How naked mole rat queens stop rivals reproducing

Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) queens produce a chemical that prevents other females in their colony from reproducing. The smell of isopropyl myristate — which is also a common ingredient in skincare products — alters the production of hormones in other females, which traps them in a prepubescent-like state. Researchers found that the chemical alone can maintain the status quo in mole-rat colonies when the queen is not physically present. The study solves the “longstanding mystery” of why only one female in a naked mole rat colony reproduces, says behavioural scientist Melissa Holmes.

Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees

Bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) can suss out how to use a tool to complete a set task without explicit training. Bees were shown a ceiling-mounted artificial flower, which contained a tasty sucrose treat, and then separately, a styrofoam ball. Then, the insects were put into an environment with both. The bees worked out that they could roll the ball under the flower for a leg-up to their reward. The insects were never explicitly shown that they could use the ball for this purpose, which suggests they have the cognitive capacity to problem-solve.

Sunbirds suck nectar with supple tongues

Sunbirds (Nectariniidae) drink nectar from flowers by generating suction with their tongues — the first example of a vertebrate creating suction without changing the shape of its mouth. As they drink, the birds repeatedly press their tongue against the roof of their beak and then release it. This motion flattens and re-forms a v-shaped groove along the length of the tongue, which researchers believe creates suction that pulls nectar into the birds’ mouths.

Sibling Rivalry in Baboons

Young chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) vie for their mother’s attention more often when she’s grooming one of their siblings than when she’s free, which suggests that they get jealous of one another. Researchers found that the monkeys were more likely to interrupt their mother if she was grooming a younger sibling or one of the same sex. Their tactics included tantrums, attempts to physically come between their mother and sibling, and even tricks to lure their sibling away from their mother and take their place.

Orcas and dolphins join forces to hunt

Orcas and Pacific white-sided dolphins have been spotted working together to hunt. The dolphins seem to act as ‘scouts’ to help find Chinook salmon — a huge fish that would be too big for them to eat on their own. When the whales tear the fish to pieces, the dolphins get the leftovers. “These whales are top salmon hunting specialists,” says marine scientist and study co-author Sarah Fortune. “To see them following dolphins as though they were leaders was really counterintuitive — and really exciting.”

Sick baby ants sacrifice themselves to save their colony

A worker ant pupa (Lasius neglectus) that’s infected with a fungus will send out a chemical alarm that it must be destroyed to contain the disease. Researchers found that the selfless pupae secrete compounds onto their bodies, not a scent that wafts through the colony, to make sure they, and not their uninfected neighbours, are killed. Young worker ants infected with fungus don’t raise the same molecular red flag, which suggests it’s an intentional, pupae-specific response.

Blogger Comments:

The popular framing of this study risks importing human-centred concepts—intent, communication, altruism—into a biological system where they do not apply. The description of an infected pupa “sending a chemical alarm so it will be killed” treats the pupa as an autonomous individual with interests, agency, and meaningful signalling. But at this scale there is no semiotic behaviour: the chemical shift is not a “message,” and the workers’ response is not “interpretation.” It is non-symbolic coordination within a biological value system.

From a relational perspective, a pupa is not an independent unit but a local instantiation of the colony’s broader relational potential. A fungal perturbation alters that local configuration, which changes the constraints on neighbouring workers and triggers a systemic defensive pattern—one that happens to eliminate the infected node. Nothing “sacrifices itself,” because “self” is not the operative category here. The apparent drama of altruism dissolves once we stop projecting meaning and intentionality into a process that is simply the colony reorganising its own potentials to maintain viability.

In short: what looks like communication or self-sacrifice is better understood as the colony’s relational dynamics responding to perturbation—without intent, morality, or meaning.

Some bottlenose dolphins use sponges to hunt fish

Some bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) use a sponge to flush camouflaged fish out from the seafloor. The sponge protects their nose while the animals probe the sand for hidden meals, but there’s a catch: it interferes with the echolocation the dolphins use to navigate. The trade-off might explain why the skill is so rare — researchers found that sponge hunting is unique to a small pod of dolphins in Western Australia.

https://apnews.com/video/why-dolphins-use-sponges-to-catch-fish-233df1f6bb69467993f2cb34ba756c31

The first invertebrate to be observed using celestial navigation for long-distance journeys

Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) use the stars to navigate — an ability previously identified only in humans, birds, and possibly seals. After emerging from their cocoons, the moths fly hundreds of kilometres across Australia to caves in the Australian Alps — caves they have never visited. Researchers tested the insects in a moth ‘flight simulator’ and found that they have two internal compasses: one using visual cues from the stars and another that relies on Earth’s magnetic field. The two skills act as fail-safes — the moths have an electromagnetic compass for cloudy nights, and a celestial one to use during events such as magnetic storms.

A grassland bird eavesdrops on prairie dog calls to keep itself safe from predators

Long-billed curlews (Numenius americanus), a North American bird species, eavesdrop on the barks of prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) for intel on the approach of predators. Prairie dogs have specific calls that alert their neighbours if a predator is closing in by land or by air. When nesting curlews hear these barks, they press their bodies to the ground, which makes them “essentially invisible on the Plains”. Without the cues, researchers were able to get a remote-controlled ‘predator’ within 16 metres of the birds before they sensed danger.

Capuchin monkeys kidnap howler monkey babies

Young male capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator) have been observed ‘kidnapping’ infant howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata coibensis) in Panama.

Blogger Comments:

Posing as a parent may reduce a male's chance of be attacked by other males when foraging for food.

Chimpanzee drumming may give clues to the roots of rhythm

Wild chimpanzees drum on tree roots in specific rhythms to communicate across long distances. These rhythms differ between populations — western chimps (Pan troglodytes verus) thump in evenly spaced beats, while their eastern counterparts (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) take alternating long and short pauses after beats. A separate study explored how Western chimps drum by throwing stones against trees. Researchers suggest the behaviours are influenced by the social dynamics of the animals’ groups, and could hint at the evolutionary origins of musicality.

Mouse-to-mouse resuscitation

Mice that find another mouse unconscious will attempt to resuscitate it in a similar manner to people giving first aid. Researchers found that if a mouse encountered an anaesthetised friend, it would begin a grooming routine focused on the head. If that didn’t rouse their companion, the rescuer began to bite around the mouth and pull at their tongue. This behaviour was more forceful in mice that had spent more time with the unconscious individual, and resulted in a quicker recovery time.

This fish’s legs are made for walking — and tasting the sea floor

The northern sea robin (Prionotus carolinus) uses its six legs to stroll the ocean bottom and to taste the sea floor for buried prey. A detailed study of the unusual appendages has shed more light on how they help make the fish a spectacularly good hunter, and how P. carolinus repurposed its legs as sensory organs — as well as the evolutionary history of legs in the broader sea-robin family (Triglidae).

Octopuses and fish caught on camera hunting as a team

Octopuses and fish have been caught on camera teaming up to hunt for prey. Researchers caught 13 instances of the cross-species collaboration over 120 hours of footage, showing a big blue octopus (Octopus cyanea) working with different fish species to capture meals. Each of these scenes hinted at complex group dynamics, with different species adopting different roles.

The crustaceans that smell their way home

Tiny crustaceans called mysids (Hemimysis margalefi) can use ‘smell’ to find their way back from the open sea to the caves where they live. When placed in Y-shaped containers in which one arm contains seawater from their home cave, the shrimp-like creatures tended to opt for the water they were used to. Researchers showed that water from each cave had a unique chemical signature, which they suspect the mysids are using to find their way back in low-light conditions.

Spider makes fireflies flash as bait

Orb-weaving spiders (Araneus ventricosus) make trapped male Absocondita terminalis fireflies flash like females to tempt more insects into their web. The spiders bite and wrap a flashing male firefly using a different technique than the one used on other prey. This method seems to change the repeating light sequence of the male firefly — which can still flash after being bitten — to one that resembles a female’s single pulse. The signal seems to tempt more males to their demise.

Bumblebees show behaviour previously thought to be unique to humans

Researchers who set up a confusing puzzle box with a sweet reward revealed that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) can learn skills from others that they could not acquire alone — a behaviour thought to be unique to people. After showing that no lone bee could work out how to solve the puzzle, the scientists painstakingly trained nine bees how to do it. The trained bees became demonstrators for other bees, who watched, learnt and won their reward.

Same-Sex Behaviour Evolved in Many Mammals to Reduce Conflict, Study Suggests

Same-sex sexual behaviour probably evolved independently several times in mammals as a way to smooth out social relationships when they started living in groups. An analysis of more than 6,000 mammalian species found that about 4% exhibited same-sex behaviours — including courtship, mating and forming long-term bonds — and these were particularly prevalent in non-human primate species. The researchers caution that the findings can’t explain the evolution of sexual orientation in humans.

Blogger Comments:

Firstly, evolution doesn't happen 'in order to' (purpose); it happens 'because' (reason).

Secondly, the only thing that survives from generation to generation is genes, and genes are passed on through heterosexual behaviour, not homosexual behaviour, so homosexual behaviour does not 'evolve' in species through natural selection. 

Instead, homosexual orientation can be explained developmentally through chromosomal crossover, or at least, some process of genetic recombination. That is, if a child inherits genes that probabilise sexual attraction from its opposite sex parent, then attraction to its same sex will be probabilised, as when a male inherits from the female, and the female from the male.

Brainless box jellies learn from experience

Jellyfish have demonstrated that you don’t need a centralised nervous system to learn by association. Tiny Caribbean box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) can be trained to associate the feeling of bumping into an obstacle with a visual cue, and to use the information to avoid future collisions. Learning happens in the jellies’ rhopalia — structures containing rudimentary eyes plus nerve centres that control swimming pulses.

A fish can sense another’s fear

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) become afraid when they see other members of their species in distress. This fear mirroring is regulated by oxytocin: fish that lack the genes to produce and absorb the hormone fail to detect others’ anxiety but regain the ability when they receive an oxytocin injection. Oxytocin has the same effect in mice, and is known to affect humans’ social responses, meaning it’s likely that this empathy mechanism evolved many millions of years ago, before fish and mammals diverged on the tree of life.