animal behavior – envirobites

Friday, April 26, 2024

Boredom Will Be the Death of Me: The Power of Animal Enrichment in Big Cat Conservation

April 1, 2024April 1, 2024 Andrea Valcarcel 0 Comments animal behavior, animal enrichment, behavior, carnivora, conservation biology, wildlife conservation

Zoos and rehabilitation centers play vital roles in big cat conservation efforts, serving as research centers and rescue facilities that contribute to both captive and wild conservation strategies. Animal enrichment is integral to the daily care of captive animals, stimulating cognitive abilities, encouraging natural behaviors, and enhancing overall welfare, thus aiding in conservation efforts. A recent study evaluated biological factors such as sociality and body weight, as well as husbandry factors like group size and enrichment provision, in relation to zoo animal welfare indicators such as playtime and engagement with the environment. The study found that animal enrichment, rather than biological factors, significantly reduces stereotypical anxious behavior, increases activity, and promotes interaction with the environment, thereby enhancing the animals’ quality of life.

A yellow-faced bumblebee flies between purple sage flowers.

Animal behavior Case Studies

Hive Minds: Bumblebees Collaborate to Learn Complex Behaviors

March 27, 2024March 25, 2024 Lauren Glevanik 0 Comments animal behavior, bees, behavior, behavioral ecology, Culture, innovation, social, social learning

In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees have been shown to have a more sophisticated social culture than previously known. Bees could learn to solve a challenging puzzle through social interaction, demonstrating their ability to learn new and complex behaviors beyond their individual cognitive abilities. This study suggests that advanced social learning is not unique to humans, and encourages further exploration of collaboration and culture in the animal kingdom.

Animal behavior

Soft Manatee, Warm Manatee? Understanding How Manatees Behave

October 1, 2022May 30, 2023 Andrea Valcarcel 0 Comments animal behavior, endangered species, manatees, marine biology, marine conservation, marine life, marine mammals, marine species, temperament

Antillean manatees are an endangered subspecies of manatee that live in the warm waters of the Caribbean, but little is known about their behavior, both in the wild and under human care. This is why scientists in France set out to better understand and define manatee behavior in captivity, identifying how bold or shy they were and how they acted towards novel and familiar stimuli.

Animal behavior Ecosystems Environmental Science

Matriarch Madness: Mechanism of Social Parasitism and Colony Takeover in Ants

August 3, 2022September 12, 2022 Maria Marlin 0 Comments animal behavior, camouflage, ecosystems, insects, parasitism

Carpenter ants play an important role in an ecosystem; they break down wood into smaller pieces that will ultimately become part of the soil. But a parasitic ant can rapidly take over and destroy a colony by simply disguising herself through chemical means.

Animal behavior Ecosystems

Fire and Animal Behavior: How Forest Fires are Mediating Predator-Prey Interactions

August 1, 2022August 31, 2022 Andrea Valcarcel 0 Comments animal behavior, bushfire, forest ecology, forestry, predation, predator-prey interactions, prescribed fire, Wildfire

Fires, both from intentional and unintentional sources, have been altering our ecosystems for as long as history has been recorded, yet little is known about how these occurrences affect animal behavior, especially concerning predator-prey interactions. Countless factors, including the extent of the fire and the adaptability of both predator and prey to these new conditions affect the behavior and survivability of both predator and prey. In the end, change is inevitable, but if we improve our understanding of how fires influence animal behavior, we can then help rehabilitate affected populations in more effective and efficient ways.

Animal behavior Ecosystems

Why are some animals hoarders?

April 7, 2022January 30, 2023 Julia Bebout 0 Comments animal behavior, ecosystems, evolution, forest ecology

Why do some animals, like mice and squirrels, bury their food? Isn’t that risky? The answer has to do with natural cycles of tree seed quantity.

Animal behavior Environmental Science

How Climate-driven Ocean Changes Affect Right Whale Populations

February 1, 2022January 28, 2022 Andrea Valcarcel 0 Comments animal behavior, animal navigation, Behavior Ecology, behavioral ecology, behaviour ecology, climate adaptation, marine biology, marine conservation, marine life, marine science, marine species, marine wildlife, oceanography, Right whales, whales

It is no secret that the world is ever-shifting towards a warmer reality. With conditions changing greatly in the Gulf of Maine, researchers are now exploring how climate-driven changes have been affecting the North Atlantic right whale populations. Sadly, their findings have shone a light towards a worrisome reality – a reality where these whales might be driven into extinction.

Animal behavior Cities Ecosystems

Combine Crickets and Lockdowns and get an Unlikely Experiment

August 5, 2021September 12, 2022 Brianne Palmer 0 Comments animal behavior, COVID-19, crickets, entomology, urban ecology

In the spring of 2020, we all dealt with lockdowns in a different way. In urban parks, animals were suddenly exposed to a world without humans, and this disrupted ongoing urban ecology experiments. But resourceful ecologists used the sudden silence near businesses and the uptick of outdoor recreation to understand how shifting human behaviors change timing and duration of chirping urban crickets.

Animal behavior Science through time

Clues to the Past – What fossils tell us about ancient animal behavior

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 Brandi Pessman 0 Comments animal behavior, dinosaurs, ethology, fossils, paleontology

Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth was teeming with life. Since humans weren’t around back then, we have to rely on fossils for snapshots into that world. Fossils give clues on how animals and their behaviors have evolved throughout geological time and can help with today’s conservation efforts. But what can fossils tell us about animal behavior, and when were some of the earliest behaviors? That’s a mystery worth digging into!

Animal behavior Cities Environmental Science

Does wearing a face mask make humans less scary to tree sparrows?

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 Kevin Aviles Rodriguez 0 Comments animal behavior, behavioral ecology, FID, urban ecology

Environmental conditions can change quite quickly. In this case, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 we’ve all been wearing masks when we venture outside. How might this sudden change in our appearance affect animals that frequently live amongst us? Find out how Eurasian tree sparrows responded to wearing masks in two provinces of Sichuan, China.

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