In the eight years he had lived at the house, Sam had never before been in the bedroom.

Going downstairs with Sam, the owner looked in the kitchen and found Sally and her newly born premature puppies in distress on the floor.

The story of Sam is remarkable for many reasons! He was aware of the distress of the dogs – animals of a species different to himself. This ‘interspecies awareness’ can be used by animal scientists as an indicator of animal sentience.

The words “come one, come on!” are used to encourage action or a bit more speed from another, and often they imply some urgency. We don’t know in which context Sally’s owner uses these words to her, but the signs are that Sam the parrot chose these words deliberately to get the urgent response needed.

African Grey parrots are well known for their intelligence and quick wit, and here is yet another example of their abilities.

Dr Irene Pepperberg has carried out extensive studies of parrots’ abilities to understand. Reporting on her findings, she notes: “Given the evolutionary distance between birds and mammals, these results have intriguing implications for the evolution of intelligence, the study of comparative intelligence, and the care and maintenance of birds held in captivity in zoos and as companion animals.”

 This  short film featuring Irene with famous parrots Alex and Griffin gives a very interesting and though-provoking snapshot about these amazing birds.

Sources
Lancashire Telegraph, 8 November 2011. Darwen hero parrot helps saves premature pups’ lives
Pepperberg, I. (2006) Cognitive and communicative abilities of Grey parrots. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100: 77-86

Most were snatched from the wild as infants, and some bred in a laboratory, and used in medical experiments. Their reactions as they venture into the outside world clearly show that chimps are sentient, emotional beings.

It’s well worth visiting the sanctuary’s website for great photos of the chimps and their individual stories.  How fantastic that these chimps finally have a life worth living!

There is growing awareness and understanding of the intelligence, understanding and behaviour of whales. Science shows that whales are sentient beings. This means they can suffer fear, pain and other negative states – but that in good circumstances, they also have the ability to enjoy life.

Saving Valentina

Members of the Great Whale Conservancy sighted a young whale who was so entangled in fishing net that she could not move. If they could not free her, she faced certain death.

It must have been nerve-wracking for all parties as the brave rescuers painstakingly hacked away the imprisoning net with the one small knife they had with them. But eventually, they managed to set the whale free and for an hour afterwards, she gave a dramatic display of leaping and diving in what her rescuers felt it was a show of joy. She must have felt wonderful to have been released from the fatal net and she may well have been trying to attract the attention of the rest of the pod of whales, and perhaps her mother.

They named the youngster Valentina and you can see the wonderful film here.

Divers rescue whale … and whale rescues diver

We’ve previously written about the rescue of a humpback whale who had become fatally entangled in crab lines. But happily, she was spotted and freed by divers. When she had been freed, she swam around in circles and then went up to each diver one by one and nudged them. One of the rescuers is reported as saying: “It seemed kind of affectionate, like a dog that’s happy to see you … I never felt threatened. It was an amazing, unbelievable experience.”

Mila is a beluga whale in China. Brave Mila rescued a diver who had got into difficulties while practising in the pool. Using her sensitive, dolphin-like nose, Mila guided the diver to the surface. One of the staff is quoted as saying: “Mila noticed the problem before we did. She’s a sensitive animal who works closely with humans and I think this girl owes her her life.”

Sources
The Great Whale Conservancy www.greatwhaleconservancy.org

Broom, D.M. (2011) ‘The science of animal welfare and its relevance to whales’, in the Report of the Whale Welfare and Ethics Workshop (Joint workshop of WSPA and UK govt, 22/23 March 2011)

Simmonds, M. (2006) ‘Into the brains of whales’. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100: 1-2, p103-106

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society  www.wdcs.org

Once a forager has found pollen or nectar they will return to the hive and perform an elaborate dance on the vertical surface of a honey comb. Karl von Frisch discovered that bees use this dance to communicate the location of food to others in their hive. If the food is relatively far from the hive (as it generally is) the bee will perform a “waggle dance” to communicate two items of information – the distance to and the direction of the food source.

A bee that performs a waggle dance moves in a figure of eight. She waggles her body from side to side and emits a buzzing sound as she moves forward in a straight line, then circles to the right, back to her starting point, waggles ahead again, and then circles to the left and waggles again. This pattern is repeated a number of times.

The duration of the straight run, or “waggle,” tells the other bees how far the nectar or pollen is from the hive. As the distance to the food source increases, the duration of the waggle also increases.

The direction in which the dancing bee faces during the straight portion of her waggle dance indicates the location of the food source in relation to the sun. For example, if the flowers are located 30 degrees to the right of the sun, the dance will be oriented 30 degrees to the right of vertical.

The waggle dance acts as a form of language – the other foragers watch the dancing bee’s movements and receive information about how to get to the food source. They also receive information about what is to be found at the food source through their sense of smell.

How a worker bee communicates the location of food source to other bees in the hive may be one of the most complex forms of social behaviour seen outside of the human race.

Here’s a great video about these amazing bees.

Sources:
Frisch, K.V., (1967). The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press

Gould, J.L., and Gould, C.G., (1988). The Honey Bee. New York: Scientific American Library, W.H. Freeman

Photo courtesy of Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue

We are finding out more and more about animals who use ‘tools’ in their daily lives. Animals in a group may also learn from each other and pass this information on to each other. Scientists call this ‘cultural transmission’.

The first documented case of wild orangutans making and using tools was reported from a population of orangutans in Indonesia in 1996. They used tools which they had crafted either for extracting insects or seeds to eat.

Researchers then went on to look at how tool-use varied between orangutans living in different regions. They compared the tool-use of orangutans at six different areas. It was found that the different orangutan populations behaved differently and these differences were greatest between groups living furthest apart. Orangutans who lived in larger groups and who were socially tolerant used tools more than those who were isolated.

Photo courtesy of Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue

The evidence suggested that the differences in behavior were cultural: firstly, because the extent of the differences increased with distance, and secondly, because the extent of the orangutans’ tool-use increased according the amount of social contact in their group. Social contact increases the amount of cultural transmission.

This video clip shows orangutans at a sanctuary copying behaviours they learned through observing their human counterparts. They learned how to manoeuvre a canoe, paint, wash with soap and even use a saw!

Orangutans are fascinating animals but their future is under threat. Their rainforest habitat is being cut down at an alarming rate for logging and agriculture, including plantations of palm oil, a vegetable oil widely used in food and everyday products. You may wish to choose products which do not contain palm oil. Some companies claim to use sustainably-produced palm oil.

Sources:

van Schaik C.P., Fox,E.A., Sitompul AF. (1996). Manufacture and use of tools in wild Sumatran orangutans – implications or human evolution. Naturwissenschaften 83: 186-188.

van Schaik C.P., Knott C.D., (2001) Geographic variation in tool use on Neesia fruits in orangutans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 114:331-342

van Schaik C.P., van Noordwijk M.A., Wich, S.A. (2006) Innovation in wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). Behaviour 143: 839-876

van Schaik C.P., Ancrenaz M., Borgen G., Galdikas B., Knott C.D., Singleton I., Suzuki A., Utami S.S., Merrill M. (2003). Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture. Science 299: 102-105

Armed with a snowball

For our special Christmas day post, we found a rather lovely fact about Japanese Macaque monkeys….

Young Macaques have been seen to make and throw snowballs, just like people do! Scientists could find no reason why they would do this, other than simply because it is fun!

Not only that, but back in the 1960s, these Japanese Macaques saw their human counterparts bathing in hot springs, and must have decided that this was a great idea. In the freezing temperatures they endure, a hot tub seems to be a relaxing and enjoyable social occasion.

Just another little similarity between different species – it seems many like to have fun, whether we have fur, feathers or plain old human clothes…

Wishing you a Compassionate Christmas!

Sources:

Uhlenbrook, C. (2008) Animal life the definitive visual guide to animals and their behaviour, Dorling Kindersley, London.
Primate Info Net (2009) [accessed 24 December 09)
BBC Worldwide, Monkeys Relaxing

The humpback whale was on the migratory route around the California coast when she became terribly entangled in crab trap lines. Her life was at great risk.
She was tangled up in weighted ropes up to 240 feet long around her tail, her flipper and even in her mouth. The ropes were so tight they cut into her blubber and caused visible wounds. She was completely helpless  and the weight of the traps was causing her to struggle to keep her blow hole out of the sea.

A rescue team of divers went out to her but she was in such a state  they were  unsure that they stood any chance of saving her. They were at risk themselves, as the flick of a humpback’s tail can kill a human.

But they reported that as they worked to free the unfortunate creature, she did not struggle at all and they were aware of her eyes simply following them around as they worked.

Thankfully, the rescuers were successful but must have been astonished by the whale’s heartwarming response. When she felt herself come free, she began to swim around in circles and then went up to each diver one by one and nudged them. One of the rescuers is reported as saying: “It seemed kind of affectionate, like a dog that’s happy to see you … I never felt threatened. It was an amazing, unbelievable experience.”

Her response makes us think about the common ground that humans can have with animals who might appear so very different from us. A whale-watching expert who helped co-ordinate the rescue is quoted as saying: “You hate to anthropomorphize too much  but the whale was doing little dives and the guys were rubbing shoulders with it … I don’t know for sure what it was thinking, but it’s something that I will always remember. It was just too cool.”

An interesting point about our understanding of these large sea mammals was made by Gould and Gould in their book ‘The Animal Mind’. They suggest that perhaps we have been quicker to appreciate the intelligence and sentience of primates as they are so much more similar to us in their gestures and experiences, and therefore easier for us to read. We may have been slower to understand the complexity and richness of underwater creatures simply because they appear to be so very different to us.

Humpback Whale

Sources:
San Francisco Chronice (14/12/05). Daring rescue of whale off Farallones. Accessed 17/12/09.

Gould, J. L. and Gould, C. G. (1994) The Animal Mind. Scientific American Library, New York.

Credit: Roger Steene

The veined octopus is a truly amazing underwater character. Researchers in Melbourne have discovered that they get up to some surprising antics – using coconut shells.

These octopi collect coconut shells discarded by their human neighbours, gather them under their body and then carry them and walk, rather awkwardly, for up to 20m at a time. The scientists dubbed this as ‘stilt-walking’ due to the unusual way the octopus has to use its legs whilst carrying the shells.

The octopus goes to this considerable effort so he or she has portable ‘armour’. If suddenly under threat the octopus could create instant camouflage and protection by climbing in between two coconut halves.

This is really significant, as use of tools by animals is said to be a sign of higher mental functioning, as is planning for the future. Some people used to believe that only humans had such advanced abilities, but we increasingly find that other animals have so many unsuspected abilities – including a mind of their own. (see Rooks, Pigs).

Here is another shining example of amazing animals and a valuable reminder that animals can have many hidden abilities that we are yet to notice and appreciate.

Watch original video footage here.

ITN coverage:

Source: Finn, J. K., Treganza, T. and Norman, M. D. (2009) Defensive tool use in a coconut – carrying octopus, Current Biology, 19 (23): R1069-R1070.

Julian K. Finn^{1, 2,} , Tom Tregenza^3, and Mark D. Norman¹

Team players. Image courtesy of Tim Vickers

Source:
Drea, C. M., Carter, A. N. (2009)
Co-operative problem solving in a social carnivore
Animal Behaviour, 78: 967-977.