What ones have you heard?

OK obviously this applies to every animal but when I was with my cat it got me thinking

If you adopt a kitten who hasn't really been around other cats, how do they know typical cat behavior without learning from other cats, I know it's instincts but I don't understand how that works so can someone please explain 😭

Every autumn, European robins fly south at night. Many of them alone, many without ever having made the trip before. They use stars, landmarks, and the setting sun, but they can also orient by the Earth's magnetic field - and that part is a genuine problem, because the field is far too weak to be sensed by any ordinary chemistry inside a warm animal.

The leading explanation is the radical pair mechanism, first proposed by Klaus Schulten in the 1970s and developed by Thorsten Ritz and colleagues in 2000. Short version: when light hits a protein in the retina called cryptochrome, an electron jumps and leaves behind two unpaired electrons - a "radical pair." Their spins are correlated, and the correlation oscillates in a way that's sensitive to magnetic fields far too weak to do anything else in the cell. The magnetic field doesn't supply energy. It nudges the timing. That changes the ratio of two chemical products. Across a whole retina, that gives you a pattern. The bird doesn't feel the field the way we feel a smell. It may literally see it as a shading overlaid on ordinary vision.

The evidence I find most persuasive is a specific, weird prediction that held up: robins lose their magnetic compass under extremely weak radio-frequency oscillating fields — fields far too feeble to affect normal chemistry, but exactly what should scramble a fragile spin state. Henrik Mouritsen's group in Oldenburg showed this, and also showed that ambient urban electromagnetic noise disrupts the compass. When they moved the birds into electromagnetically screened huts, orientation returned.

Two things to keep honest:

1. Nobody has traced the mechanism end-to-end inside a living bird. Photon → protein → spin state → nerve signal → behaviour: that full chain has not been shown. This remains a very good hypothesis.
2. There's a rival - magnetite crystals, potentially in the beak, mechanically torqued by the field. Some evidence there hit trouble (one prominent study's "magnetite neurons" turned out to be immune cells). It's possible birds run both systems. It's possible the radical pair story is wrong.

I wrote a longer piece walking through the evidence ranking and Einstein's connection to all this (he hated the effect that this may be running on): https://thesilentape.substack.com/p/the-robins-compass

Curious what people think.

https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2026/08/one-young-wolf-two-close-encounters-and-a-journey-hundreds-of-miles-long.html

The story includes videos and photos from both encounters, plus interviews with the couples who saw OR-213 and some of Oregon’s leading wolf experts about where he came from, where he’s going and what his behavior means.

I learned something today!

There's this young skunk that I just saw prance to the side like a ferret, hopping across the parking lot to get to the food under the car I was in. It was adorable as fuck, the little fart demon. It made me wonder about taming them at a young age. Does anyone here have experience with this?

Let's face it if people want it as a pet, someone probably has/had one. I've seen weirder animals with owners.

I want opinions not science backed data, I know they say dogs can’t manipulate but I SWEAR some of them can. I have a jack Russell terrier/pitbull/something else mix who’s adopted. I’ve had him since he was a puppy he was nine months old, has always been too smart for his own good, and I was 9 when I got him so we sort of grew up together. hes now 9 years old, and has learned tactics that work on us, and I KNOW he thinks ahead and plans. For example, if hes on the couch and I’m trying to get him to come upstairs with me, he will literally pin my shoulders with his arms, hug me and give me puppy eyes so I don’t take him upstairs, and as soon as I stand up and back off he immediately stops and goes back to sleep because he knows his plan worked. I have also seen him leading my other dogs away from us if we have food so that he can come back and beg with all the attention on him, I SWEAR he knows what hes doing. I don’t think all dogs have these capabilities because I know my other two dogs don’t exhibit these behaviors, but I believe that some of them have to be able too.

TLDR: I’ve witnessed my dog using what appears to be manipulative tactics on us and our other dogs, that my other dogs don’t use, do you think it’s intentional? or do you really think its true dogs don’t have those capabilities?

I have a *cough* friend who smokes cannabis regularly, often in different settings.

He’s noticed that regardless of whether he smokes it in his back garden or the forest near his house, lighting up a joint seems to pique the curiosity of different types of animals.

When at the house, the neighbour’s cat usually makes its way into his garden to investigate (the next door neighbours’ dogs HATE it though and will bark continuously)

Likewise, if he smokes in natural surroundings, he notices squirrels and other wildlife a lot more often, seemingly lingering around the smell.

Is there any truth in the theory that certain types of animals enjoy the smell of weed, or at least they are curious about it?

Like would the tiger suddenly become more docile and the rabbit more aggressive

A common point of discussion around cats is that adult cats often have to learn to meow louder like kittens for humans to hear them. What I’m wondering is what factors drive adult cats to default to quieter meows?

Is it purely instinctual or is there some social pressure telling them to quiet down? Are older cats telling adolescent cats “Keep your voice down. You’re grown up now.”?

I’m a painter and I came across the popular claim that cats supposedly see humans as larger cats.

The claim itself doesn’t hold up very well, but tracing where it came from led me into animal perception, anthropomorphism and eventually human pareidolia.

I put the whole rabbit hole into this visual essay. Sources are included in the slides.

We know some animals, like elephants, great apes, and dolphins, can recognize themselves in mirrors, suggesting a level of self-awareness. But what about recognizing other animals in a mirror? If two elephants look into a mirror together, do they understand they’re seeing themselves and each other? Can they recognize other animal species in a mirror?

Also, researchers assume animals that fail mirror tests lack self-awareness - but what if they just have a different internal sense of self, one that doesn’t need a reflection to confirm it?

Researchers mark a spot on an elephant’s back, visible only via mirror. Elephants that pass don’t paw at the mirror - they reach for the mark on their own body. What exactly are we measuring here?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Also, does context matter? If animals grow up with mirrors, would they develop a deeper understanding of reflections?

What do you think? Are there studies on animals recognizing others in mirrors, and how does self-recognition vary across species?

Are these experiments really showing self-awareness, or could there be other explanations?

ABI (Animal Behavior Institute) graduates:

- Do you feel your program was worth the tuition cost?

- Has your certification helped you find a decent job?

- Which program(s) did you do and how long did it take you to complete your certificate(s)?

Thank you in advance for your answers. The more you are willing to elaborate, the better! :)

They don't drink to stay hydrated; they drink when they've already hit a mild dehydration threshold. By the time they go to the bowl, they're already behind.

I work at The Farmer's Dog and our research found dogs eating fresh food were taking in 20% more total water than kibble-fed dogs while actually drinking less from the bowl. Most of it was coming through the food itself. Kibble is only about 10% water, which may be part of why kibble-fed dogs seem to always be hovering around that bowl.

Do you add water to their food or have you noticed a difference after switching to fresh?

Licking releases endorphins and lowers cortisol. So when a dog is working a lick mat during something stressful, they're not just occupied; their nervous system is actually settling.

I work at The Farmer's Dog and this comes up a lot. A lick mat with something high value, frozen beforehand so it lasts longer, is one of the more practical things you can try for mild to moderate noise anxiety. Worth knowing not just for July 4th but any loud event — New Year's, local fireworks, thunderstorms.

Severe anxiety still needs a vet conversation. But for a lot of dogs this genuinely helps.

What do people actually do for their dogs during loud events?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently a second-year master's student studying behavior analysis, which is essentially the science of how learning and behavior are influenced by the environment. A lot of what I've learned involves understanding why behaviors happen, assessing what might be causing them, and creating individualized plans to help change behavior using evidence-based methods like positive reinforcement. I've realized that I genuinely love the science and problem-solving side of this work. I enjoy analyzing behavior, figuring out patterns, and developing plans to help improve outcomes.

The problem is that after spending over a year in a clinical internship working with people, I became extremely burned out and realized I don't enjoy the clinical setting itself. I also realized that I don't particularly enjoy working with children, which is the primary population in my field. It has made me wonder if it's the environment and population I'm working with, rather than the work of behavior analysis itself, that isn't the right fit for me. I've always loved animals and have always connected with them more naturally than people. Now I'm wondering if there's a career where I could use the same skills and principles to work with animals instead.

I'm interested in careers involving animal behavior, especially roles where I'd be assessing behavior, developing training or behavior modification plans, solving behavioral problems, or using evidence-based training methods. Some examples I've thought about are shelter behavior, service dog training, zoo or wildlife behavior, or animal behavior consulting, but I'm sure there are options I don't know about. Since my education has been focused almost entirely on human behavior, I'm not sure how to make the transition. Would volunteering at an animal shelter be the best place to start? Are there other careers or paths that sound like they might be a good fit based on what I enjoy?

I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have worked in animal behavior or anyone who has made a similar career change!!

In other words, do any non-human animals understand that death is an inevitable part of their future, rather than simply reacting to present danger? Is there evidence that they recognize their own mortality in the abstract…that one day their existence will come to an end?

Or is this degree of self-awareness, whether a gift or a burden, unique only to human animals? A level of consciousness that allows us not only to survive, but to contemplate our own inevitable nonexistence long before it arrives. And if so, could this uniquely human awareness of mortality explain the emergence of religion itself: our enduring attempt to find meaning, comfort, and continuity in the face of knowing that one day we will cease to be?

Something I came across working at The Farmer's Dog that I hadn't thought about before — a dog that used to spend 10 minutes sniffing everything on a walk and now just stands there isn't necessarily being lazy or tired. That kind of change in behavior is something vets actively watch for as a sign of cognitive decline.

There's actually an acronym vets use to evaluate it called DISHAA — disorientation, impaired social interactions, sleep disturbances, house soiling and memory changes, activity changes, and anxiety. Most people don't know this framework exists and end up attributing early signs to personality or age without realizing it might be worth flagging to a vet.

The earlier you catch it the more options you have. Specialized diets are one of the things vets recommend for managing it — which is part of why the connection between what dogs eat and how they age is something we think about a lot at TFD. We actually published research on how fresh food supports healthier aging at a metabolic level.

Did anyone know about DISHAA before or is this the first time coming across it?

Curious if anyone has an answer or insight to why cats and dogs seem to behave much differently when it comes to seeking shelter from the heat. The basements of my family’s homes are always 10+ degrees cooler than the rest of the house on hot days.

All of our cats seem to instinctually go down to the basement and sleep the day away in the nice cool air. The dogs never go down there. Even when we have tried coercing them with dog beds or treats or bones to “show” them it’s cooler, they’ll just pop right back upstairs.

It doesn’t matter if we’re home or at work so I don’t think it’s about the dogs wanting to be near the people. As we sit here watching the dogs panting and suffering, I just keep thinking WHY won’t you go lay on the cold basement cement floor and sleep like the comfy cats?!

There are lots of videos of kangaroos rotating their ears sideways but I need to know whether they can angle their ears up and down too? I've been trying to find a clip that shows this ability or a diagram of their head muscles or whatever but so far no luck. There are some still images of roos with 'floppy ears' but this is sometimes a result of emaciation or whatever. Does anyone know whether they can tilt their ears vertically?

There's apparently a meaningful difference between a dog that's physically worn out after a run and one that's actually mentally spent.  A 2021 study found that dogs not getting enough enrichment were more likely to behave in ways that resemble disordered hyperactivity. 

I work at The Farmer's Dog so we talk about dog behavior and enrichment a lot, which is how I ended up down this rabbit hole. One of the easiest ways we've seen people add mental enrichment without adding a walk is stuffing a Kong or spreading fresh food on a lick mat. The act of working for the food seems to do something a bowl doesn't.

Has anyone noticed that kind of activity ie, lick mats, puzzle feeders, sniff work, making more of a difference than physical exercise alone when it comes to actually settling a dog down?

Has anyone attended Virginia Tech in the applied animal behavior masters program? Looking for feedback on the courses, thesis projects, professors etc. Besides the cost, did you enjoy it? Was your undergrad in a similar field?