tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/animal-behavioural-patterns-940/articlesAnimal behavioural patterns – The Conversation2023-11-13T13:33:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150352023-11-13T13:33:33Z2023-11-13T13:33:33ZClimate change is altering animal brains and behavior − a neuroscientist explains how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558492/original/file-20231108-17-uomc0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1998%2C1501&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Animal nervous systems may lose their adaptive edge with climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/melting-brain-royalty-free-image/1279693246">PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human-driven climate change is increasingly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0104">shaping the Earth’s living environments</a>. Rising temperatures, rapid shifts in rainfall and seasonality, and ocean acidification are presenting altered environments to many animal species. How do animals adjust to these new, often extreme, conditions?</p>
<p>Animal nervous systems play a central role in both enabling and limiting how they respond to changing climates. Two of my main research interests as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qFFX_9KiimwC&hl=en">biologist and neuroscientist</a> involve understanding how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271250">animals accommodate</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.06.004">temperature extremes</a> and identifying the forces that shape the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blx150">structure and function of</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-022-00873-5">animal nervous systems</a>, especially brains. The intersection of these interests led me to explore the effects of climate on nervous systems and how animals will likely respond to rapidly shifting environments.</p>
<p>All major functions of the nervous system – sense detection, mental processing and behavior direction – are critical. They allow animals to navigate their environments in ways that enable their survival and reproduction. Climate change will likely affect these functions, often for the worse.</p>
<h2>Shifting sensory environments</h2>
<p>Changing temperatures shift the energy balance of ecosystems – from plants that produce energy from sunlight to the animals that consume plants and other animals – subsequently altering the sensory worlds that animals experience. It is likely that climate change will challenge all of their senses, from sight and taste to smell and touch. </p>
<p>Animals like mammals perceive temperature in part with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02732">special receptor proteins</a> in their nervous systems that respond to heat and cold, discriminating between moderate and extreme temperatures. These receptor proteins help animals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07001">seek appropriate habitats</a> and may play a critical role in how animals respond to changing temperatures.</p>
<p>Climate change disrupts the environmental cues animals rely on to solve problems like selecting a habitat, finding food and choosing mates. Some animals, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.04.010">mosquitoes</a> that transmit <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.584846">parasites and pathogens</a>, rely on temperature gradients to orient themselves to their environment. Temperature shifts are altering where and when mosquitoes search for hosts, leading to changes in disease transmission.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aYH-KYdgXag?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Climate change is pushing more and more mosquitoes to take humans as their preferred hosts.</span></figcaption>
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<p>How climate change affects the chemical signals animals use to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12128">communicate with each other</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/EN13055">harm competitors</a> can be especially complex because chemical compounds are highly sensitive to temperature.</p>
<p>Formerly reliable sources of information like seasonal changes in daylight can lose its utility as they become uncoupled. This could cause a breakdown in the link between day length and <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1773/37034">plant flowering and fruiting</a>, and interruptions to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-021909-135837">animal behavior</a> like hibernation and migration when day length no longer predicts resource availability.</p>
<h2>Changing brains and cognition</h2>
<p>Rising temperatures may disrupt how animal brains develop and function, with potentially negative effects on their ability to effectively adapt to their new environments. </p>
<p>Researchers have documented how temperature extremes can alter individual neurons at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.22736">genetic and</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0400773101">structural levels</a>, as well as how the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-0993-2">brain is organized</a> as a whole.</p>
<p>In marine environments, researchers have found that climate-induced changes of water chemistry like ocean acidification can affect animals’ general cognitive performance and sensory abilities, such as odor tracking in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2195">reef fish</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12678">sharks</a>.</p>
<h2>Behavior disruptions</h2>
<p>Animals may respond to climate adversity by shifting locations, from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12439">changing the microhabitats</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13309">they use</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316145111">altering their</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0504-0">geographic ranges</a>. </p>
<p>Activity can also shift to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0030-4">different periods of the day</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1768">or to</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00713">new seasons</a>. These behavioral responses can have major implications for the environmental stimuli animals will be exposed to.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Green snake slithering out of a nest after eating a bird" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558495/original/file-20231108-27-homplj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Shifting climates are driving some snake species into forested habitats, and the subsequent increased predation on nesting birds may push above sustainable levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/green-pit-viper-trimeresurus-full-up-after-ate-royalty-free-image/1148122650">Rapeepong Puttakumwong/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>For example, fish in warming seas have shifted to cooler, deeper waters that have dramatically different <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0396">light intensity and color range</a> than their visual systems are used to. Furthermore, because not all species will shift their behaviors in the same way, species that do move to a new habitat, time of day or season will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.05.031">confront new ones</a>, including food plants and prey animals, competitors and predators, and pathogens. </p>
<p>Behavioral shifts driven by climate change will restructure ecosystems worldwide, with complex and unpredictable outcomes.</p>
<h2>Plasticity and evolution</h2>
<p>Animal brains are remarkably flexible, developed to match <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-022-00873-5">individual environmental experience</a>. They’re even substantially <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-2236(00)01558-7">capable of changing</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2004.6.2/fgage">in adulthood</a>. </p>
<p>But studies comparing species have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1353-4">seen strong</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000006666">environmental effects</a> on brain evolution. Animal nervous systems evolve to match the sensory environments of each species’ activity space. These patterns suggest that new climate regimes will eventually shape nervous systems by forcing them to evolve. </p>
<p>When genetics have strong effects on brain development, nervous systems that are finely adapted to the local environment may lose their adaptive edge with climate change. This may pave the way for new adaptive solutions. As the range and significance of sensory stimuli and seasonal cues shift, natural selection will favor those with new sensory or cognitive abilities.</p>
<p>Some parts of the nervous system are constrained by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.14188">genetic adaptations</a> while others are more plastic and responsive to environmental conditions. A greater understanding of how animal nervous systems adapt to rapidly changing environments will help predict how all species will be affected by climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean O'Donnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rapidly changing temperatures and sensory environments are challenging the nervous systems of many species. Animals will be forced to evolve to survive.Sean O'Donnell, Professor of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science and Biology, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927432022-12-08T22:35:10Z2022-12-08T22:35:10ZWhy do cats knead?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492892/original/file-20221101-28436-aalrfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4608%2C2579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Kneading” is when cats massage an object with the front paws, which extend and retract, one paw at a time.</p>
<p>This massaging action, named for its resemblance to kneading dough, is repeated rhythmically. You may have spotted your cat kneading and wondered how on Earth they developed such a behaviour. </p>
<p>So, why <em>do</em> cat’s knead? Does it tell us anything about how they’re feeling and is there anything you can do if they’re painfully kneading you while sitting on your lap?</p>
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<h2>The evolutionary background of kneading</h2>
<p>Cats first begin to knead when just tiny kittens, still nursing from their mother. Kneading is associated with suckling, which helps stimulate a mother cat’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787815001549?casa_token=nni3dUGA1rgAAAAA:7qOLyFPmT-VXBldoBVcdTHnk-AJMPQWLIn_b5msLWZfP9_ie2Sm7vVrvLiDdAgwpbwXRG__g6dV0">milk supply</a> through the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093691X05001858?casa_token=SoJdiUqZkmkAAAAA:7uJrsVcDFuKKY-c4li7l2Y7Q-sk-77_82Pe_2KUVdzSe5uM3kc8NUTUFRAus5I2u8mCgI3oec9s">release of oxytocin</a> and likely evolved for this reason. </p>
<p>Kneading also has another evolutionary advantage. It can be used as a form of tactile and pheromone communication between kitten and mother. </p>
<p>Cats have scent glands in their soft paw pads, and when they knead, these glands release pheromones (chemical messages used to communicate). </p>
<p>Kneading on their mother releases <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-5616(02)00128-6">pheromones</a> associated with bonding, identification, health status or many other messages.</p>
<p>One of these, known as “cat appeasing pheromone”, is released by the sebaceous glands round the mammary glands.</p>
<p>Pheromones are not only important for bonding between the mother and young. Cat appeasing pheromone also has the potential to treat <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X18774437">aggression</a> in mature cats. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C6200%2C4573&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A kitten kneads the covers on a bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C6200%2C4573&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492879/original/file-20221101-26-w2sie5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Kneading can be used as a form of tactile and pheromone communication between kitten and mother.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>If kneading is a kitten behaviour, why is my adult cat still doing it?</h2>
<p>While kneading evolved to stimulate milk supply and express chemical and tactile messages between kitten and mother, it’s also a common behaviour in adult cats, because of something called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123945860000019">neoteny</a>.</p>
<p>Neoteny is when an animal retains their juvenile physical or behaviour traits into adulthood. It’s likely these traits are advantageous for cats when needing to socialise with humans and other cats or animals in the household. </p>
<p>Kneading, in particular, may be retained into adulthood because it can help communicate messages.</p>
<p>Kneading on your lap is a cat’s way of saying “we’re affiliated” or “you’re in my social group”. Or, to be very human about it, “you’re my person”. </p>
<p>We may also reinforce kneading by rewarding our cat with attention when they do it. </p>
<p>Some cats like to knead on soft or woollen blankets while also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2015.07.038">sucking</a> on the material, as if from a teat. This may be relaxing or soothing for the cat because of this association. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cat kneads the bed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492890/original/file-20221101-12-43vmyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">We may also reinforce kneading by rewarding our cat with attention when they do it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>What does kneading say about how our cats are feeling?</h2>
<p>In most cases, kneading likely indicates your cat is comfortable.</p>
<p>However, if the kneading (and especially sucking) occur very frequently, for a long time, appear compulsive or are beginning to damage your cat’s paws, legs or mouth, it may be a sign your cat is stressed or in pain and needs to see a vet. </p>
<p>Kneading and sucking can become compulsive, a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787815001215?via%3Dihub">particular problem in Siamese and Birman cats</a>. </p>
<p>Some cats don’t knead at all. Just like people, cats are individuals and like to show that they are comfortable or affiliated with you in their own ways. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C89%2C67&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cat kneads a dog" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C89%2C67&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492885/original/file-20221101-26-cntbsa.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Kneading likely indicates your cat is comfortable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Giphy.</span></span>
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<h2>Help! My cat kneading is hurting my legs</h2>
<p>Kneading is a normal behaviour that may be an important part of your cat feeling bonded with you. If your cat’s claws are getting a little too involved for your liking then invest in a thick blanket that you can cover your legs with. Avoid telling them off or kicking them off your lap. </p>
<p>Instead, reward kneading where the claws are kept to a minimum by showing more attention via patting or handing out a food treat when your cat is kneading the way you would like them to.</p>
<p>You can even add in a cue to request the claws go away. Something short like “pads!” would be a good option. Simply associate the word and a food reward with the behaviour you want. </p>
<p>And if you need your cat more than they knead you, that’s OK too.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Hazel is affiliated with the Dog & Cat Management Board of SA, RSPCA SA and Animal Therapies Ltd. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Henning does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kneading is typical kitten behaviour but may be retained into adulthood because it can help communicate messages.Susan Hazel, Senior Lecturer, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of AdelaideJulia Henning, PhD Candidate, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1824192022-05-11T04:00:23Z2022-05-11T04:00:23ZTo pat or not to pat? How to keep interactions between kids and dogs safe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462219/original/file-20220510-16-9fcoeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C2560%2C1705&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/_c_I5GMZYR0">Justin Veenema/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With dog attacks in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-to-do-in-a-dog-attack-and-why-they-hate-posties-so-much-182289">news over recent weeks</a>, some parents may be wondering about how to keep interactions between kids and dogs safe – and how to keep everyone happy. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12630">review</a> of hospitalisations due to dog bites in Australia found children under nine years presented most often. Dog attacks involving children often <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/family-dogs-responsible-for-most-attacks-new-research-shows-20180511-p4zeu9.html">involve the family dog</a> or a dog known to the child. </p>
<p>While we need more research around the events leading to these attacks, it’s likely a combination of a series of unfortunate events, rather than an inherently “bad” dog. Any dog can bite. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-to-do-in-a-dog-attack-and-why-they-hate-posties-so-much-182289">What to do in a dog attack – and why they hate posties so much</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Every dog and every child interaction is different, but here are general tips for good interactions and outcomes.</p>
<h2>Teach children how to interact with dogs safely</h2>
<p>You wouldn’t run up and hug a stranger in the street – let’s not do it to dogs. It is vital children learn how to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69S797ZfsRM">approach dogs safely</a>. </p>
<p>Children should always stop a few metres from a dog they want to pat and ask the responsible person for permission, before also asking the dog. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A cute dog looks for its owner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462231/original/file-20220510-16-7vkirw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dogs might not be comfortable with strangers approaching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/heSOt1KcfCE">Arten Baliakin/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can ask dogs if they want a pat by remembering “<a href="https://www.thefamilydog.com/stop-the-77">pat, pet, pause</a>”. </p>
<p><strong>1. Pat</strong>. Pat your leg to encourage a dog over.</p>
<p><strong>2. Pet</strong>. If the dog comes to say “hi!”, give them a gentle pat on the shoulder or side. Never pat a dog on the head (dogs hate it!). Stand side-on so the dog can always move away.</p>
<p><strong>3. Pause</strong>. Stop after three pats (or three seconds), and wait. If the dog reconnects (leans in or bumps the hand) then pat again for another three seconds. If the dog remains still, leans away or moves away, they don’t want to be patted (at that moment – you can try again later). </p>
<p>Children (and adults) should pat, pet, pause in every interaction with a dog – even the family dog. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-can-we-tell-if-an-animal-is-happy-without-a-wagging-tail-150374">Curious Kids: how can we tell if an animal is happy without a wagging tail?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Interactions should be short, supervised and managed carefully</h2>
<p>Not all dogs are used to kids. Some dogs may be very social and friendly, but not know how to interact with children safely.</p>
<p>Keep social, friendly dogs on-lead or use a play pen (or fence) to keep both dogs and children safe. Use lots of tasty treats to reinforce the dog for keeping four paws on the floor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl pats dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462229/original/file-20220510-12-tnwtco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some dogs aren’t used to kids. Give three pats and pause to check.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/1wAGVmYBxwQ">Annie Spratt/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Things can escalate quickly if children get excited or if a dog starts zooming around. Keeping interactions short (and supervised) reduces the chance of somebody being hurt. </p>
<p>Be very careful with very large or heavy breeds and young children who can get knocked over easily.</p>
<h2>Learn to speak dog</h2>
<p>Dogs communicate well, if we learn to listen. Dogs show signs of fear by moving away, cowering or tucking their tail between their legs. If they flick their ears back, turn their head away or close their mouths it means they’re not comfortable. </p>
<p>If we miss these signs, a dog might <a href="https://www.kendalshepherd.com/books/the-canine-commandments/">growl or even bite</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1485907325592473602"}"></div></p>
<p>A wagging tail doesn’t always mean a dog is happy – “good” wags are mid-height, slow(ish), with a relaxed body. Dogs also wag high when tense, or very low when very nervous (both signs to say “hi!” from a distance). </p>
<p>Research shows young children find it difficult to identify dog body language – signs of fear or stress – although older children can <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2018.00257/full?fbclid=IwAR3awVFELhZkTVLEev3Jg_NIae_mRZHCC7h86cFmJDifWSoq5MvBtEtzUh0">increase this knowledge with education</a>. It’s up to adults to supervise, watch both dog and child closely, and stop the interaction if the dog or child isn’t coping. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-your-dog-can-understand-what-youre-saying-to-a-point-173953">Yes, your dog can understand what you're saying — to a point</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s important never to punish a dog for growling. Growling is serious (especially around children) and needs to be addressed quickly with careful management and training. However, it is clear communication. Punishing a growl stops the growl, but not the underlying discomfort (or fear) behind it. This means a dog might not give any warning before biting.</p>
<p>Ignoring signs of stress or fear, or finding it funny, puts everybody at risk. Stop the interaction immediately and contact a qualified, experienced dog trainer.</p>
<h2>Respect their space</h2>
<p>Dogs in their bed, or eating, need their own space. These are dogs’ safe zones – kids should not approach. </p>
<p>Kids also need a “safe” space or time away from the dogs (for example, in their bedroom). </p>
<h2>Dogs in public spaces aren’t public property</h2>
<p>Just because a dog is in public doesn’t mean it’s comfortable with strangers approaching. Even if a dog is walking with children, they may not want to meet new children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dog tethered to a bike waits for its owner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462221/original/file-20220510-24-2xsbrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Say hello from a distance for dogs tied up or without their parents present.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/xNOslF_987U">Anthony Fomin/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Always ask the owner of the dog. If the dog is tied up in front of a shop (or you can’t see their parent), say hello another day.</p>
<p>Sometimes pet parents feel pressure to ensure their dog says “hi!” to children, but always listen to the dog, and feel empowered to say no to pats from children. It won’t hurt to miss this one interaction, and offers a learning opportunity for kids to respect the space of animals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-top-tips-to-consider-before-getting-a-canine-companion-173961">Five top tips to consider before getting a canine companion</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Petra Edwards is currently employed with RSPCA South Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Hazel is affiliated with the Dog & Cat Management Board of South Australia and the RSPCA South Australia.</span></em></p>You wouldn’t run up and hug a stranger in the street – let’s not do it to dogs. Here’s how to keep kids safe and dogs happy during chance encounters.Petra Edwards, PhD researcher, University of AdelaideSusan Hazel, Senior Lecturer, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1677852021-09-13T20:03:36Z2021-09-13T20:03:36ZWe managed to toilet train cows (and they learned faster than a toddler). It could help combat climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420696/original/file-20210913-23-jsaxck.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C85%2C5607%2C3698&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can we toilet train cattle? Would we want to? </p>
<p>The answer to both of these questions is <em>yes</em> — and doing so could help us address issues of water contamination and climate change. Cattle urine is high in nitrogen, and this contributes to a range of environmental problems.</p>
<p>When cows are kept mainly outdoors, as they are in New Zealand and Australia, the nitrogen from their urine breaks down in the soil. This produces two problematic substances: nitrate and nitrous oxide. </p>
<p>Nitrate from urine patches leaches into lakes, rivers and aquifers (underground pools of water contained by rock) where it pollutes the water and contributes to the excessive growth of weeds and algae.</p>
<p>Nitrous oxide is a long-lasting greenhouse gas which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It <a href="http://www.nzagrc.org.nz/domestic/nitrous-oxide-research-programme/the-science-of-nitrous-oxide/">accounts for</a> about 12% of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, and much of this comes from the agricultural sector. </p>
<p>When cows are kept mainly in barns, as is the case in Europe and North America, another polluting gas — ammonia — is produced when the nitrogen from urine mixes with faeces on the barn floor. </p>
<p>However, if some of the urine produced by cattle could be captured and treated, the nitrogen it contains could be diverted, and the environmental impacts reduced. But how might urine capture be achieved?</p>
<p>We worked on this problem with collaborators from Germany’s Federal Research Institute for Animal Health and Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology. Our research is published today in the journal <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/B5BtCk81xOH4A7lAi2ScIs?domain=cell.com">Current Biology</a>. It forms part of our colleague Neele Dirksen’s PhD thesis.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/feeding-cows-a-few-ounces-of-seaweed-daily-could-sharply-reduce-their-contribution-to-climate-change-157192">Feeding cows a few ounces of seaweed daily could sharply reduce their contribution to climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Toilet training (but without the nappies)</h2>
<p>In our research project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, we applied principles from behavioural psychology to train young cattle to urinate in a particular place — that is, to use the “toilet” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A calf at the start of alley, at the far end." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420701/original/file-20210913-15-1ggwxwc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The calves were required to walk down an alley to enter the latrine pen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Behavioural psychology tells us a behaviour is likely to be repeated if followed by a reward, or “reinforcer”. That’s how we <a href="https://caninehabit.com/dog-training-operant-conditioning/">train a dog</a> to come when called. </p>
<p>So if we want to encourage a particular behaviour, such as urinating in a particular place, we should reinforce that behaviour. For our project we applied this idea in much the same way as for toilet training children, using a procedure called “backward chaining”.</p>
<p>First, the calves were confined to the toilet area, a latrine pen, and reinforced with a preferred treat when they urinated. This established the pen as an ideal place to urinate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cow urinating in a latrine pen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420704/original/file-20210913-24-i4lzuj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cow urine could be ‘captured’ in the latrine pen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reserach Institute for Farm Animal Biology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The calves were then placed in an alley outside the pen, and once again reinforced for entering the pen and urinating there. If urination began in the alley, it was discouraged by a mildly unpleasant spray of water.</p>
<p>After optimising the training, seven out of the eight calves we trained learned to urinate in the latrine pen — and they learned about as quickly as human children do. </p>
<p>The calves received only 15 days of training and the majority learned the full set of skills within 20 to 25 urinations, which is quicker than the toilet-training time for three- and four-year-old children.</p>
<p>This showed us two things that weren’t known before.</p>
<ol>
<li>cattle can learn to attend to their own urination reflex, because they moved to the pen when ready to use it</li>
<li>cattle will learn to withhold urination until they’re in the right place, if they’re rewarded for doing so.</li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Calf consumes the reward." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420708/original/file-20210913-25-ej7nx3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calves were given a tasty treat after using the latrine pen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The next stages</h2>
<p>Our research is a proof of concept. Cattle can be toilet trained, and without much difficulty. But scaling up the method for practical application in agriculture involves two further challenges, which will be the focus in the next stage of our project.</p>
<p>First, we need a way both to detect urination in the latrine pen and deliver reinforcement automatically — without human intervention. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Calf exits through a gate." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420709/original/file-20210913-13-vokafv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The calves exited the pen through a gate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is probably no more than a technical problem. An electronic sensor for urination wouldn’t be difficult to develop, and small amounts of attractive rewards could be provided in the pen. </p>
<p>Apart from this, we’ll also need to determine the optimal location and number of latrine pens needed. This is a particularly challenging issue in countries such as New Zealand, where cattle spend most of their time in open paddocks rather than barns. </p>
<p>Part of our future research will require understanding how far cattle are willing to walk to use a pen. And more needs to be done to understand how to best use this technique with animals in both indoor and outdoor farming contexts. </p>
<p>What we do know is that nitrogen from cattle urine contributes to both water pollution and climate change, and these effects can be reduced by toilet training cattle. </p>
<p>The more urine we can capture, the less we’ll need to reduce cattle numbers to meet emissions targets — and the less we’ll have to compromise on the availability of milk, butter, cheese and meat from cattle.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/virtual-fences-and-cattle-how-new-tech-could-allow-effective-sustainable-land-sharing-119398">Virtual fences and cattle: how new tech could allow effective, sustainable land sharing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Douglas Elliffe has received research funding from the Volkswagen Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsay Matthews receives funding from VW Foundation. He is affiliated with Matthews Research International. </span></em></p>Capturing cow urine could allow us to reduce the amount of damaging nitrate and nitrous oxide that ends up in the environment.Douglas Elliffe, Professor of Psychology, University of Auckland, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLindsay Matthews, Honorary Academic, Psychology Department, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1166582019-07-08T20:11:44Z2019-07-08T20:11:44ZCurious Kids: where do swallows sleep?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272957/original/file-20190507-103053-8tpdp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4672%2C3098&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nests are not for sleep. They are for babies.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/annahesser/6380534805/in/photolist-aHPUGM-rjpcGq-nf1pww-6C5v3G-26QdXzf-VHb4F9-8Xb3NT-8eoT2t-ejPAqW-6G2D2n-owJ2LX-neY3ye-qF3KvX-oBf4h5-8miVH1-a68UQY-8mfMCM-bGBYsX-ayrhwA-8mfLTF-6Qxkqk-qnNkVV-9E3wnw-GHZ3fW-7J1ab7-f8VScc-2fGJsQz-4CEsS2-26adPrX-f9b7qW-2568XCX-2YzR1G-5eoCyC-f9b8Jq-oWXjcN-Xmz9j9-f9b9AG-f9b6VC-f8VR2e-f8VR8T-6AMMJ6-f8VQa4-2egJuig-GbSHvH-eYZKXa-9FHsGv-5e3JTW-f8VSjv-4GmzbF-chB9x9">Flickr/Anna Hesser</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/imagine-this/">Imagine This</a>, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.</em> </p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>I would like to find out something about swallows: we have noticed that they return to the same nests each year, but there must be younger birds that have no nest. Where do they sleep until they have built their new nest? – Nefeli, age 13, Corfu, Greece.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for your question, Nefeli. </p>
<p>It’s true that some swallows return to the same nests each year. But what do they do there?</p>
<p>We need to understand what nests are really for – and they are not for sleeping. They are for putting eggs into. The eggs need protection from the weather (hot and cold, wind and rain) and from other animals that would eat them. For predators, eggs taste great! </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282632/original/file-20190704-126340-ilfrus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adult swallows must build their nests away from predators and unsafe weather conditions, such as the wind, heat and cold.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/merec0/1025744668/in/photostream/">merec0/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Eventually the eggs hatch, then a blind and featherless baby swallow emerges. The babies are called nestlings or sometimes chicks. So nests are not for sleeping, they are for raising a family. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282634/original/file-20190704-126391-1wipvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The babies that hatch from the swallow’s eggs are called nestlings or chicks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/67286686@N04/6133283995/">Rafael V/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is true that when an adult is sitting on eggs and nestlings, it may sleep, especially at night. </p>
<p>But the young swallows who don’t have a nest to return to must build their own nest (to protect and feed their babies) or sleep on a tree branch, a rock ledge of a cliff face, or inside the hollow of a tree. </p>
<p>When swallows sleep away from the nest they sleep in places called roosts. </p>
<p>So remember: nests are mostly for babies; roosts are for sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272958/original/file-20190507-103071-1phiowz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A swallow might sleep in a tree.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147485441@N04/42240785461/in/photolist-27mF4Sv-259hPwa-2egQdaD-2fnXWoE-m9t3NM-TcgCWu-24JkWf8-85kRc4-2eo6MCt-Hsj8ye-qVWSix-85oZQG-27KTogS-29mf5Ng-23BAQB1-6o41h3-H4QEAT-Ko3T15-25cTbPB-26t57sB-Y2xxaQ-JnxHnn-28T6koq-2cwBpeZ-XAj2fG-24HVJsi-29BsRjc-2ehsT3j-24Lifoo-257oajk-24vxc4E-ZSYDYu-U9xXCu-28oc6PU-275dKoP-NinM81-TthFm1-26uqW69-2aiz4Db-2fkV23r-SXS9wG-27k5ZwU-22hYs83-YBS57H-28vbaPC-27k5XDA-HVojN8-21nHFdZ-2fnXWko-28dvCj4">Flickr/Corine Bliek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-is-water-blue-or-is-it-just-reflecting-off-the-sky-113199">Curious Kids: is water blue or is it just reflecting off the sky?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em> <em>Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graham Fulton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We need to understand what a swallow’s nest is really for – and it is not mainly for sleeping.Graham Fulton, PhD student, School of Biological Sciences, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/975412018-05-31T19:52:16Z2018-05-31T19:52:16ZIs your dog happy? Ten common misconceptions about dog behaviour<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221118/original/file-20180531-69493-7pcnkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yes Niles, but are you really happy?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Molly Glassey/Staff dog</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is difficult to refer to what dogs, as a collective, like and dislike and how they behave. Just as humans do, dogs all have their own personalities and learned preferences and so can differ dramatically in how they approach life and what they take from it. </p>
<p>In our book, Making Dogs Happy, we use scientific research, illustrative photos and practical tips to help dog owners to appreciate what their dogs may be feeling from moment to moment, and have strategies ready to respond in ways that support their dogs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-why-some-people-love-animals-and-others-couldnt-care-less-84138">The science behind why some people love animals and others couldn't care less</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Making Dogs Happy is focused on the pragmatic application of current theory to improve your relationship with your dogs and, of course, in the process make them happy.</p>
<p>There are many ways in which we can misjudge dogs by assuming that they are little furry humans. Here are ten common misconceptions that stem from assigning human values and needs to dogs.</p>
<p><strong>1. Dogs have a human appreciation of sharing</strong></p>
<p>Humans can rationalise and appreciate the benefits of sharing. In contrast, among dogs, possession is ten-tenths of the law. So we should not take toys, bones and chews away from dogs unless we have trained them to accept this form of intervention.</p>
<p><strong>2. Dogs always enjoy common human physical displays of affection</strong></p>
<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/6u38x5BzPipQ4" width="100%" height="270" frameborder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/happy-dog-dogs-6u38x5BzPipQ4"></a></p>
<p>Humans often show their affection for others by hugging and cuddling them. Dogs simply do not have the limbs and joints to achieve this and so have not evolved to give each other a loving squeeze. When embraced by humans, many can find this uncomfortable or threatening. The same goes for patting dogs on the head.</p>
<p><strong>3. Barking and growling dogs are always threatening or dangerous</strong></p>
<p>These are distance-increasing behaviours. The dogs using these signals are chiefly trying to buy space so they can feel safer. All dogs, regardless of their temperament or training, can at times want more space. They usually try more subtle signalling first, but many dogs learn that subtle signals don’t work and go straight for shouting. </p>
<p><strong>4. Dogs will welcome unfamiliar dogs to their home</strong></p>
<p>Dogs evolved from wolves and are therefore primed to defend what is theirs. They have an attachment to their home territory and the resources within it. Dogs have no way of knowing that the dogs and human we invite around to our home, for example for a play-date, are ever going to leave. They can be forgiven for thinking that this is the way it is going to be from hereon. So it is to be expected that they will often try to lay out the local ground-rules and put the new arrivals in their place.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221123/original/file-20180531-69497-6r93we.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These dogs bark for joy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sasha Petrova</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>5. Dogs like relaxing as much as humans do</strong></p>
<p>We go to work and go to school, so we greatly value the opportunity to chill out at home and maybe watch TV. In contrast, dogs spend most of their time at home and so value exercise off the property far more than time spent on the sofa. So, for dogs, a change is not just as good as a rest – it’s much better. </p>
<p><strong>6. An effusive dog is a friendly dog</strong></p>
<p>“Friendly” for one dog is not friendly for all dogs, and some dogs use excessive friendliness as a way to alleviate anxiety associated with meeting another dog or human. Owners of very friendly dogs may be surprised when every other dog does not cheerfully receive their dog. Some dogs prefer sedate greetings, and lots of personal space. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-dogs-trying-to-tell-us-something-with-their-expressions-86008">Are dogs trying to tell us something with their expressions?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>7. Dogs approach when they want to engage playfully</strong></p>
<p>Sometimes owners are confused when a dog approaches a human or another dog in a friendly fashion and then growls or snaps at them. These dogs may be motivated to approach chiefly to gain information, rather than to interact, and some may like strangers in principle, but nevertheless become anxious and overwhelmed all of a sudden. If you are seeing this pattern, call your dog away from new dogs and humans after a couple of seconds.</p>
<p><strong>8. A big yard can replace walks</strong></p>
<p>Because dogs spend so much time at home in the yard, they often find the area a little too familiar and sometimes rather dull. The size of a yard is far less important to dogs than what happens in it. Dogs truly thrive on play with each other, with us and with toys. They particularly love to do so in a novel environment, so time spent out of the yard is the very best of fun. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221120/original/file-20180531-69481-1ukcs8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dogs do like relaxing – but not all the time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marta Skrabacz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>9. Dogs are wilfully defiant when they don’t do as they are told</strong></p>
<p>Rather than deciding to disobey us, dogs sometimes simply can’t do what we ask them to. Either they don’t actually know what we’re asking them to do, or they have much, much more pressing things to do at the time. Dogs are not great at generalising, so just because they sit nicely when asked to in the kitchen when you have treats in your hand doesn’t mean they automatically know what “sit” means when they are at the off-leash dog park. </p>
<p>And while your dogs might know what “sit” means when being trained at home without distractions, asking them to do so when visitors are at the door might be like asking a child to kneel and pray upon arriving at an amusement park. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-dont-dogs-live-as-long-as-humans-93374">Curious Kids: Why don't dogs live as long as humans?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><strong>10. Barking, snapping, or lunging is the first sign of an unhappy dog</strong></p>
<p>Dogs often give subtle signs they are becoming anxious, like avoiding eye contact with whatever is worrying them, licking lips, brow furrows, lifting a paw, tightening muscles in their face. If nothing is done to help these dogs move away from whatever is worrying them, these signs can often escalate to more troubling behaviour that is more obvious, such as growling and snapping.</p>
<h2>Bonus content: staff and reader dog pictures</h2>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1002052698806435840"}"></div></p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-278" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/278/a029afc46018e06675fc8c3983f56d6a17aede19/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><br></p>
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<p><em>Paul McGreevy and Melissa Starling are launching their book Making Dogs Happy at a symposium at the Charles Perkins Centre Auditorium, University of Sydney, on Saturday June 2. Details <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/vetsci/841.html?newscategoryid=100&newsstoryid=16874">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul McGreevy is the co-author of Making Dogs Happy.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Starling is the co-author of Making Dogs Happy.</span></em></p>Here are ten common misconceptions about what dogs need and how they communicate with us. Plus, a gallery of reader and staff dog pictures!Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of SydneyMelissa Starling, Postdoctoral researcher, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/918252018-02-20T19:10:27Z2018-02-20T19:10:27ZCurious Kids: Where do seagulls go when they die and why don’t we find dead seagulls on the beach?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206320/original/file-20180214-174997-wwv8xk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seagulls travel together in groups, but prefer to be alone when they feel sick.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bertknot/8121038527/in/photolist-dnCrPD-fxVJ7z-4NGVjL-6DaDVA-RvkRn7-r1TuyF-Tqq7iH-6tTmqX-aRPovM-YDzkvb-RGVr5d-a6fXiH-WzDGPA-n6UJvK-9wwnza-g9cRrj-866Bry-bbLbDP-reNtkN-pC2wvH-YpSrRL-dEFxRi-eafum8-6z3LhB-bsVNf9-cgGYpW-4VLxb9-dMmwhN-VETZ6b-6BRq4w-axPWXC-pBvJjv-mF5cRg-UsUAnr-3sVMZ-9P4zu7-4Q8yRT-2jrS1k-HCmNUg-8JYeUj-6cRnNH-RwMSUh-eiXiDj-5ibTwD-8t6J6p-fMkEBo-aQPNsi-ZFvP1G-6mLEkh-dCJ2Rt">bertknot/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is an article from <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a>, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or wacky!</em> </p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Where do seagulls go when they die? You never see dead seagulls on the beach. - Charles, age 8, Mt Kembla, NSW.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>This is a great question and you are not alone in wondering where seagulls go when their time is up.</p>
<p>I used to wonder this myself as a kid and thought that since they have wings, they simply fly up to heaven. While that is not the correct answer, it is a lot nicer than the one I am going to give.</p>
<p>As we see so many seagulls flying around, you would think that dead birds would be seen everywhere a lot of the time. Yet as you have observed, this is not the case. </p>
<p>I would say there are a few things happening that stop you from finding many dead gulls. </p>
<p>First of all, a sick gull is not likely to be flying around with a big group. This is because gulls are very competitive and will fight with other gulls – even sick ones. Also, a sick bird is an easy target for other predators. Foxes will hunt them on dry land, raptors will hunt them in the sky, and sharks or other large fish will eat them if they float in the oceans.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-do-sharks-sneeze-77399">Curious Kids: Do sharks sneeze?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Birds can usually sense when they are not feeling well and like many other creatures, seem to seek out-of-the-way places to be alone. Sick birds will go to ground and because they feel vulnerable, or like they are in danger, they will hide away. They hide in a safe, comfortable and private place – and for a bird, the beach is not safe or private because it’s too out in the open. Sometimes this rest helps them recover, but sometimes not. </p>
<p>When a sick or injured seagull dies while hiding, their body stays hidden. They become easy targets for the many predators that live in the same environment. Attracted by the smell of rotting bodies, scavengers of all kinds (crabs, foxes, even rats) quickly begin eating the dead body, making short work of the bird remains that are easy to digest. While you may find a cluster of feathers here and there, the wind quickly scatters these feathers and the death of a bird is usually not noticed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-do-animals-sleep-like-people-do-snails-sleep-in-their-shells-90941">Curious Kids: Do animals sleep like people? Do snails sleep in their shells?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>You see, the skeletons of seagulls (and other birds) are so delicate and small that they decay quickly and leave no trace of their bodies. All the body parts of a bird are fairly easy to consume and digest, so not much is left behind. Feathers stick around more easily, showing that a bird has died much more often than bones will.</p>
<p>The earth itself will use elements of the dead bird’s body to help grow nutrients in the soil, which will mean that more plants can grow nearby. The cycle of life continues in this way. Nature wastes nothing.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. They can:</em></p>
<p><em>* Email your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
<br>
* Tell us on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU">Twitter</a> by tagging <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU">@ConversationEDU</a> with the hashtag #curiouskids, or
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* Tell us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a></em></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p><em>Please tell us your name, age, and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grainne Cleary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Birds can usually sense when they are not feeling well and like many other creatures, seem to seek out-of-the-way places to be alone.Grainne Cleary, Researcher, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747802017-03-22T14:54:43Z2017-03-22T14:54:43ZWhy it’s so important to understand how elephants sleep<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161331/original/image-20170317-6133-ysbvhc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could this be the world's largest Fitbit?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans and animals need to do several things to pass on their genes: eat, avoid being eaten, reproduce and sleep. Missing any of these biological imperatives leads to death. But when we’re asleep we can’t perform those other functions. One of modern science’s big mysteries, then, is: why do we sleep?</p>
<p>Scientists have suggested many answers when it comes to human sleep. One is for the removal of waste products, another is for <a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v3/n12/full/nn1200_1225.html">memory consolidation</a>. One way to test these ideas’ validity is see how they apply to sleep in exotic animals that are normally not studied, such as the large African mammals.</p>
<p>Research has already shown that larger mammals <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7063/abs/nature04285.html">tend to sleep less</a> than smaller mammals. So African elephants, adults weighing between 3000 and 5000 kg, shouldn’t sleep much. Recording brain waves is the accepted way to prove when an animal is asleep: features of the brain’s global activity show when the brain is awake, in slow wave sleep or is dreaming (REM sleep). But doing this in elephants borders on surgically impossible because of the large frontal sinus that makes up most of their skull. </p>
<p>To overcome this our comparative neurobiology group at the University of the Witwatersrand, with colleagues from <a href="http://elephantswithoutborders.org/">Elephants Without Borders</a> and <a href="https://www.semel.ucla.edu/sleepresearch">UCLA</a> adapted an activity meter used in studies of human sleep. This allowed us to monitor the sleeping patterns and habits of two wild elephant matriarchs. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171903">The results</a>, published in the journal PLoS ONE, are important for two reasons. By understanding sleep across animals we can gain insights into improving the quality of human sleep and our quality of life. But just as crucially, understanding sleep in animals like elephants helps us to understand them better – and improves our ability to develop beneficial conservation and management strategies. </p>
<h2>The findings</h2>
<p>The device we used provides an output of the number of acceleration events per minute. It could be readily implanted under the skin to measure when the elephant was or wasn’t moving. After observing elephants in the wild, we realised that the most active part of the body was the trunk. We reasoned that if the trunk wasn’t moving for five minutes, the elephant was likely to be asleep – so that’s where the activity meter was implanted.</p>
<p>Combining this with a GPS collar and gyroscope – which measured bodily movements in the <a href="https://my-ms.org/mri_planes.htm">x, y and z planes</a>, we made four really interesting observations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the elephants slept on average for two hours a day; </p></li>
<li><p>most of their sleep was while standing, but they lay down to sleep every third or fourth day; </p></li>
<li><p>there were nights when they didn’t sleep at all, and they took a 30 km hike; and</p></li>
<li><p>the time they went to sleep and woke up coincided with environmental conditions not related to sunrise or sunset.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_4JGBKr10Vs?wmode=transparent&start=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The secrets of elephant sleep, revealed…</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Existing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1557589">research</a> done on captive elephants found that they slept on average between four and six hours a day. That’s because they have plenty of time to sleep. They aren’t having to go out and find the food they need to keep their large bodies going, they receive a higher quality diet and they are not at any risk of predation.</p>
<p>A large elephant needs to eat around 300 kg of low quality food daily. This leaves little time for sleep. One of the specialisations in the elephant brain are orexin neurons of the hypothalamus. These control the balance between satiety and arousal: if you’ve had enough to eat, the neurons become silent and allow you to go to sleep. If not, they keep you awake. </p>
<p>This balance and the quality of the diet explains the trend for larger mammals to sleep less, or herbivores to sleep less than carnivores and omnivores (like humans). The elephant data supports this emerging idea in sleep research, and helps explain why the elephant sleeps so little.</p>
<p>In captivity, elephants spend much of their time asleep lying down, but they also sometimes sleep standing. With combined data from the gyroscope and the activity meter we found that wild elephants mostly slept standing up. Lying down to sleep only happened every third or fourth day and for about an hour. </p>
<p>Mammals lose tone in their skeletal muscles during REM sleep. So for an elephant to have REM sleep it needs to lie down, as without any muscle tone it is very difficult to remain standing, unless they’re resting against a tree or a large rock. </p>
<p>One idea of the function of REM sleep is memory consolidation – experiences had during the day are converted into long-term memories during REM sleep. Elephants have good <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23728481">long-term memory</a>, but only go into REM sleep every third or fourth day. This suggests that the memory consolidation theory perhaps isn’t the answer to the function of REM sleep.</p>
<h2>Environmental cues</h2>
<p>Some nights the elephants went without sleep. This happened three nights for one elephant, two for the other. Not long after sunset on these days the elephants were disturbed, perhaps by hunting lions, poachers or even a bull elephant <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25091910">in musth</a>. For the remainder of the night the elephants hiked for a distance of around 30 km. This behaviour had never been recorded previously for elephants. It indicates that elephants really do need a lot of space, which is important in terms of elephant conservation – it seems that small reserves don’t give them enough room.</p>
<p>Lastly, the time the elephants went to sleep (sleep onset) and woke up (sleep offset) was not related to sunset and sunrise. Rather, both were strongly related to the “real feel” of the environment; a mix of temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. It appears that environmental cues are important for going to sleep and waking up at the right time. If we examine this more closely we might be able to adjust human sleep environments in a way to get ourselves a better night’s sleep.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Manger receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. </span></em></p>By understanding sleep across animals we can gain insights into improving the quality of human sleep. It can also help to bolster conservation management strategies for the animals in question.Paul Manger, Professor of Comparative and Evolutionary Neurobiology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/383182015-03-04T06:27:05Z2015-03-04T06:27:05ZThere’s no evidence human pheromones exist – no matter what you find for sale online<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73684/original/image-20150303-31825-z6wbf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Whatever the adverts suggest, this isn't going to increase your animal magnetism.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thinglass/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of human pheromones is intuitively appealing, conjuring up the idea of secret signals that make us irresistible to potential partners. But this connection of pheromones with sex may be the wrong way to look at the issue – because despite 45 years of study and various claims over the years there’s still not a lot of evidence that human pheromones exist at all.</p>
<p>The study of pheromones of all kinds is problematic – even the definition is controversial. The word comes from the Greek <em>pherein</em> (to transfer), and <em>hormōn</em> (to excite) and was defined by <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v183/n4653/abs/183055a0.html">Karlson and Luscher</a> in 1959 as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Substances which are secreted by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species, in which they release a specific reaction, for instance a definite behaviour or developmental process.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The snag is that that while many researchers agree on the basic properties of pheromones, there is considerable debate over which olfactory (sense of smell) cues represent pheromones. For example, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=toDBAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=wyatt+pheromones&ots=C9SwEpRe0-&sig=BUI_usD9Vy3QdPBKg_s7RyeymK4#v=onepage&q=wyatt%20pheromones&f=false">many species use odours</a> to identify characteristics such as species, sex, relatedness and social status. Many researchers label these odours as pheromones; others feel that by the above definition they’re really just smells. </p>
<p>Similarly not all potential pheromones are secreted externally – some species of salamanders transfer chemical signals to another salamander by directly <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347205803847">injecting them into the bloodstream</a>. Some scientists believe that the response to a pheromone should provide an evolutionary advantage to both the sender and the receiver of the signal, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1313311?sid=21106009567403&uid=4&uid=2&uid=3738032">and do so unconsciously</a>. </p>
<p>So a lack of consensus on pheromones’ definition has led to the over-use of this term. Instead many scientists use the term <a href="http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/flint.htm">semiochemicals</a> to refer to chemicals that transmit some form of specific message that can influence a recipient’s physiology and behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73686/original/image-20150303-31833-pamzsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">That’s right - just two dabs behind the antennae and they’re all over me.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bug_aggregation.jpg">L. Shyamal</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Studying smells is hard</h2>
<p>Given these problems why are researchers so interested in pheromones at all? Generally olfaction is one of the most crucial forms of communication in the animal world. Odours have the greatest potential range of any method of animal communication, can be transmitted in total darkness and around obstacles. Unlike signals to be seen or heard, odours also remain in the environment for extended periods, providing the opportunity to lay signals – such as when marking territory. </p>
<p>But studying human pheromones is problematic for a number of reasons beyond definition. Olfactory research can be extremely tricky to conduct: smells are invisible and hard to control, there is no real standardised system for labelling and evaluating odours, and a wealth of potentially confounding variables need to be controlled for. Also the problem is that humans can evaluate signals in a variety of quite divergent ways – it’s rare that we show simplistic stimulus–response reaction. </p>
<h2>Four pheromone candidates</h2>
<p>Four specific substances have been identified as possible human pheromones. </p>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a strong focus on testosterone-derived <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1664751/">androstenone</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3608426">androstenol</a>, possible pheromones in pigs also found in human armpits. A number of studies have investigated the effect of these substances on human behaviour, focusing on social interactions and the evaluation of sexual partners. Despite a general pattern for these substances to increase social contact between males and females, findings are <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.a.20125/full">extremely inconsistent</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1990s the focus shifted to the similar <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-sexual-responses-boosted-by-bodily-scents/">androstadienone</a> and oestratraenol, an oestrogen-derived substance produced in pregnant women. These were the compounds studied in several experiments that examined the <a href="http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/4/433.full">vomeronasal organ</a> (VNO) – a tubular structure located in the nasal cavity which, in some species, is involved in processing pheromones.</p>
<p>Several studies <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0960076091902532">documented</a> finding a VNO in more than 90% of human participants, and reported that stimulating the VNO with artificially-created “putative human pheromones” seemed to stimulate the recipients. This suggested the existence of human pheromones, as a functioning VNO would provide humans the ability to process pheromones.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73687/original/image-20150303-31852-3npnfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Your powers of magnetic attraction be damned, I’m not kissing a man with nicer braids than mine.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Soulacroix_-_Flirtation_2.jpg">Frédéric Soulacroix</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, more recent studies cast doubt on this idea, with <a href="http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/4/369.short">no evidence</a> that the few VNOs identified in humans have any functional receptor cells to detect anything – the VNO isn’t actually connected to the brain. And those putative “synthetic human pheromones” provided to the studies that claimed to show evidence of their effect on the VNO? It’s been pointed out that they had been provided by <a href="http://www.erox.com/">EROX</a> – a firm with a commercial interest in patenting and selling them. You’ll find EROX and scores of other firms selling similar products on the internet today.</p>
<p>Research into these four pheromone candidates suffers from all sorts of problems. The substances are used in concentrations between several and millions of times higher than they occur naturally in humans. Experiments tend to be beset with methodological and statistical issues, leading to a contradictory or inconclusive findings. Publication bias leaves it likely that only positive results are published, artificially increasing the amount of supposedly supportive evidence, and findings have often not been independently replicable. </p>
<p>In any case, even if these substances do effect human physiology and behaviour it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re pheromones – there are numerous odours from plants or from industrial chemicals that can produce a behavioural reaction in humans. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Tristram Wyatt, in his <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.2994">recent paper</a> for the Royal Society, suggests that we move away from the sexual focus on pheromones. Instead we should focus not just on the substance present but on the range of odours that humans are capable of producing from a variety of sites on the body. </p>
<p>Wyatt’s suggestion is the secretions from the areola of mothers’ lactating breasts is a good place to start looking, as smell is very important to suckling behaviour in animals. Any baby, presented with the secretions of any mother, will respond with nipple-searching behaviour, even while asleep.</p>
<p>The search for human pheromones taps into our mysterious sense of smell and appeals to us on an emotional level. Of course, there are also strong commercial motivations to demonstrating their existence and the products that might follow. There is already a well-documented history of this occurring in the field of olfaction research – and these motivations inevitably muddy the water. We need to address these issues with a much more rigorous approach if the science is to progress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark JT Sergeant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do human pheromones exist? Despite the products some would sell you, there’s no hard evidence yet.Mark JT Sergeant, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/301952014-08-19T20:21:13Z2014-08-19T20:21:13ZThe mimics among us — birds pirate songs for personal profit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56752/original/nzxf5sk4-1408409502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some of the bird world's mimicry superstars. Clockwise from top left: superb lyrebird; silvereye; satin bowerbird; Australian magpie; mistletoebird; brown thornbill.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Maisey; Justin Welbergen; Johan Larson; Leo/Flickr; David Cook/Filckr; Patrick/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D58">Roman classics</a> to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-385372/The-nations-favourite-Attenborough-moment.html">British tabloids</a>, humans have long celebrated the curious and remarkable ability of birds to imitate the sounds of humans and other animals. A recent surge of research is revealing how and why birds use vocal mimicry to further their own interests, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12129/full">as we discuss in <em>Biological Reviews</em></a>.</p>
<p>Far from being merely a biological curiosity, it appears that vocal mimicry plays a more central role in the lives of birds than we have given them credit for. </p>
<p>Most birds communicate using vocalisations unique to their own kind, but a diverse group of species from around the globe regularly imitate the sounds of other animals, including sounds we produce ourselves. </p>
<p>In Australia, these avian “mimics” are all around us. On a stroll in the Blue Mountains, for example, you can expect to encounter several of them, including arguably the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSB71jNq-yQ">world’s most famous vocal mimic</a>, the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Menura-novaehollandiae">superb lyrebird</a>, along with lesser-known mimics like the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Zosterops-lateralis">silvereye</a>, the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ptilonorhynchus-violaceus">satin bowerbird</a>, the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Dicaeum-hirundinaceum">mistletoebird</a>, the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Sericornis-citreogularis">yellow-throated scrubwren</a>, and the feisty <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Acanthiza-pusilla">brown thornbill</a>. </p>
<p>Even the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Cracticus-tibicen">Australian magpie</a> – better known for <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Safe-from-Swooping-Australian-Magpies">swooping cyclists</a> or pinching food from picnics – occasionally quietly imitates other species of bird.</p>
<h2>What sounds do birds imitate?</h2>
<p>Avian vocal mimics often imitate the songs and calls of other species of bird, but they can also imitate the sounds of mammals (such as growls of yellow-bellied gliders), the hiss of snakes, and the wing-beats of birds flying by. </p>
<p>Birds can imitate sounds of <a href="http://shop.bl.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/BritishLibrary/_ISBN_9780712305297/87294/Bird-Mimicry-%28audio-CD%29">human origin</a> but recordings of these are rare, and many reports may come from <a href="http://theconversation.com/lyrebirds-mimicking-chainsaws-fact-or-lie-22529">observations of captive individuals, or may be misinterpretations of natural sounds</a>. </p>
<p>The mimetic feats of birds can be gobsmacking. A single superb lyrebird can imitate <a href="https://soundcloud.com/alziell/superb-lyrebird-male-imitating-kookaburras-ahdalziell">more than one bird calling at the same time</a>. The 7 gram <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347212005726">brown thornbill can imitate</a> the song of the predatory <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Strepera-graculina">pied currawong</a>, a bird more than 40 times it size. And the <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/m/marshwarbler/">marsh warbler</a> is versatile in the extreme, and is known to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1979.tb06685.x/abstract">imitate more than 200 species</a> of African and European birds without ever seeming to sing its own tune.</p>
<p>A single species may change its mimicry depending on the context. When confronted with a taxidermy owl placed on the ground, <a href="http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/3/538">brown thornbills mimic</a> the alarm calls that other bird species make in response to predators on the ground (listen <a href="https://soundcloud.com/alziell/sets/ground-alarm-calls">here</a>). </p>
<p>However, when a fibreglass model of a sparrowhawk is thrown over the top of them, brown thornbills mimic the alarm calls that other bird species make in response to predators in the air (listen <a href="https://soundcloud.com/alziell/sets/aerial-alarm-calls">here</a>). </p>
<p>This tiny mimic, therefore, can communicate about different types of danger in several different avian “languages”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56694/original/8b3rmfvs-1408344896.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Holland honeyeater aerial alarm call and mobbing alarm call. Brown thornbill imitates the aerial alarm call and mobbing alarm call. Data from Igic and Magrath, 2014, <em>Behavioral Ecology</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lousie Docker/Wikimedia Commons (top); Patrick K9 /Flickr (bottom). Spectrograms, B. Igic.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Owl chicks that sound like rattlesnakes</h2>
<p>Through vocal mimicry, an avian mimic can manipulate the behaviour of others for its own benefit. It seems that birds use vocal mimicry sometimes to deceive and sometimes to impress. </p>
<p>Deceptive vocal mimicry can allow birds to obtain food that they are not entitled to. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork-tailed_drongo">fork-tailed drongo</a> of Africa mimics other species’ alarm calls to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cunning-drongo-cries-wolf-in-the-language-of-other-species-26192">“cry wolf”</a>, falsely signalling the impending attack of a predatory hawk. In the ensuing mayhem, the drongo steals food that has been abandoned by fleeing meerkats and pied babblers. </p>
<p>In Australia, the <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Chalcites-basalis">Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo</a> lays its eggs in the nests of <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Malurus-cyaneus">superb fairy-wrens</a> and other species, which then raise the cuckoo chick as one of their own. However, fairy-wrens have evolved a set of defences against cuckoos and may abandon a nest if they think something is amiss. The cuckoo chick ensures its survival by <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00405.x/full">mimicking the begging calls</a> of the fairy-wren’s own young. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, the cuckoo chick is a versatile mimic. If the chick hatches in the nest of a <a href="http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Acanthiza-reguloides">buff-rumped thornbill</a>, then the cuckoo mimics the sound of buff-rumped thornbill nestlings. The cunning cuckoo tunes its mimetic begging call to the sound that elicits the most food from its host, allowing it to parasitise more than one species. </p>
<p>Other species seem to use vocal mimicry to deceive predators and so avoid being eaten themselves. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56704/original/ytzjrh5h-1408353090.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Burrowing owl chicks mimic the rattle of a rattle snake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Vernon/Wikimedia Commons (left) ; Matthew P. Rowe (right)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the Americas, the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/burrowing_owl/id">burrowing owl</a> lays its eggs in tunnels in the ground where the young are vulnerable predators. However, when disturbed, burrowing owl chicks produce a distinctive call that is strangely similar to the rattle of a rattlesnake. Experiments have shown that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1986.tb00605.x/abstract">this mimetic rattle deters other animals</a> from entering burrows.</p>
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<iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/163614579&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>
<p>There are several other reports of incubating adults or nestling birds producing snake-like hiss calls when disturbed. It has also been suggested that nestlings of an American woodpecker, the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_flicker/id">northern flicker</a>, imitate the buzz of a hive of bees in order to survive an encounter with a predator.</p>
<h2>Seduction songs</h2>
<p>Some of the most spectacular examples of avian vocal mimicry are of birds that imitate multiple species during sexual display. Such species include the two species of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrebird">lyrebird</a> of Australia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth-billed_bowerbird">tooth-billed bowerbirds</a> from Queensland, and the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_mockingbird/id">northern mockingbird</a> of North America. </p>
<p>During the breeding season, the males of these species sing long, loud bouts of the imitations of the songs and calls of other birds, which they deliver from song perches or carefully constructed display platforms. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/el8hSgA3vPA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A male superb lyrebird on one of his display mounds mimicking the birds of his forest. Dalziell & Welbergen, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia, June 2014.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such mimicry can be extraordinary, both for the sheer number of different sounds mimicked and for its accuracy. The superb lyrebird, for example, can produce mimicry to a level of accuracy that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347212001248">even the bird it imitates is confused</a>. </p>
<p>Currently, the best evidence that birds use <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/5/463.full.pdf+html">vocal mimicry to entice mates</a> comes from studies of satin bowerbirds, found in eastern Australia. </p>
<p>Satin bowerbirds attract females with an elaborate display involving a decorative bower and a performance that includes vocal mimicry. Females prefer to mate with males that can accurately mimic a large number of different species of bird. Perhaps female bowerbirds can assess the male’s genetic quality through his prowess in vocal mimicry. </p>
<p>Australia has many avian vocal mimics, leading the early 20th century writer Alec Chisholm to suggest that this continent might have <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1932.tb00352.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false">more than its fair share</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed it is likely that some Australian <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/3/367.abstract">species of avian mimics sometimes mimic each other</a>. An avian soundscape populated by mimics is fascinating to contemplate. </p>
<p>The next time you go for a bushwalk, you might want to listen back to the birds you come across – are they honestly singing their own tune, or have they stolen someone else’s?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30195/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anastasia Dalziell is affiliated with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library and Bioacoustics Research Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Welbergen receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Environment Research Program.</span></em></p>From Roman classics to British tabloids, humans have long celebrated the curious and remarkable ability of birds to imitate the sounds of humans and other animals. A recent surge of research is revealing…Anastasia Dalziell, Postdoctoral Associate, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell UniversityJustin A. Welbergen, Senior Lecturer - Animal Ecology, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/258332014-04-25T05:16:49Z2014-04-25T05:16:49ZRavens have social abilities previously only seen in humans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46845/original/78rt2bh5-1398177136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't even go there, girlfriend! </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-172970267/stock-photo-common-raven-corvus-corax.html?src=UGc8I2jw0GvjYS6Fw_dNQg-3-58"> KOO/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans and their <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebaboon/social_life.html">primate cousins</a> are well known for their intelligence and social abilities. You hear them called bird-brained, but birds have demonstrated a great deal of intelligence in many tasks. </p>
<p>However, little is known about their social skills. A <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4679">new study</a> shows that ravens are socially savvier than we give them credit for. They are able to work out the social dynamics of other raven groups, something which only humans had shown the ability to do.</p>
<h2>Bullying in the community</h2>
<p>Jorg Massen and his colleagues of the University of Vienna wanted to find out more about about bird’s social skills, so they studied ravens, which live in <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3518779/">social groups</a>. In their study, published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4679">Nature Communications</a>, they looked at whether ravens were intelligent enough to understand relationships in their own social groups, as well as if they could figure out social groups that they had never been a part of.</p>
<p>Ravens within a community squabble over their ranking in the group, as higher ranked ravens have better access to food and other resources. Males always outrank females and confrontations mostly occur between members of the same sex.</p>
<p>These confrontations are initiated by high-ranking ravens, who square up to low-ranking birds and emit a specific call to assert their dominance. Normally, the lower-ranking, or submissive, raven typically makes a specific call to recognise the high-ranking raven’s social superiority. Through this process, the dominant raven ensures that its social position is maintained.</p>
<p>But sometimes, the lower-ranking bird does not respond in a submissive way to a dominance call – this is known as dominance reversal call. These situations often result in confrontations, and can result in changes in the social structure of raven communities.</p>
<p>Massen and his team kept a group of captive ravens and made recordings of conflicts. These included normal conflicts (in which the lower-ranking bird responded submissively to a dominance call) and dominance reversal conflicts. The same method was also used to capture the calls from a different group ravens that were housed separately.</p>
<p>Individual ravens were then taken from the group and isolated in a separate enclosure. The recordings of different calls were then played, mimicking a situation in nature where a raven overhears two other ravens in a confrontation.</p>
<p>Massen said: “We monitored their responses to these calls to see if they reacted differently to normal dominance calls and dominance reversals. We also used the recordings taken from the foreign group, to see if our ravens recognised the same behaviour in other communities.”</p>
<h2>Relationship stress</h2>
<p>When presented with a dominance reversal recording taken from their own group, ravens displayed behaviour associated with stress, because they expected a disturbance in the social order. This stress is typically expressed by the raven either running around or pecking at its own feathers.</p>
<p>Ravens showed even higher levels of stress when they were played a dominance reversal call from members of the same sex. This makes sense, because ranking disputes only occur between members of the same sex. A confrontation between two females, for example, would not have a big effect on the social status of a male raven – but would affect any females who were listening.</p>
<p>Female ravens in general were more stressed than males when they were played dominance reversal recordings. This may be because females are always lower ranked than males, so changes in community structure pose more risks to females at the bottom, which have reduced access to food in the first place.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47031/original/jj8b58cx-1398356542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bird-brained? Maybe not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-103440434/stock-photo-croaking-black-raven-portrait-on-natural-brown-background.html?src=UGc8I2jw0GvjYS6Fw_dNQg-4-12">Csehak Szabolcs</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Television watching skills</h2>
<p>But perhaps the most impressive finding was that ravens seemed to notice dominance reversals in a foreign group of ravens, although they exhibited less stress than when they heard such calls from their own social community. To be sure that the ravens weren’t just recognising that call because it was an audibly different call, Massen played calls from a different community, which weren’t dominance reversal calls, and saw that the captive ravens were not stressed.</p>
<p>Massen said: “This shows that ravens are able to create a mental representation of relationship dynamics from groups they have never interacted with before, just like us when we watch television. This ability has not even been observed in monkeys yet.”</p>
<p>There are limitations. Alex Thornton of the University of Exeter explained: “The results in this study are no doubt exciting, but it should be recognised that captive ravens were used. Being kept in such close proximity, with only each other, may have influenced the ravens ability to judge each other’s behaviour.”</p>
<p>In addition to showing that ravens have social abilities that were previously only seen in humans, these findings give a clue that raven intelligence may have evolved along with the development of social communities. </p>
<p>“Being intelligent helps the ravens play the politics of their social group, and gain dominance. For example, understanding the rank of members of their group would help ravens know which birds to pick on, which ones to team up with and which ones to steer clear of during their quest for dominance,” Massen said.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Humans and their primate cousins are well known for their intelligence and social abilities. You hear them called bird-brained, but birds have demonstrated a great deal of intelligence in many tasks. However…Declan Perry, Assistant Section EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148242013-05-30T14:33:46Z2013-05-30T14:33:46ZGood grief, what’s with the crying game human beings?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24692/original/ccvd6kvf-1369905223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Much ado about something.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">bberburb</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are many qualities that <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Makes-Human-Charles-Pasternak/dp/1851685197">have been suggested</a> that separate human beings from other living species. These include tool making, an ability to dream and especially the development of highly sophisticated language skills. But as we learn more about animal life, the rudiments of such talents are described in other species. A truly distinguishing feature of our species is our ability to cry emotionally.</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Emotional-Lives-Animals-Scientist-Explores/dp/1577316290">anecdotal reports</a> of animals showing what we would refer to as grief, but Susan McCarthy and Jeffrey Masson show in their book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Elephants-Weep-Emotional-Animals/dp/0385314280">When Elephants Weep</a> that animals do not shed tears out of emotions. Tears have a biological purpose of keeping the eye moist. They are also packed with antibiotic substances helping minimise infections. They may even contain seductive pheromones, altering the sexual behaviour of one who gets too close. Yet elephants do not cry and no one has seen crocodile tears.</p>
<h2>Crying: strength or weakness?</h2>
<p>The ignominy of male tears has a long history. Greek hero Odysseus, on hearing the songs about the Trojan wars sung by Demodocus weeps, as Homer put it, like a woman. He hides his face from the rest of the company with his mantel, ashamed to be seen crying.</p>
<p>Crying is often seen as manipulative, a trick accredited mainly to women, as Shakespeare put it in The Taming of the Shrew:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And if the boy not have a woman’s gift To rain a shower of commanded tears, An onion will do well for such a shift.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The impression given is that crying is a female trait and associated with weakness, a theme repeated in various historical epochs. In plays and novels, the ideal tragic hero did not weep, being the paragon of the balance between reason and emotion. But I argue that crying tears is a precious human attribute with profound ethical implications.</p>
<h2>Let the tears speak</h2>
<p>Research on the when and why of emotional crying, such as that in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-Crying-Biopsychosocial-Biobehavioural-Perspectives/dp/1583912258">Adult Crying</a>, rehearses certain themes: separation, mourning, singing, institutional ceremony, religious occasions and such. Crying occurs in diverse places ranging from the church or temple to the theatre, from the concert or opera house to communal arenas such as the Olympic stadium. But most tears are shed at home, often alone or in the comfort of one other.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24697/original/rzcp2248-1369908221.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jay Hsu</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crying is how humans communicate suffering. It primarily yields knowledge about the emotional state of another.</p>
<p>Although crying without tears is normal before about three months of age, the eventual release of tears, and the response of a mother to such a signal, have obvious benefits for the growing infant. The patterns of such early behaviour endure, becoming more controlled in adulthood, but which can be released by appropriate stimuli at any time in life. The reaction to separation or the loss of attachment is basic to all of us and may not change much from the age of 12 months to death.</p>
<p>In my book <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9742556/Why-Humans-Like-to-Cry-by-Michael-Trimble-review.html">Why Humans Like to Cry</a>, I suggest that crying to emotional events must have both evolutionary and neuroscientific explanations. It is the case that people cry when they observe others crying, as they laugh when others laugh. This could be just imitation, but it is more often than not linked with the appropriate feeling. </p>
<p>Based on arguments that only humans cry tears emotionally, in the book I have described differences between brain circuits that regulate emotions comparing the human brain to what is known about chimpanzee anatomy. These nerve pathways also give us “gut feelings”, which are so intimately bound in with sadness, grief and crying. This circuitry also links with brain structures that allow us to not only imagine the future, but to have memories attached to emotions.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that our ability to cry is closely linked with empathy. Mirror neurons have been identified that respond to the emotional expressions of others. Seeing others in pain evokes a sensation we refer to as empathy and is closely bound with this is compassion.</p>
<p>At one point in our evolutionary history, awareness of self and of the other became a part of our consciousness. From a neuroscientific perspective we have developed the ability to feel the sadness of others and to cry emotional tears. We need not be ashamed of our biological cultural heritage, even those men among us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Trimble does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are many qualities that have been suggested that separate human beings from other living species. These include tool making, an ability to dream and especially the development of highly sophisticated…Michael Trimble, Emeritus Professor in Behavioural Neurology, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/73942012-06-07T03:26:22Z2012-06-07T03:26:22ZCanine and able: how dogs made us human<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11497/original/xgwswc87-1339033197.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C203%2C949%2C627&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Our relationship with four-legged friends has brought many benefits.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">JDEN</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What role have dogs played in human evolution? Woof … now there’s a question.</p>
<p>Anthropologist <a href="http://www.anthro.psu.edu/faculty_staff/shipman.shtml">Pat Shipman</a>, in a recent issue of American Scientist, <a href="http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/do-the-eyes-have-it/1">suggests</a> dogs gave our human ancestors an advantage over Neanderthals when they arrived in Europe. </p>
<p>Dogs, she argues, made a real difference to the success of the hunt. They respond to human communication - even to the direction in which our eyes are turned. She also points out <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440311003499">dog remains have been found</a> – (<a href="http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/do-the-eyes-have-it/2">controversially</a>) – in sites in Belgium, the Czech Republic and as far east as the Altai Mountains in Siberia, going back as far as 33,000 years. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1344&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11478/original/b9vgy53d-1338972951.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1344&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museo Nacional del Prado (online gallery)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course Shipman, who works at Penn University, is not the first to have suggested a close relationship with dogs provided an advantage for humans. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/default.htm">Catalyst</a> presenter <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/team/jonicanewby.htm?site=catalyst">Dr Jonica Newby</a>, in her 1997 book The Pact for Survival, proposed more or less the same thing, citing the then-unpublished work of veterinarian and author <a href="http://compositeconversationalist.com/about-the-author/">David Paxton</a>.</p>
<p>Around the same time, I myself was impressed by <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9180076">a DNA study</a> by Vila and colleagues that seemed to suggest dogs had separated from wolves at least 150,000 years ago, and that they and we had begun to establish a symbiosis as long ago as that, leading even to humans’ sense of smell being reduced because our association with dogs had rendered it unnecessary. </p>
<p>“Dogs”, <a href="http://info.anu.edu.au/mac/Newsletters_and_Journals/ANU_Reporter/_pdf/vol_29_no_01/dogs.html">I wrote</a>, “acted as humans’ alarm systems, trackers and hunting aides, garbage disposal facilities, hot water bottles, and children’s guardians and playmates. Humans provided dogs with food and security. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11498/original/qxcx2ynk-1339033231.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Watson (kallmistuk)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>"The relationship was stable over 100,000 years or so, and intensified during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene">Holocene epoch</a> into mutual domestication. Humans domesticated dogs, and dogs domesticated humans.”</p>
<p>Now David Paxton, cited extensively by Newby, has <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=CWwVAWvwxrkC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=David+Paxton+Why+it's+0K+to+Talk+to+your+Dog:+Co-evolution+of+People+and+Dogs&source=bl&ots=RBoiaSW2HR&sig=eoHkXoKFnNV-pj_CAHIu1qe6mB8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cPXPT-KLDouUiQeGwrmSDA&ved=0CGUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=David%20Paxton%20Why%20it's%200K%20to%20Talk%20to%20your%20Dog%3A%20Co-evolution%20of%20People%20and%20Dogs&f=false">published his ideas himself</a>, going into some depth about such things as the loss of the sense of smell, and the advantage that dogs helped our ancestors to gain over Neanderthals.</p>
<p>It turns out that the “at least 150,000 years ago” date is wrong. The geneticist <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/science/biology/about_us/academic_staff/ho_simon/">Simon Ho</a> and his colleagues <a href="http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/7/1561.full">have found</a> the initial rate of DNA evolution appears to be extremely high, and slows down to the “molecular clock” rate only after 1m years or so. </p>
<p>They haven’t done the recalibration for the dog-wolf separation time, but under the conditions they set in their paper it has got to be less than 100,000 years. And the “sense of smell” idea will probably not hold either, because there are no wolves, so no potential ancestral dogs in Africa, where modern humans originated; yet the sense of smell is reduced (as I documented in my 1999 paper) in all humans, not just non-Africans. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11499/original/577zzymd-1339033280.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xanboozled</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So the human-dog symbiosis occurred in Eurasia, and dogs spread into Africa only after that. We don’t know how early this might have been, and it could indeed have been very early, so that it affected all modern human populations alike.</p>
<p>Where, actually, did this symbiosis occur, and when did it lead to domestication? Generally, it has been supposed that the dog is descended from the pale-footed wolf, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wolf">Canis pallipes</a>, which lives in the Middle East and India. On the other hand, the earliest apparent dogs come from Europe, inhabited then as now by the grey wolf, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_lupus">Canis lupus</a>.</p>
<p>It has also been argued that these early Eurasian dog-human associations were dissolved when the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Glacial_Maximum">Last Glacial Maximum</a> forced the human populations to contract back to warmer climates, so that after the recession of the ice ages the dog-human association would have had to have begun all over again. </p>
<p>I do not see why dog-human associations could not have moved south along with the human populations when the ice came. Indeed, there’s no reason why such a symbiosis could not have occurred independently in different parts of Eurasia – dogs could also have been exchanged between different human populations – the descendants of grey wolves and pale-footed wolves intermixing (they used to be regarded as just races of one species anyway).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/11500/original/w87rbwps-1339033321.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">mikebaird</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The final question is: when did the symbiosis become actual domestication? The earliest “real dogs”, that everyone would agree were domesticated, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/8405-dogs-dogs.html">are buried along with their human owners</a> in sites towards the end of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene">Pleistocene</a>: first at 14,000 years ago in Bonn-Oberkassel in Germany, and just a little later in the Middle East. </p>
<p>But these signs of domestication, and close companionship between humans and dogs, very obviously do not denote the actual beginning of human-dog association, and this is quite consistent with those early dogs that have been claimed 33,000 years ago.</p>
<p>But the principle holds: dogs have made a great deal of difference to us. In a way, as Pat Shipman and David Paxton alike have argued, they really have made us human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/7394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Groves does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What role have dogs played in human evolution? Woof … now there’s a question. Anthropologist Pat Shipman, in a recent issue of American Scientist, suggests dogs gave our human ancestors an advantage over…Colin Groves, Professor of Bioanthropology, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/49132012-01-24T19:37:27Z2012-01-24T19:37:27ZJury still out on whether cats are killers, but prison is on the cards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7056/original/rz4mnqfj-1327032667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pet cats are single-minded hunters, but are they wiping out native species?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">bolg/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In “<a href="http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Twa2Pud.html">The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson</a>”, Mark Twain equated keeping a cat to domestic bliss:</p>
<p><em>When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there – in sunny weather – stretched at full length, asleep and blissful, with her furry belly to the sun and a paw curved over her nose. Then that house was complete, and its contentment and peace were made manifest to the world by this symbol, whose testimony is infallible. A home without a cat – and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat – may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?</em></p>
<p>But not all pet cats sleep innocently in the sun all day. Many are accomplished hunters at some point in their lives. The cumulative effect of their occasional hunting is substantial wildlife mortality. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7064/original/sw6qb7xf-1327033625.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By bringing their prey home, cats make their hunting behaviour easier to research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cult Gigolo/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cats are renowned for bringing their prey home to their owners. Researchers have exploited this habit, using it to calculate predation mortality in local communities. By extrapolating the results, they calculated mortalities at a national level. These rough estimates suggest that pet cats kill 29.2 million birds and 57.4 million mammals annually in the UK, and 100 million birds annually in the USA. </p>
<p>In Australia, the type and number of prey taken vary with location. In warmer climates lizards are common prey, while elsewhere mammals and birds predominate. In large urban centres the prey are mainly introduced species such as house mice, starlings and sparrows, but rural cats or those with access to native bushland catch more native species. </p>
<p>Many people in the community are concerned and want to regulate cat ownership to reduce wildlife deaths. Others argue that mortality estimates are inflated or that pet cats take prey that would otherwise have died of other causes, deflecting attention from more serious causes of wildlife decline, especially habitat destruction.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7061/original/rjtttymc-1327033152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In warmer climates, lizards are common prey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">dsbnola/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Proponents of cat regulation point to the increasing importance of urban environments for wildlife conservation and the need to reduce mortality of the wildlife they contain. In the highly urbanised UK, for example, domestic gardens cover a greater area than the country’s wildlife reserves. They include around a quarter of all the trees outside woodlands. </p>
<p>In Australia, gardens and bushland reserves in built-up areas are important habitat for threatened species susceptible to cat predation; these include the legless lizard <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1649">Delma impar</a>, in suburban Canberra, and the <a href="http://www.zoo.org.au/eastern-barred-bandicoot">eastern barred bandicoot</a> in Hamilton, Victoria. </p>
<p>However, it is also true that pet cats generally take common vertebrates, and these persist in cities despite predation (although more serious problems may arise near remnant native vegetation and on urban fringes). Furthermore, studies attributing wildlife population declines to pet cats also identify larger mortalities from other factors such as road traffic, or acknowledge that cat predation may be removing animals that would otherwise perish from different causes. There is also the possibility that pet cats hold rodents in check, preventing them from preying on bird eggs and nestlings. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7059/original/s4fx2pps-1327032672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cats may kill species that threaten other species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MotoWebMistress/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To further complicate interpretation, wildlife may respond differently to pet cats in different localities. For example, there is concern about declines in starlings in the UK because of heavy predation by pet cats, whereas in eastern Australia starlings thrive despite being common prey of pet cats.</p>
<p>Regardless of the controversy, owners who wish to reduce predation by their cats have plenty of options. Collar-worn predation deterrents may be the solution for free-roaming pet cats. They include the old staple of a bell on the collar, electronic devices that chime at short intervals or when a cat pounces, coloured ruffs around the collar that warn birds away and flaps of material called pounce protectors that interfere with paw-eye coordination when the cat pounces. </p>
<p>Despite scepticism from some owners, controlled experiments demonstrate that many of these devices work. They don’t always stop an individual cat from hunting altogether, but they often reduce the number of prey captured. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7062/original/jb47xfx3-1327033255.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pounce protectors may not stop a cat hunting, but they reduce its success.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">feverblue/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Confining cats at night reduces predation on nocturnal fauna, although birds and many lizards are vulnerable by day. Day-time curfews may be a solution for owners concerned about native birds and reptiles, especially if they live in areas where the only local small mammals are introduced ones like mice and rats. </p>
<p>Keeping cats confined at all times protects all fauna, but is unpopular with owners. Nevertheless, it protects cats from the serious risks of road accidents and fighting injuries that are major causes of cat illness and death.</p>
<p>We await definitive experiments that will tell us if predation by pet cats reduces wildlife populations. But we believe that the increasing importance of urban environments for wildlife conservation and the undeniable fact that many pet cats hunt warrants precautionary action. Owners can use predation deterrents or consider partial or total confinement of their cats. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/4913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Calver receives funding from City of Melville, Western Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Dickman receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Lilith received funding from Armadale City Council during her PhD on topic of pet cats..</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacky Grayson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In “The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson”, Mark Twain equated keeping a cat to domestic bliss: When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there – in sunny weather…Mike Calver, Associate Professor in Biological Sciences, Murdoch UniversityChris Dickman, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, University of SydneyJacky Grayson, Postgraduate student in the School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch UniversityMaggie Lilith, Lecturer, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/30362011-08-25T04:17:59Z2011-08-25T04:17:59ZBreed blame-game: banning Pit Bulls won’t work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3148/original/aapone-20110818000338602179-australia-animals-dog-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Four year-old Ayen Chol died after being attacked by a neighbour's pit bull cross (AFP PHOTO/William WEST)</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The recent death of four year-old, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/pitbull-owners-stood-back-and-watched-it-attack-ayen-chol-claim-family/story-e6frfkvr-1226117867049">Ayen Chol</a> from a pit bull attack has again prompted calls to <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/editorials/ted-baillieu-must-ban-dangerous-dogs-now-editorial/story-e6frfhqo-1226117369979">ban</a> the breed.</p>
<p>But instead of focusing on a particular breed, or responding to single events as they occur, and reacting emotively, we need to systematically examine all of the circumstances surrounding dog bite incidents. We need better data and reporting, and better education for parents, dog owners and the general public on how best to avoid a dog bite incident.</p>
<h2>How many dog attacks are there?</h2>
<p>The full extent of dog bite injury in Australia is difficult to measure as there are no reporting requirements. </p>
<p>There are data available on deaths. Hospital-treated dog bite injury is available through emergency department presentation data and hospital admissions data. But comprehensive data on medical practitioner treated injury and non-medically treated injury are not available.</p>
<p>Until the recent tragic death of Ayen Chol, no dog bite related deaths in Victoria have been attributed to a dog identified as a pit bull or pit bull cross. </p>
<p>My ongoing research has found that since 1979, there have been over 33 dog bite related deaths in Australia, 11 of these in Victoria. Only one other dog involved in a death in Australia has previously been described as a pit bull cross dog.</p>
<h2>Pit Bull confusion</h2>
<p>In Australia, the word “pit bull” has loosely been used to describe purebred American Pit Bull Terriers or crosses. In other parts of the world, it is more often used as a generalised description to describe a type of dog, such as one might use the terms gundog or spaniel. </p>
<p>In the United States, the term is used to describe the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, English Bull Terrier, English Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bulldogs, crosses of them and any dog that looks anything like any of those breeds. </p>
<p>The owners of Staffordshire Bull Terriers in Australia may be surprised to hear that their breed is banned in many parts of the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3159/original/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier_-_Seated.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the Pit Bull breeds – an American Pit Bull Terrier.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More information needed</h2>
<p>Within Australia there are no reliable statistics available on the breed of dogs involved in attacks mainly because breed identification based on the appearance of a dog is likely to be inaccurate, even when experienced observers are involved. </p>
<p>It is also possible that a dog may look like a pit bull type dog when it is not. Even if breed identification was reliable, accurate breed denominator data are not available to allow estimation of breed-specific bite injury rates. </p>
<p>There is no scientifically sound evidence to suggest that the targeted breeds feature disproportionally in dog bite injury statistics.</p>
<h2>Breed confusion would make a ban difficult</h2>
<p>If you cannot reliably identify a dog’s breed background (and cross breed dogs add a further dimension), laws targeting breeds will never work, regardless of whether you think the original justification is valid. </p>
<p>The issue of breed identification in dog attacks is further complicated, and errors potentially increased, by reliance on media reports for breed identification. </p>
<p>Selective and sensationalistic reporting by the media may also misrepresent the role of breed in dog bite injury, as well as potentially encouraging irresponsible ownership. This frames the issue as a breed problem when, in fact, it isn’t a breed problem but a human problem.</p>
<p>It is also possible that case detection bias exists with victims of some breeds more likely to report bite incidents. This may result in spurious association between biting and those breeds. Some biting dogs are misidentified as being of a particular breed or type because “they are the ones that bite”.</p>
<h2>Protecting children</h2>
<p>Knee-jerk reactions by governments do not tend to create good public policy. We do not need any more laws or restrictions that are doomed to failure from the onset. We need a strategy based on the best research evidence that we have to hand.</p>
<p>Breed bans simply do not address other recurrent patterns associated with dog attacks such as irresponsible or uneducated dog ownership.</p>
<p>Measures taken need to address human ownership practices, as dogs of many breeds and crosses feature in dog attacks. No single, or even group of breeds, have been shown to account for the majority of dog attacks in Australia.</p>
<p>The best way to prevent children being injured is to have approach that considers all possible factors, as is the case with almost every other injury issue. </p>
<p>This approach should include strategies targeted towards the general public, dog owners, parents and dogs. Enforcement of existing control and leash laws and education and knowledge will help. It is important children are supervised with dogs. These essential measures will enhance responsible ownership of any breed or cross breed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Watson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The recent death of four year-old, Ayen Chol from a pit bull attack has again prompted calls to ban the breed. But instead of focusing on a particular breed, or responding to single events as they occur…Linda Watson, Research Fellow, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.