Caught in My Web: Mind-Altering Substances

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons

Drunken birds have gone viral this week! For this edition of Caught in My Web, we wonder if animals alter their mental states like people do.

1. Drunk Minnesotan birds are flying into windows! At least that is what the viral story says. But the truth may be a bit more measured. As the Police Chief of Gilbert, Minnesota says, “It sounds like every bird in our town is hammered, and that’s not the case.” Read the real story here.

2. But do wild animals really drink alcohol? Not in the way that we do, maybe, but many consume overly fermented fruits. Some have developed a tolerance to the high alcohol content, others, not so much. Just ask this poor drunk moose that got herself stuck in a tree after eating too many fermented apples.

3. But it’s not just fermented fruits that get animals drunk. Some fish can make their own alcohol to help them survive a long winter under the ice.

4. What about the effects of other mind-altering substances on animals? Ever wonder what kind of web a spider would make on different drugs? In 1948, a zoologist at the University of Tubingen in Germany by the name of H.M. Peters did.

5. Octopuses are normally very solitary creatures… that is, unless they are given ecstasy. Apparently, even octopuses seek social interactions when they take the common party drug.

Caught in My Web: We Are Primates

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons

If the news cycle these days has you wondering about our own humanity, take a moment to reflect on our primate nature. For this edition of Caught in My Web, let's explore primate behavior in the news.

1. Elizabeth Preston at Discover writes about lemur "stink flirting" in High-Ranking Male Primates Keep Wafting Their Sex Stink at Females, Who Hate It.

2. Janelle Weaver discusses how primates grant favors for their own social benefit at Nature in Monkeys Go Out on a Limb to Show Gratitude.

3. Roxanne Khamsi at NewScientist reports that Envious Monkeys Can Spot a Fair Deal.

4. Writing for The Verge, Angela Chen explains how we discovered that bonobos prefer to befriend bullies in For Bonobos, Nice Guys Finish Last.

5. In Those Lying Apes, Dale Peterson of Psychology Today discusses chimpanzee deception.

Sound familiar?

Caught in My Web: Marine Technology

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons

For this edition of Caught in My Web, allow yourself to be amazed both by the range and depth of behaviors of marine animals, and by the incredible technologies we have used to learn these things.

1. Penguincams show that Gentoo penguins “talk” to one another while foraging and you can see some of the penguincam footage here.

2. Scientists built an 8-foot touchscreen for the dolphins at the National Aquarum in Baltimore and discovered they like to play “Whack-an-Angelfish”.

3. Using audio-recording tags, we learned that mother and baby humback whales “whisper” to one another to avoid predators.

4. Scientists created virtual reality holodeck for zebrafish.

5. Thanks to the fact that zebrafish larvae are transparent, scientists have discovered a way to image brain activity in an animal as it is behaving in real time. Humans may be cool enough to have developed this technology, but now we know that zebrafish have developed predator eversion strategies when they are still larvae.

What will we come up with next?

Caught in My Web: Animals of the California Fires

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons

The current California wildfires have been rapidly destroying livelihoods, lifestyles and lives. The damage is horrific and recovery will take time, effort, and lots of support. When fires of this magnitude happen, what happens with our animal friends? We explore this with this edition of Caught in My Web.

1. Sarah Zielinski from National Geographic wrote a very informative article about how wildfires affect wild animals.

2. But while wild animals often have the freedom and abilities to escape the worst effects of fire, those protected in sanctuaries generally do not and have to evacuate.

3. Domesticated farm animals also need to seek refuge, and meeting the needs for large numbers of large animals can be a challenge.

4. Many people have been forced to flee so quickly that they lost contact with their beloved pets. But here is a heartwarming story of two brothers that returned to find their home destroyed and their beloved dog, Izzy, wagging her tail from the rubble.

5. But life does not pause when disaster strikes. Amid the wildfires, the Santa Rosa Wildlife Preserve welcomed the addition of a new baby Nile lechwe (an endangered species of antelope), who is healthy and strong. Their press release states, "It is easy to focus on the darkness in times of trouble but hopefully, stories like ours of a baby born in the midst of disaster, will remind us to see the light".

Do you want to do something to help the animals affected by the California fires? Here is how.

Caught in My Web: Spiders!

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons

Spiders creep most of us out. But let’s face it: they are pretty darn amazing! For this edition of Caught in My Web, we appreciate our 8-legged friends.

1. Did you know that sea spiders use their gut as a heart?

2. And lace sheet weaver spiders make optical illusion webs to lure nocturnal moths.

3. Even our run-of-the-mill spiders are pretty amazing, when you really look at them. Watch this amazing timelapse of a garden orb web spider building a web:

4. Portia, the spider-hunting spider, is a genius with super-powers:

5. And researchers at the National University of Singapore have now found that personality affects how these smart spiders hunt.

Caught in My Web: Animal Reactions to A Solar Eclipse

Animation by Locutus Borg at Wikimedia Commons.

A solar eclipse is a rare event that can have dramatic effects not only on us people, but on animals as well. For this edition of Caught in My Web, we think about how animals may respond to such a rare celestial event.

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons.

1. National Geographic shares many ways animals are known to behave in strange ways in response to a solar eclipse.

2. Much of the effect of an eclipse on animal behavior is utter confusion, but many groups will be watching animals to see how they respond.

3. Researchers at the University of Nebraska will be collecting behavior data on GPS-tagged red-tailed hawks to see how the solar eclipse affects them.

4. Some nature centers are studying animal behavior during the eclipse.

5. If you found any animals that freaked out so badly as to injure themselves, check here for advice.

Caught in My Web: Ants Teach Us That Societal Cooperation is Possible

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons.

Societies are made up of lots of individuals, which each have different needs, perspectives, strengths and weaknesses. Cooperating with many individuals may have great benefits, but also poses giant challenges, even for a species as bright as our own. Humble ants may have some useful insight for us - They are masters of cooperation. So for this edition of Caught in My Web, we observe the inspirational societal cooperation of ants.

1. At Inspiring Science, Sedeer el-Showk explains how ants coordinate their foraging expeditions to maximize efficiency, despite the fact that they don't have a leader telling them what to do, when to do it and how to do it.

2. This video from Nature Communications shows ants working together to move a giant (to them) Cheerio.

3. Ben Hooper at UPI shares a video with us of a fire ant colony that responded to flooding in Louisiana by clinging together to form an ant life-raft.

And this video shows ants going even further, using their bodies to create a floating bridge for other foraging ants to cross.

4. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology explain how ants form these rafts and demonstrate how they all stay dry.

5. At neuroecology, Adam J. Calhoun discusses how colony differences in foraging behavior can be passed down to new colonies. So maybe, those of us that figure this cooperation thing out can share the advice with the rest of us.

Caught in My Web: Perplexing Animal Behaviors

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons.

Sometimes animals behave in such an odd manner, that even the animal behaviorists aren't sure what the heck they are doing or why. So for this edition of Caught in My Web, we just wonder.

1. Last month, a dog was hit and killed by a car. His fellow doggy-companion then used his nose to bury him. Was this a funeral? Is this just canine burying behavior? We don't know, but it's been seen before. This video is from 2013:

And here is another from 2015:

2. Have you seen this video of turkeys circling a dead cat?

3. An African elephant approaches a white rhino with a branch across his nose. Was he trying to play or was he bring aggressive? Either way, the rhino wasn't taking any chances. Watch the exchange here.

4. A South American Magellanic penguin swims 5,000 miles every year to be reunited with the man who saved his life. Read the heartwarming story here.

5. An octopus inflates itself like a giant balloon across the ocean floor and scientists can't agree if it is hunting or showing defense behavior. What do you think?

Think You're Stressed Out? At Least You're Not THIS Guy!

It's a stressful time for many of us, and you may feel like life is eating you alive, but at least you're not this poor snake who is having the worst day of his life:

And for some hilarious commentary, check this out.

Caught in My Web: Insights on Professional Conferences

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons.

We are approaching conference season. If you plan on attending a professional conference for the first time or for the umpteenth time, this edition of Caught in My Web should provide you with some helpful tips, strategies and stories.

1. Hilda Bastian at PLOS Blogs gives 7 tips for women at science conferences here (although these tips are good for everyone).

2. Jordan Gaines Lewis gives her personal insight from presenting her research at the 2016 AAAS Meeting at Gaines, on Brains.

3. On TEDBlog, Jedidah Isler reflects on this photo of herself with her colleague friends at the TED2015 conference.

An impressive group of professionals show each other mutual support at
this global conference about Technology, Entertainment and Design.

4. Felicity Muth blogs about her experience at the Animal Behavior Society Conference at her Scientific American Blog, Not bad science.

5. Before you present your research, consider these insights on the science of persuasion:

Caught in My Web: What the WHAT?

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia Commons.

For this edition of Caught in My Web, we just wonder.

1. Scientists confirm that zebra stripes are not for camouflage… or even to help recognize one another. Anyone got another idea?

2. Want to surf in the ocean without fear of sharks? A shark deterrent wet suit is explained in this TED talk.

3. The woolly mammoth may be brought back from extinction in just a few years!

4. Gorilla treetop slumber antics were caught on tape for the first time.

5. Some towns wake up covered in giant spider webs. Here's why.

Caught in My Web: All About Dogs

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia.

For this edition of Caught in My Web, we celebrate our wonderful canine companions.

1. Nina Golgowski at HuffPost Science explains research that shows that dogs give treats to their doggy friends, but not to doggy strangers.

2. Rafael Mantesso's wife left him and took everything but the dog and the empty white apartment. Rafael found inspiration in his predicament and created some of the most wonderful photos ever! Check them out here.

3. Let puppies teach you about complexity theory in this TED talk by Nicolas Perony.

4. Virginia Hughes at National Geographic shares research that shows that dog brains process voice information similarly to our own.

5. And just for fun, here is Bella the dog singing “Jingle Bells”:

Caught in My Web: The Intelligence and Creativity of Crows, Octopuses, Monkeys, Fish and Dogs

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia.

For this edition of Caught in My Web, we marvel at animal intelligence.

1. Joshua Klein talks about crow intelligence and their potential for training in this fun TED talk.

2. Jason Goldman at io9 explains an amazing discovery that Atlantic cod can also innovate to solve problems.

3. Sarah Williams at Science explains research out of Harvard that shows that untrained rhesus monkeys can do math and we can use this to learn about how we think.

4. A veined octopus shows off his imagination as he creates a “hiding” place:

5. And last, but not least, three shelter dogs were taught to drive! Here are the results:

Caught in My Web: Funky "New" Species

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia.

Given the rate of extinction of creatures great and small, you may be surprised to learn that we discover about 18,000 new species every year! For this edition of Caught in My Web, we explore some of these new-to-us species.

1. Jessica Schmerler explains how animals are classified and named and has a fun slideshow of 2014's top 10 interesting animals at Scientific American.

2. Jane Lee at National Geographic talks about a newly discovered deep sea anglerfish with big teeth, spikes on its snout and a crazy-looking lure on the top of its head!

3. Justine Alford at IFLScience! shows us a newly discovered species of peacock spider.

The male dons a blue mask is is about as cuddly as a spider gets. Check out his dance here:

4. Stephanie Pappas at livescience shows us an adorable newly discovered jelly-bean sized masked frog.

5. Against conventional wisdom, a newly discovered species of frogs gives birth to live young! Dr. Dolittle at ScienceBlogs tells us all about it.

Caught in My Web: Online Animal Behavior Resources

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia.

I often receive questions from readers on how to find out more about a particular topic: How do baboon troops make decisions? Do other species have slaves? Where can I learn more about how hormones affect behavior? In addition to this site, there are many online resources out there to learn more about animal behavior. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. The Conversation is one of my all-time favorite news and information sources. It is a news website with articles on practically every topic that are written by the academic experts that study them. They have a team of editors to help with the journalistic process and writing, resulting in articles that are fascinating, understandable and incredibly informed and accurate. The Conversation launched originally in Australia in 2011. It has since launched regional versions in the UK in 2013, in the US in 2014, and in Africa in 2015. You can search by topic, and their animal behavior articles can be found here.

2. The Nature Education Knowledge Project has a number of articles covering a wide range of topics in animal behavior at basic, intermediate and advanced levels. The Nature Education Knowledge Project was a project by Scitable, a free online teaching/learning source that has high quality educational articles, videos, blogs and other resources in the sciences. Scitable is produced by the Nature Publishing Group (which also publishes journals and magazines such as Nature and Scientific American).

3. Alberto Redondo Villa from University of Córdoba in Spain has a fantastic web-TV channel on animal behavior. Check it out here.

4. Isabella Rossellini, Italian model, actress and filmmaker, has several incredible series of short (1-5 minute) videos on animal sexual behavior in which she plays a different species in each video. The original, called Green Porno, was followed by Seduce Me and Mammas. If you haven't seen it yet, it is a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. Here is one on earthworm sex:

5. If you are interested in taking a free college-level course on the topic, The University of Melbourne offers an animal behavior course (called “Animal Behaviour”, because they’re Australian) at Coursera. Learn more about the course and the next available dates here.

Caught in My Web: Ants as a Liquid, Beautiful Bees, Ant Zombies, Tumbling Spiders and More Insect Oddities

Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia.

For this edition of Caught in My Web, we explore all kinds of creepy crawly weirdness.

1. Ant colonies have the amazing property of being able to act both as a solid and as a liquid. IFL Science! and the New York Times highlight how the physics of ants can inspire the production of self-healing structures.

2. From Wired: This fly species invades ant brains… then pop their heads off!

3. This Moroccan spider tumbles away from danger, likely crippling the predator with laughter:

4. National Geographic shares some of the most beautiful images of bees that you will ever see.

5. This TED insect playlist includes 11 talks on everything from firefly love to robotic insects.

Caught in My Web: Memory Regeneration, Fish Sex, and the Physics of Swimming

For this edition of Caught in My Web, we explore the science of swimming and other underwater oddities.

1. If you are pondering great questions in life, such as "How is swimming different between a sperm and a sperm whale?", then you are in luck. The physics of how size influences the ability to swim is explained by Aatish Bhatia on TEDEd.

2. Neil Hammerschlag, a shark scientist and blogger for National Geographic, discusses the use of satellite tags for shark research.

3. Phys.org explains the science of side-to-side fish movement.

4. Robert Krulwich at NPR talks about headless planarians that regenerate their heads and their memories.

5. And the Beckman Institute tells you why Nemo would have become a girl if he had not found his dad:

Caught in My Web: Creepy Animals, Animal Disguises, Pet-Love After Death, and Ebola

For this Halloween edition of Caught in My Web, we check out what the web has to say about creepy animal stories.


1. The CDC addresses questions about whether pets can get ebola

2. Julie Hecht, the author of Dog Spies at Scientific American blogs explores the love between dogs and their owners from beyond the grave

3. BuzzFeed presents 8 surprisingly creepy animals.

4. Dr. Doolittle at ScienceBlogs talks about the eyeless Mexican cavefish

5. Sara Mynott at Saltwater Science, a blog at Nature’s Scitable blog network, explains flounder disguises (they’re not just for Halloween)

Caught in My Web: The Secret Lives of the Animals Around Us



Image by Luc Viatour at Wikimedia.

Most of us are surrounded by animals that we take for granted every day. We see them sleep and eat and clean themselves, and then sleep again. But our pets and yard-critters have secret and interesting lives. This week in Caught in My Web, we explore some of the lesser-known secrets of the animals around us.

1. Your dog poops in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field.

2.  Your cat is just using you.

3. Some of the fish in your fish tank may change sex:

4. The birds at your birdfeeders have personalities, and some are liars.

5. Squirrels are the masters of… well, just about everything.

Caught in My Web: Chimpanzee Memory, Beatbox-Dancing Cockroach Legs, Cute Animals Behaving Badly, Behavioral Catastrophe, and Scientifically Accurate Spider Man

This week in Caught in My Web, I share some quirky web pages that open our eyes to some aspects of animal behavior that we don't often think about:

1. Lee Rannals describes on redOrbit research that discovered that chimpanzees use long-term memory of how various trees produced fruit in previous years to forage today.

2. On TEDEd, Greg Gage hooks up a cockroach leg to a device that allows us to hear nerve impulses! And if that wasn’t cool enough, he then gets the cockroach leg to dance to a human beatbox. You have to see this.

3. Cute animals behaving badly. Need I say more?

4. Animals will sometimes continue their behaviors even when they end in catastrophe. George Dvorsky at IO9 describes 8 of the most deadly.

5. And if ADHD's Scientifically Accurate DuckTales was too much for you, DO NOT WATCH Scientifically Accurate Spider Man: