Predation has shaped the whole of the living world, as prey respond to evolutionary changes in predators, and vice versa. The earlier prey can detect a predator, the greater their possibility of surviving, either by fleeing or hiding. In many aquatic species, prey detection can occur from beyond the grave – for example, Daphnia (“water-fleas”) [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Behaviour’
05/05/2009
DANCING COCKATOO
November 2007 This video from Natalie Beresford (First Year). Why might this cockatoo dance? Is it like a bored tiger or an emprisoned polar bear, or is there something else going on? Why does it do the bow at the end?
05/05/2009
ROBOT ROACHES
November 2007 Those Final Years who have done the Animal Behaviour course may remember me showing videos of robots behaving like ants. The same Belgian group led by Deneubourg has now turned its attention to cockroaches, as shown by their article in this week’s issue of Science. If you cover a robot with cockroach pheromone, the real roaches follow [...]
23/04/2009
WEIRD MOONWALKING MANAKIN
October 2007 Definitely a video that will make you laugh! The male red-capped Manakin (Pipra mentalis), a bird found in Costa Rica and Belize (watch out for it if you go there on the Field Course), does a rather cool moonwalk as part of its courtship ritual. It also produces some rather bizarre clicks with its wings. Two YouTube [...]
23/04/2009
CHIMPS CRY FOR HELP
October 2007 If a chimp is being attacked, it will exaggerate its cries if there is a high-ranking chimp around who could challenge the aggressor. BBC summary; original research article in PNAS (open access).
23/04/2009
AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS…
October 2007 The smell of a hunter! New study, to appear in Current Biology, shows that elephants apparently remember the smell and look of clothes worn by Maasai hunters, but are not perturbed by the clothes of Kamba agriculturalists who pose no threat. BBC summary; Current Biology article (open access).
22/04/2009
NEMATODES IN SNAILS
October 2007 Slightly cheesy US video about the amazing effects of nematode infestation on snail behaviour and its role in the nematode life-cycle. But the close-ups of the snail are pretty cool.
22/04/2009
SPOT THE MISTEAK
October 2007 This story appeared on the BBC website and the national press today. What’s wrong with it? My 9-year old daughter spotted it straight away (which is obviously more than the journalists did!). Clue: you’d only have to change one letter to get a more likely explanation. “Visitors to a Somerset stately home have been warned to [...]
22/04/2009
TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE – 1
October 2007 Pictures from The Guardian showing various ways in which tracking devices are used in studying animal movement and migration.
22/04/2009
TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE – 2
October 2007 Crow tool use, as you’ve never seen it before! Videos from Oxford group who strapped miniature cameras onto crows in New Caledonia and watched how they made tools out of bits of twig, and what they used them for. There’s an excellent summary on the BBC website, together with links to all the videos. The original [...]
