turn-taking rhythms fall into sync. New research from the Max Planck ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2026
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Homosexual behavior in primates has a deep evolutionary basis and is more likely to occur in species that live in harsh environments, are hunted by predators or live in more complex societies, scientists said Monday.
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2026
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512
"Honey, will you take Luna to the P-A-R-K?" Both parents and dog owners know that some words should not be spoken, but only spelled, to prevent small ears from eavesdropping on the conversation. At the age of 1.5 years, toddlers ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 8, 2026
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73
Three species of the melodic African warbler bird refuse to get up early and sing their customary daybreak songs when the weather is cold. This new discovery was made recently by a team of soundscape ecologists in South Africa's ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 2, 2026
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30
A new computational model of the brain based closely on its biology and physiology has not only learned a simple visual category learning task exactly as well as lab animals, but even enabled the discovery of counterintuitive ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 29, 2025
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245
During mating season, when male white-tailed deer want to get noticed by the opposite sex and warn off rivals, they rub their antlers against trees and scrape the forest floor. Then they pee on these patches. But there is ...
Is complex social behavior genetically determined? Yes, as a team of biologists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) together with colleagues from Bochum and Paris discovered while studying bees.
Evolution
Dec 22, 2025
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68
Every animal with a brain needs sleep—and even a few without a brain do, too. Humans sleep, birds sleep, whales sleep and even jellyfish sleep.
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2025
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