#animal behaviour

[salpho]

I'm not lying when I say that I think these faces from Spore are the most accurate animal emotions I've ever seen. Btw. Spore Gets it. You could edit a video of any animal and it will Most Likely line up with one of these faces even if their emotions change.

Edit. If someone else says "where's angry face" one more time I'm gonna start setting up cartoon traps like falling pianos and dynamite and biiiiig sledgehammers that go BONK and you go ourrghh then SPLAT and FALL DOWN.

[prokopetz]

I've seen posts going around claiming that petting animals is basically tricking them into thinking they're being groomed, and it's bugging me because, like, there's no trickery afoot. Petting and scritching are grooming activities. They help to dislodge loose fur and foreign objects and more evenly distribute protective oils, among other things. Primates are social groomers, and the human impulse to scritch is the legacy of our primate ancestors. We see an animal we like, even a dangerous one, and the monkey brain says "groom that thing".

[violetsandshrikes]

Really cool write up that links to the original paper that just came out this year (2025)!

This is a really cool example of foraging innovation.

[teaboot]

Question about cat behaviour, if anyone knows the answer

Sometimes when my boy Ollie is bored, he’ll attack my feet. I usually take this as a sign he needs something to do, and redirect his attention to a toy or a game or other activity. This works as intended 99% of the time.

That remaining 1% is what I’m having trouble with.

It goes like this: He gets a look about him like he’s thinking about biting me. I go to move away like I usually do, and he latches on- much harder than usual- and starts biting and kicking. I pull him off, set him down, and tell him “no” in a clear, firm voice- the one I use to keep him off the hot stove, so he can get I’m being serious.

But what happens is, he puts his ears back- like he’s angry or scared- his pupils blow out huge, and he sinks low to the ground with fur flat and his tail swishing like he’s agitated or annoyed. Then he’ll keep himself angled slightly away from me and let out a tiny, squeaking “meow”. And it sounds almost exactly like he’s crying for food.

If I turn my back to walk away, he’ll leap on and start biting the hell out of me again. If I try to pick him up, same issue.

So I’ll end up just standing there saying “no”, and he’ll stay mostly-frozen but creep slowly towards my nearest limb and make those sad little noises. If I’m quiet too long, he’ll speed up and bite me. Every time I say “no”, he shrinks back a little before making that meow and moving forwards again.

All I’ve figured out I can do is keep saying “no” and back up slowly while making eye contact, like you do with cougars, till I can close a door between us and give him time to settle down.

I’m pretty good with cats, but I have no idea what he’s trying to do here, and his body language is confusing.

The ears are giving me “fear” or “fight”, the eyes and tail are going “agitated” or “excited”, the posture is saying “apprehensive”, the slow creeping towards me feels like “hunting”, and the tone and pitch of the sound he’s answering me with is the same one he does for “persuasive/want NOW/ignoring me”.

And like I said, this isn’t frequent, and usually playing with toys or doing something interesting distracts him perfectly fine.

So… am I missing something? Am I doing something wrong? Or is he GENUINELY just absolutely desperate to wrestle with his dad? I don’t want to encourage him attacking me out of nowhere, but I don’t want to let him down if that’s part of the stimulation he needs.

What is he trying to communicate, what does he need, and how can I provide it for him without encouraging aggression?

Internet research is getting me nowhere and I’m at a bit of a loss.

If anyone has any insight, I’d appreciate an assist.

Thank

[ocean-sunfish-hater]

I've always been fascinated by cooperation and communal living in the animal kingdom. There's so many reasons that species will live communally, and not all of them are because they particularly want to.

Maras, a large rodent species, are monogamous but will put their babies into a creche. One couple will stay to look after the babies whilst the rest of the parents go and graze for the day. If the sentries spot danger, the babies run into the burrows, safe and sound. It's a really effective system!

ID: A baby and adult mara touching noses with each other. They are rabbit-like in body shape, with fur that is a gradient from grey to reddish-brown.

The thing is, maras hate each other. They really, REALLY loathe being around other maras that are not their mate. They are NOT very sociable animals.

So when it's pickup time at the daycare, things can turn ugly very quickly. Whilst they may tolerate being in the same vicinity as another adult mara, there's only so much they can take before things go south. Punches. Kicks. Even the yeeting of babies. Their commensalism hangs by a thread, and they are constantly gnawing at it. But the creche system is so effective that they will continue doing this, litter after litter, year after year.

I think this is a really interesting example of how social behaviours can arise even when the animals are themselves not very tolerant of each other. It goes to show how useful working together can be, even if the thought of being in the same geographical area as someone else can send you into a blind rage.

[enbycrip]

Scientifically, cats literally relate to humans in at least a partially parental way.

Making biscuits on you is a kitten behaviour. Cats learned to make cries that have elements of human infant sounds as part of their self-domestication. They literally seek a relationship with us with features of parenthood to it.

Yes, they can absolutely tell the difference between human children and adults and also co-parent with us on kittens AND human infants - that’s why many cats will put up with clumsiness and somewhat unwieldy love from their human’s babies and toddlers that they would never tolerate from an adult human, because that is *their* giant hairless kitten too, and they *get* that kittens are clumsy and playful and don’t mean harm.

Feral cats live in colonies and have complex social relationships. They can react to us as adults *and* as parents, because that’s a common situation in colonies.

I hate when people who, frankly tend to not understand animal social behaviour even slightly, denigrate our relationships with our animal companions. It’s too frequently just anthrocentric BS; this idea that humans aren’t another animal too and that one of our species behaviours isn’t seeking community, including with other species as well as our own.

None of this means it’s okay to treat a cat like a human baby, or worse yet like a toy. The point is that cats are autonomous social beings like us, even if the way they manifest that is different from the majority of humans or dogs, and having a form of a parental relationship with your cat is absolutely fine, same as having a sibling relationship, or a roommate relationship, and people who denigrate others for regarding their animal companions as autonomous beings with their own needs, personalities and emotions are being shitty.

[kristo-flowers]

Watching the dolphins. Funchal, Madeira

[phylogenyinfocus]

Juvenile male lion we spotted in Kenya. Such a cutie with his baby spots and whispy mane growing in!