Questions tagged [ethology]
The study of animal behaviour.
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Are there any parasites that alter human behavior in a self destructive way?
There seems to be quite a few examples of parasites taking over the behavior of insects in a way that leads to the death of the host. A couple of examples include:
Spinochordodes tellinii: A ...
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Do animals get "unhealthily" fat in the wild?
Looking at a picture of a seriously fat cat, apparently directly nurtured by humans, popping up in a language learning app, I started wondering:
do animals "in the wild" (this might be ambiguous, but ...
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I had an encounter with a cougar (mountain lion). What does the recurrence time look like?
I had an encounter with a cougar recently. I was walking down a muddy old forest service road when approximately 15-20 meters behind me a deer burst out of the brush with a cougar chasing it close ...
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Can apes have schizophrenia?
Many animals can become mentally ill, but I could not find any account of animals showing schizophrenia, not even apes. I could only find this, but it seems very vague.
Is there any evolutionary ...
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Can we infer the orientation of a moose's head from the teeth patterns on tree trunks?
Background
I am interested in studying the distribution and patterns of behaviour of moose (Alces alces).
Moose chew bark off of the trunks of trees, especially Populus tremuloides. See some of the ...
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Why do some ant workers still wander at night?
As far as I have seen, the vast majority of workers in colonies of diurnal, non-nomadic species return to their nests and remain there at night. The colonies seem to forage largely during the day. ...
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Larynx descent in male and female deer
Male red deer (Cervus elaphus) and Male Fallow deer (Dama dama) have a descended larynx, presumably for size exaggeration - to attract mates and intimidate other animals.
Does this descent occur ...
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Why would a python go after such large prey?
I read that most Pythons would go for smaller prey, around the size of a house cat, but that larger species enjoy crocodiles, deer and even a bit of antelope for dinner. But why?
Now, I realise that ...
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What changes do ants make to the soil they use for building ant hills
I live in South India ,and among the many species of ants in and around our house, some of them except the weaver ants build the typical small ant hills in the garden.
I have examined the coarse sand ...
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Can Chilopoda "vocalize" or produce sound for the express purpose of communication, as opposed to sound as a byproduct of other movements?
Is there any species of Chilopoda that can "vocalize" or or otherwise produce sound for the express purpose of communication, as opposed to sounds it might create as a byproduct of other movements ...
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Why do lions keep young preys and don't kill them right away?
I saw some (actually several) videos on Youtube of young lions and lionesses that after hunting baby preys keep them and even seem to play with them. The lions don't seem to want to hurt them but they ...
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Good resource for penguin behavior for non-specialists
I just returned from Antarctica where we made many shore excursions and spent a great deal of time among penguins - mainly Gentoo, and some Chinstrap species.
They were fascinating and there were ...
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How do coyotes remove cactus needles from their paws?
Here, in Arizona, coyotes roam and hunt in the desert.
While hiking with dogs, I often see spiny bits of Teddy bear cholla cactus on the ground.
Dogs often step on these and get stung by the ...
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Why does pink colour reduce aggressiveness?
According to this Wikipedia page, a shade of pink colour known as "Baker-Miller_Pink" has been known to reduce aggressive behaviour.
Is there any biochemical reaction responsible for this?
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To what extent is excretory control a learned vs. instinctive behavior?
Human babies are clearly not born knowing whether/how to hold in urine and feces, and teaching them to do so requires a nontrivial (really nontrivial...) amount of work on the parents' part. But once ...
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Is the male satin bowerbird's bower-building behavior innate?
The male satin bowerbird builds a stick structure, known as a bower (distinct from a nest), where courtship and mating take place. They curiously decorate their bowers using blue or shiny objects.
(...
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Do dingoes show wolf 'characteristics'?
I've read that Russians have been performing selective breeding on Red Foxes for about fifty years, aiming to make them tame. The wikipedia article says
The experiment was initiated by scientists who ...
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Why do bees fly inside the gaps between the decoration on the exterior wall of a building and the wall?
My house has decorations around the windows on the exterior wall:
There are gaps between those decorations and the bricks of the building:
During the summer, there are always bees looking for those ...
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How do Addax defend itself from predators?
The addax (Addax nasomaculatus) is a critically endangered antelope adapted to live in extreme desert conditions. It has long impressive horns that can potentially serve as a weapon because they are ...
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Can the concept of fisherian runaway be explained using simple models?
I want to understand the concept of fisherian runaway. Dawkins' book tells about this, but it's not clear enough. It can be seen that the essence of Fisher's idea is that when a male peacock with a ...
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Do the posterior legs of mosquito plays the role of antenna?
I have had this question for years and this stems from the observation that when I bring my hand close to a mosquito lying on some surface (e.g : wall) I see its posterior legs - which are in a ...
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Is there any non-human animal social group that punishes members with "imprisonment" or a similar method?
I was reading this blog on Scientific American, which discusses whether wild animals are happier than domesticated ones. I've also read about strong territorial instincts in some species. This reading ...
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Can ants distinguish individual ants in the colony?
I am aware that ants have the ability to distinguish which female is the queen and which ones aren't. However, can ants also uniquely distinguish other individual ants in the colony? Is the ...
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Harbor Seal behavior and personality
I'm doing some research on Harbor seal behavior, but I haven't been able to find much on general behavior such as personality, quirks, ect. Does anyone have anyone have any firsthand experience with ...
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Lions protecting girl in Ethopia -- how plausible is it that they understood situation?
Several years ago we read of a girl who was apparently threatened by humans being protected by lions who chases off the males and stayed with the girl. Explanations like, "her crying resembled that of ...
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Efficacy of sonic kangaroo deterrents
Bender (2003) tested the efficacy of sonic kangaroo deterrents. Their device is static (and apparently ineffective).
Has there been any rigorous testing of the whistle-like 'kangaroo deterrent' ...
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Why would a horse-fly quickly dip into water?
For several years I have noticed a large horse-fly, flying very quickly down to the surface of my pond (in Sweden), touch the surface, and fly off. Sometimes it dips down a few times, taking some ...
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Do prey animals fail to see incoming pythons/snakes?
I understand that pythons are considered ambush predators, and I was under the impression that they tend to employ the sit-and-wait strategy: quietly staying in a coiled position near a trail ...
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Population-biology, migration-patterns, & ethology of the Big Five (elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, & buffalo) in S. Africa's winter months?
I know that animals are unpredictable, but I also know that there are seasons in which the wildlife are more active. Now, August in South Africa is still their winter season, which is emerging into ...
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Play Mimicking Normal Behaviour In Cats
I tried to word my question so it will be given serious consideration. Rather than ask in Pets SE (which doesn't have the brightest questions or answers), I feel it's better suited for Biology SE - ...
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Basic behaviour patterns of animals for a modeling project?
I am working on a project (a tool) for my GIS class that models natural habitat of an animal based on landcovers, distance to the nearest watersource and distance from developed area in Kansas, USA. I ...
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Flight trajectory of domestic pigeons on sudden noise
In places where people feed pigeons, its a common sight to see them fly off suddenly when there is a sudden disturbance.
When they do, there is an interesting pattern that these birds follow.
Say ...
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Was this snake behaving abnormally?
This morning, I walked out front of my house to find a medium-sized snake balled up on my driveway beneath my motorcycle. I spotted it from my porch so I didn't walk any closer. I believe it was a ...
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Does level of bats activity differs from day to day?
Say we measure bats activity as number of passes through given area. Can it differ significantly depending from day to day or it stays on average roughly the same? I am wondering whether the following ...
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Circadian rhythm in birds
Animals can use their circadian clocks to determine direction from the
position of the sun. In a particular experiment conducted in Iceland,
a bird, kept in a cage open to the sky, was trained to ...
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Do crabs actually "rip the legs off of other crabs" if they try to escape a bucket?
I read this strange remark:
Picture a bucket full of crabs with no lid. The moment a crab tries to get out, the other crabs will literally rip its legs off.
It was said as something that is common ...
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Polyandry in birds
The Wikipedia article on Bateman's principle states:
Until recently, most bird species were believed to be sexually
monogamous. DNA paternity testing, however, has shown that in nearly
90% of bird ...
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Chronic-stress of predation risk in vertebrate prey
Prey must be vigilant when their predators are around.
Predators may affect mortality (and morbidity, i.e. loss of quality of life) through these mechanisms:
Direct attacks, including injuries ...
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Do songbirds prefer clean water?
The other day, the water in our backyard birdbath (Eastern US) had become fairly murky. So my wife cleaned it out and replaced it with fresh. Seemingly immediately began an amazing run on the thing. ...
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Do moose usually browse woody foilage approximately perpendicular to the long axis of the branch?
I am trying to improve my understanding of moose browsing behavior. One basic question is whether browsing on woody vegetation can tell us anything about the orientation of the moose's head. The ...
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Do *Ambystoma macrodactylum* predate on *ceuthophilinaens* like the one I observed?
I observed this Ambystoma macrodactylum within half of a meter of this Ceuthophilinaen under an old board. I can imagine salamanders eating cricket-like things, but this question is far outside my ...
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Has anyone seen/read interspecies competition that is different at spatial scale for the same group of animals?
I work at a highly fragmented wildlife sanctuary in North Borneo, Malaysia. We have 8 species of hornbills here and from our observation they've grown to be less territorial in terms of where they ...
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How many of their caches do chickadees retrieve?
Chickadees are scatter-caching birds and I've heard they can hide as many as 10,000 seeds for retrieval over the winter. How many of these cached seeds actually end up getting used in a typical winter?...
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What is the term for the physical and behavioral changes that occur in an adult species due to the change in their hierarchy?
For example, when a chicken becomes a rooster its crest becomes larger and their feathers become more colorful. Dominant male lions get larger and darker manes.
Also, can these changes also occur ...
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Is it possible to put 100 live black ants and 100 live fire ants in a glass jar without them fighting each other immediately?
Background:
There is a claim falsely attributed to David Attemborough:
If you collect 100 black ants and 100 fire ants and put them in a
glass jar nothing will happen. But if you take the jar, shake ...
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The primary source for Erich von Holst research for minnow forebrain and shoaling
I am trying to find the primary source of information about the experiments of Eric von Holst, mentioned by Konrad Lorenz in the book “Das sogenannte Böse: Zur Naturgeschichte der Aggression”/“On ...
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Do non-human primates have mental disorders like humans?
I was at the zoo today and watched a gorilla pick at a scab on its finger, compulsively, until it started bleeding. Is this OCD or is it just a nervous thing that non-human primates do at the zoo? Do ...
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The Tun state of a tardigrade
I was wondering How long does it take for a tardigrade to enter and exit the Tun state?
I'm doing a thesis on tardigrades for my B.S in biology and I haven't come along any information in the primary ...
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Who cleans the cleaner fish?
Cleaner fish are those fish that eat the dead skin cells and parasites off from other usually larger fish.
( such cleaners include wrasse, cichlids, catfish, shrimp etc )
I wondered if the cleaner ...
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Is there mismatch in injures or death numbers for carnivores that hunt during day time and night time?
Is there significant mismatch in injures or death numbers for hunters (when hunter was killed or injured by its prey), between day time and night time hunts (carnivores that hunt during the day time ...
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