Welcome to The Salon! I’m Mike Retto, and today we’re diving into some amazing scientific studies about animals. Let’s start with a parrot named Alex, who was trained by scientist Irene Pepperberg for 30 years. Alex could answer questions about objects, their size, shape, color, and material. He even invented his own word for apples, calling them “bener” because they tasted like bananas but looked like cherries to him.
In one study, capuchin monkeys were given small silver discs to use as money. They learned to trade these tokens for treats, like upgrading from a grape to a Jell-O cube. The monkeys even figured out how to save when prices dropped, just like humans do!
Gray squirrels are also pretty clever. Researchers found that they store their nuts in different places, similar to how people use different bank accounts. This helps them access food throughout the winter.
Black bears at the Mobile Zoo in Alabama showed they could sort of count. Researchers taught them to choose between two sets of dots on a screen. One bear picked the larger set, while the others chose the smaller one. Although they didn’t exactly count, they did better than expected.
Ever wonder why pandas are so adorable? Scientists say their big cheeks, noses, and wobbly walk remind us of babies. Despite their size, pandas have a slow metabolism, like a three-toed sloth, which is why they conserve energy.
At the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., a young elephant named Kandula learned to use a pulley system to get fruit. He figured out how to move heavy cubes to bring the fruit closer.
Dr. Christopher Anderson from Brown University studied chameleons and found that the smallest ones have the longest tongues compared to their body size. A chameleon’s tongue can be up to two and a half times its body length!
Most kangaroos are left-handed, using their left hands for feeding and grooming. This is similar to how humans have a preference for one hand over the other.
Koalas hug trees to stay cool in hot weather. They usually hang out at the bottom of the tree where it’s cooler, and in winter, they move higher up.
Zebras have more stripes in warmer areas, which helps them regulate their temperature. Giraffes have long necks, which evolved to help them reach high food and win fights. Males with longer necks often win and attract mates.
In a study with life-size plush lions, female lions preferred those with dark manes, while males challenged those with lighter or shorter manes. A long dark mane seems to be an advantage.
River otters have 22 distinct calls for communication. They use these sounds to signal changes in direction and warn of danger. Baby otters have 11 different sounds, similar to how human babies babble.
Lemurs in large social groups, like ring-tailed lemurs, are more likely to take food that isn’t being watched. Ravens are also smart; they work faster to hide their food when they know they’re being watched.
Birds fly in a V formation to save energy. A study found they time their wingbeats and swap leaders to make flying easier. Researchers also studied how birds react to eggs from other species using 3D-printed eggs.
Molting birds replace their feathers, which can take months. During this time, they tend to hide and act more carefully. Shore crabs can feel pain, reacting to mild shocks in experiments.
Archerfish catch insects by shooting water at them. Young archerfish learn this skill by watching others. A gray whale named Varvara traveled 14,000 miles in just 172 days, showcasing incredible endurance.
Horses can sense human emotions. In a study, they reacted to angry faces with increased heart rates and looked at the pictures with their left eye, a response to negative stimuli.
Dogs are loyal to their owners. In a study, dogs avoided taking food from an actor who refused to help their owner, showing they pay attention to human interactions.
Cats became domesticated as early humans bred those that enjoyed treats and being petted. Genetic studies show differences between wildcats and domestic cats, including genes related to enjoyment.
Bison vote on where to migrate by facing their bodies in the direction they want to go. Once a majority agrees, the herd moves in that direction, showing a form of animal democracy!
Thanks for joining me on this journey through the animal kingdom. Let me know your favorite animal in the comments. Mine is the Tibetan sand fox. And remember, always stay curious!
Imagine you are a scientist like Irene Pepperberg. Create a list of objects around your home or classroom and invent new words for them, just like Alex the parrot did with “bener” for apples. Share your new vocabulary with your classmates and see if they can guess the original objects.
Recreate the capuchin monkey experiment by setting up a classroom market. Use tokens as currency and assign different values to various treats or small items. Practice trading and saving, and discuss how this activity relates to human economics.
Design a game where you “store” different colored tokens in various locations around the classroom, similar to how squirrels hide their nuts. Later, try to remember where you placed each color. Discuss how this activity helps you understand animal behavior and memory.
Using simple materials like string, pulleys, and small weights, create a system to move an object from one place to another, inspired by Kandula the elephant. Work in teams to solve the problem and reflect on how animals use tools in nature.
In groups, simulate a bird V formation by walking in a line and taking turns leading. Pay attention to how energy is conserved and how teamwork plays a role. Discuss how this formation benefits birds during long migrations.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Hey there, I’m Mike Retto. Welcome to The Salon! This is a Mental Floss video. Did you know that a scientist named Irene Pepperberg kept a parrot for 30 years and trained it to effectively communicate? The parrot, Alex, was able to answer questions about objects and their size, shape, color, and material. Alex even invented his own words, like calling apples “bener,” possibly because they tasted like bananas to him but looked like cherries.
That’s just the first of many scientific studies and findings about animal behavior that I’m going to tell you about today. For example, there was a study of capuchin monkeys in which scientists gave them small silver discs and taught them to treat the discs as currency. They learned that they could upgrade their treats, like from a grape to a Jell-O cube, using the tokens. The researchers even manipulated snack prices, and the monkeys learned to stock up when prices dropped, similar to human behavior.
Speaking of money, it turns out that gray squirrels treat nuts like many humans treat their funds. According to research from the University of California, Berkeley, squirrels store their food in different locations, much like humans manage savings through various bank accounts. They bury nuts of varying qualities to ensure they can access them throughout winter.
If that sounds smart to you, you may be especially impressed with black bears, who can sort of count. At the Mobile Zoo in Alabama, researchers taught three bears to select between two sets of dots on computer screens, motivated by food. One bear was trained to select the bigger set, while the other two learned to select the smaller one. The researchers hesitated to say they taught the bears to count, but they performed better than expected.
Ever wonder why we think pandas are so adorable? Neuroscientists have examined their features—large cheeks, big noses, and the way they wobble. Experts believe these traits remind us of babies, making them especially appealing to our human brains. Researchers have also looked into why pandas are so lazy. A recent study tracked eight pandas, five captive and three wild, using GPS. They also examined the pandas’ waste to see how much energy they were expending. It turns out that despite their large bodies, pandas have a metabolism as slow as a three-toed sloth, which is why they conserve energy.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have motivated elephants. At the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., researchers set up a pulley system for a 7-year-old elephant named Kandula. It involved cables attached to heavy cubes and bamboo with fruit hanging off the cables. Kandula eventually learned to manipulate the cubes to pull the fruit closer.
At Brown University, Dr. Christopher Anderson studied the tongues of chameleons by slowing down video footage and measuring their length. He found that the smallest chameleons have the longest tongues proportional to their body size. In general, a chameleon’s tongue is as long as two body lengths, but in smaller chameleons, it can be almost two and a half times longer.
Most kangaroos are left-handed, generally using their left hands to feed and groom. This is significant because it’s similar to how humans have handedness, suggesting that such preferences evolve in mammals. Speaking of Australian animals, according to a study from the University of Melbourne, koalas hug trees to regulate their body temperature in hot weather. They’re usually found towards the bottom of the tree, where it’s cooler, and in winter, they often move higher up.
Zebras also know how to regulate their temperature. A study published in a 2015 issue of the journal Royal Society Open Science examined 16 different African zebra populations and found that in warmer places, they have more stripes. This led researchers to believe that the stripes help zebras regulate their temperature.
Another African animal with a prominent feature is the giraffe. You might wonder why they have such long necks. It turns out that giraffes evolved from species millions of years ago that likely had similarly long necks. There are two theories about why this trait is important: better access to food that’s high up and the ability to win fights, as males with longer necks tend to win and attract mates.
In one study conducted in the late 1990s, researchers created life-size plush lions and observed real lions interacting with them. Female lions were most attracted to the faux lions with dark manes, while male lions tried to pick fights with those that had lighter or shorter manes. So, having a long dark mane seems to be beneficial.
Moving on to river otters, a study published in 2014 found that they have 22 distinct calls, each with different meanings. Researchers theorized that they use these sounds to communicate changes in direction and warn others of danger. Infant otters have 11 different sounds, similar to how babies babble.
Another social animal is the lemur. Experts often study primates to better understand human behavior, and lemurs are interesting because their communities vary greatly in size. In one study, lemurs living in large social groups, like ring-tailed lemurs, were more likely to grab food that wasn’t being watched.
Ravens are also aware of when they’re being observed. Scientists kept 10 ravens in rooms connected by windows, allowing each bird to see another. Later, the windows were replaced with coverings that had small peepholes, which could be open or closed. The ravens learned to work faster to hide their food when they knew they could be seen.
Birds fly in a V formation for efficiency, creating a vortex with their combined wing power, making it easier for the group to travel. A 2014 study put sensors on bird wings and found that birds know a lot about aerodynamics. They maintain a precise formation, time their wingbeats, and even swap leaders.
Researchers have also studied how birds treat the eggs of other species. For instance, cowbirds often lay eggs in robins’ nests, leading to the robins tossing those eggs out. To learn more, researchers have used fake eggs for years, but 3D printing has enhanced this research. One study replicated the phenomenon by printing eggs that looked like cowbird eggs, which the robins treated the same way.
Lastly, scientists have wondered why molting puts birds in a bad mood. Every year, birds replace their feathers, which can take one to six months, depending on the species. In a 1998 study, researchers found that the Wood Thrush had trouble flying while molting, so they tended to hide out and act extra careful.
Let’s move on to underwater animals. A study published in a 2013 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology found that common shore crabs can feel pain, despite many believing they can’t due to their hard exterior. Researchers administered mild shocks to crabs, and they definitely reacted. Other research suggests they even remember pain.
The archerfish is an insect-eating fish that catches its prey by shooting water at it to make it fall into the water. Researchers at the University of Lüneburg studied how young archerfish gained the skills to accurately hit a target up to 2 meters away. They observed that one fish often did all the shooting while the others did nothing. However, when the dominant fish was removed, the others became just as proficient despite never practicing.
In another piece of research, a 9-year-old gray whale named Varvara traveled 14,000 miles in 172 days, going all the way from Russia to Baja California and back in less than half a year.
In a recent study, researchers had 28 horses look at photographs of humans with various facial expressions. When looking at images of angry people, the horses had increased heart rates and were more likely to peer at the picture with their left eye, a way they typically respond to negative stimuli. This might explain the origin of the saying about giving someone the side-eye.
Dogs are also attuned to humans. In a study published in 2015, researchers put owners and their dogs in a room with an actor. The owner would try to get something from a difficult container, and the actor would either help or refuse to help. Then, the actor would offer food to the dog. Dogs tended not to take food when the actor was unhelpful, suggesting they pay attention to how we interact with one another.
Finally, let’s discuss how big cats turned into little domesticated ones. According to an analysis of cat DNA, they were bred by early humans who isolated the cats that liked treats and being petted. In one study, 13 different important genes were noted between wildcats and domestic cats, including those associated with dopamine, which relates to treats and enjoyment from being petted.
I return to The Salon to tell you that bison vote on where to migrate. According to a study conducted by ecologist Amandine Ramos, European bison face their bodies in the direction they would like the herd to go, like towards water or a meadow, and other bison follow. Once the herd has a majority, they move in the chosen direction—bison capable of true direct democracy!
Thank you for watching Mental Floss video, made with the help of all these wonderful people. Let me know your favorite animal in the comments. I think mine is the highly suspicious Tibetan sand fox. And of course, don’t forget to be awesome!
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This version removes any informal language, potential errors, and maintains a more polished tone while preserving the original content’s essence.
Animals – Living organisms that feed on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous systems and able to respond rapidly to stimuli. – In biology class, we learned that animals can be found in almost every habitat on Earth.
Monkeys – Primates that are generally smaller and have a tail, known for their agility and intelligence. – Scientists study monkeys to understand more about human evolution and behavior.
Pandas – Large black-and-white bears native to China, known for their diet primarily consisting of bamboo. – Conservationists are working hard to protect pandas, as they are considered a vulnerable species.
Elephants – Large mammals with trunks, known for their intelligence, memory, and social structures. – Elephants play a crucial role in their ecosystems by helping to maintain the forest and savanna environments.
Kangaroos – Marsupials from Australia known for their powerful hind legs and ability to hop long distances. – Kangaroos are fascinating animals because they carry their young in a pouch until they are mature enough to survive outside.
Zebras – Wild African equids known for their distinctive black and white striped coats. – Biologists study zebras to understand how their stripes may help in camouflage or social interactions.
Otters – Semiaquatic mammals known for their playful behavior and ability to use tools to open shellfish. – Otters are often seen floating on their backs, using rocks to crack open clams and other shellfish.
Lemurs – Primates found only on the island of Madagascar, known for their large eyes and nocturnal habits. – Lemurs are important to their ecosystems because they help disperse seeds, which supports forest growth.
Birds – Warm-blooded vertebrates characterized by feathers, beaks, and laying hard-shelled eggs. – Birds are incredibly diverse, with species adapted to nearly every environment on the planet.
Cats – Small carnivorous mammals that are often kept as pets, known for their agility and independence. – In science, cats are studied for their unique ability to always land on their feet, a phenomenon known as the “righting reflex.”
