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.
Animal pairs engage in mutual signaling by simultaneously performing a diverse repertoire of behaviors. A famous example is the sophisticated dance (mutual displays) performed by bird pairs.
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2026
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An international team of researchers have published a new review in Animal Behavior revealing how communication enables cooperation between different animal species. The review, titled "The ecology and evolution of cues and ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2026
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There is evidence that nonhuman animals perceive the world, and how it unfolds in time, differently from humans and from each other. For example, certain beetles can see flickering in lights up to around 500 Hz, while in ...
For decades, biologists have known that hermit crabs forced to live in shells that are too small slow their growth. What wasn't clear was how they did it. New research suggests the answer isn't simply that the crabs eat less. ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2026
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Orangutans seek out plants with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties, new research shows. Based on 20 years of observations of orangutans in Indonesian Borneo, scientists assessed how often the animals ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2026
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When pigeons are flying through the air, they lock their eyes in a near-fixed position instead of moving them around. Researchers from Harvard University discovered this after attaching a lightweight rig of cameras and mirrors ...
For decades, scientists have been studying the cognition of great apes to understand how our own complex cognitive abilities evolved. Much of the research is based on the idea that if a particular ability—like using gestures ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 17, 2026
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Big cats have a big impact. A long-term study showed that when mountain lions began regular visits to a small suburban preserve about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of San Francisco, they changed the behavior of many other ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 17, 2026
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Goats appear to have a rare ability not shared by many in the animal kingdom, and that is being able to follow the direction of a human voice to locate hidden objects. While dogs have been shown to do this, even our closest ...
For humans, death is surrounded by culture, emotion, ritual and language. But the question can be framed in a much more basic way: What would an animal have to understand in order to recognize that someone has died?
Plants & Animals
Jun 16, 2026
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