This is the Society’s highest award and is for “significant and original contributions by a professional zoologist to the development of zoology in the wider applications”. The Head of the Department of Zoology, Professor Michael Akam, has been awarded the Frink Medal by the Zoological Society of London. Michael Akam Department of Zoology School […]
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Empathy chimpanzees offer is key to understanding human engagement
New findings show that chimpanzees exhibit flexibility in their empathy, just as humans do. This may help explain the evolution of how and when humans engage with others and choose to offer flexibility, and how we can do so more.
Scientists spy on whales from space
Although whales are the biggest animals on the planet, scientists have found in difficult to count them. But a new study in PLOS ONE may change this: researchers tested the idea of counting whales using high resolution satellite imagery. Employing a single image from the WorldView2 satellite, scientists went about counting a pod of southern […]
Supergene defines butterfly patterns
Scientists have discovered the gene enabling multiple female morphs that give the Common Mormon butterfly its very tongue-in-cheek name. Doublesex, the gene that controls gender in insects, is also a mimicry supergene that determines diverse wing patterns in this butterfly, according to a recent study published in Nature. The study also shows that the supergene […]
Bright colors in nature a sure sign of toxicity—or is it?
Brightly colored prey generally signify danger in the form of toxins for the predator. Predators instinctively know that a brightly colored prey is a sign of bad news and not a suitable meal. Researchers at Michigan State University however are exploring how this evolved and in the process found some animals have actually only imitated […]
Elephants Can Tell Gender, Ethnicity in Human Voices
African elephants can differentiate between human languages and move away from those considered a threat.
Personality predicts social learning in wild monkeys: Bold or anxious baboons learn to solve tasks from other baboons
Baboons learn from other baboons about new food sources — but only if they are bold or anxious. The results suggest that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something previously ignored in animal cognition studies. Researchers examined how personality influenced whether baboons solved foraging tasks and whether they then demonstrated to […]
To boldly go – how personality predicts social learning in baboons
Working with a well-studied group of baboons in the Namibian desert, Dr Alecia Carter of the Department of Zoology set baboons learning tasks involving a novel food and a familiar food hidden in a cardboard box. Some baboons were given the chance to watch another baboon who already knew how to solve the task, while […]
Florida Wildlife Officials Release Rehabilitated Panther [Video]
Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) released a female panther Monday. The female panther was injured after being hit by a motor vehicle in Collier County last May.
Elephants recognise human voices
Elephants can work out ethnicity, gender and age from the sound of a human voice