Animal Cognition

Predatory birds have been making the headlines lately with hunting tactics that seem downright villainous – and eerily human. Raptors have been spotted playing mind games with their prey, imprisoning them, and even setting fires to drive their prey out from cover. […]

Fashioning spears and wielding them to hunt – these sound like typical activities of our human ancestors. But the surprising fact is that not only are tool-use and tool-building carried out by other animal species, they’re done in the context of hunting as well. Chimpanzees in the Fongoli savanna of Senegal have been observed

Crows have become rather famous for their cleverness. They have been observed using and making a variety of tools,1 and also seem to be able to understand the basic concept of cause and effect.2 Dr. Alex Taylor specializes in corvid cognition, and is researching the problem solving abilities of New Caledonian crows. In one of […]

You may have seen the recent photos of a mischievous octopus stealing a camera, turning the tables by snapping a few shots of the photographer.1 While it isn’t known exactly why the octopus chose to nab the cam, not all instances of octopuses grabbing objects have such unclear motivations. The veined octopus (also known as the coconut […]