A bottlenose dolphin.
(Xinhua/Wang Song/IANS)
Although humans have been studying and documenting animal behavior for centuries, we manage to learn some interesting new quirks every year – and believe us, there are plenty. 2022 was no exception, and we learned a lot of interesting things about some of our favorite animals and insects.
From spiders catapulting immediately after doing the deed to growling rats at Lady Gaga, we’ve rounded up a whole list of bizarre traits in the animal kingdom. And we share our favorites below:
Pee Test: When out of sight, dolphins taste their friends’ urine to find out if they’re around
To start the list in style, 2022 taught us that dolphins recognize their friends by tasting their urine! Considering everything we’ve heard about animal intelligence, you’d think they could have found a better way to find their friends, but hey, we’re not one to judge.
Bottlenose dolphins use signature whistles to address specific individuals selectively, and they can even remember these signature whistles for over 20 years!
However, when deprived of sight and hearing, these mammals resort to the taste of urine in their surroundings to gather clues as to where their companions might be. Urine plumes can linger in the water for some time after an animal has left the area, making them an effective indicator of the animal’s presence.
The Great Escape: After sex, orb-weaving spiders catapult themselves away from their companions to avoid being eaten.
Bolting right after the deed may be considered wrong and unacceptable for humans, but for some species of insects it could be a matter of life or death because of a little situation we call sexual cannibalism. But while some species continue to lay down their lives for sex, others have managed to evolve to avoid such a deadly fate.
A team of Chinese scientists from Hubei University in Wuhan have discovered a new tactic adopted by male orb-weaving spiders, which catapult themselves away from their partners after mating to avoid the hungry mandibles of females!
The study adds that these orb-weavers jump for their lives using a never-before-seen spider technique involving a joint in their front legs, which allows them to launch their bodies in a split second by building up energy. kinetically and then releasing it quickly. . .
Rats can dance to Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and Queen just like humans!
Think of some of the biggest pop stars of our time, and we’re talking Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga-esque genius. Well, what if we told you that their ability to groove transcends the species barrier?
A study conducted by the University of Tokyo set out to see if rats could play the same kind of music as us humans, and the results are adorable, so ridiculous.
According to the researchers, the rats displayed innate synchronization – that is, without any prior training or exposure to music – the synchronization of beats most distinctly in the 120-140 bpm (beats per minute), which humans also feature the clearest beat synchronization.
This new discovery offers further insight into not only the animal spirit, but also the origins of our own penchant for music and dance.
Like humans, chimpanzees also show their treasured items to friends
Do you remember finding a shiny new bauble when you were a kid, running up to your mom and tugging on her dupatta to show it to her just so you could enjoy her attention while she was doing ooh and aah your discovery?
It turns out that humans aren’t the only species to display this behavior – chimpanzees do too!
Researchers from universities including York and Warwick recorded footage of an adult female chimpanzee showing a leaf to her mother in Uganda’s Kibale Forest. This observation suggests that under certain social conditions, wild chimpanzees can share experiences with each other, using gestures to comment on or notice the world.
The researchers believe this finding could have implications for our understanding of the evolution of human social cognition and what makes the human mind unique.
Crows help free the streets of cigarette butts
We’ve known for a while that crows are big brains, but did you know they can be trained to clean the streets?
A Swedish start-up has trained wild crows to pick up cigarette butts and drop them into a machine that will distribute food to them in exchange for the butts. If that’s not positive reinforcement at its best, we don’t know what is.
Crows are natural scavengers while also being extremely intelligent. In fact, their reasoning skills are comparable to those of a 7 to 10 year old human child, making the mistake of eating very little junk. In addition, they are easier to teach and there is also a greater chance that they will learn from each other.
Estimates suggest that this strategy will reduce the cost of cleaning cigarette butts by 75% in Södertälje, Sweden.
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