In the last post, the social implications of the neuropeptides vasopressin and oxytocin were synthesized in order to question their role in the occurrence of monogamy. In this post, the focus will be on steroid hormones such as testosterone and…
Month: April 2019
Where art thou?
Navigation is vital to the survival of many of the world’s creatures. Most animals possess multiple sensory systems to assist them in navigating the world (Schumancher et al. 2017). Electric fish are no exception to this rule. Navigation, like communication,…
Working Hard, Sniffing Harder
In the previous post, we discussed the olfactory world of the dog, a world which is populated by millions of scents and odors that humans will never be able to detect. Today, we are going to look at how this…
Fish – Navigation in an Extra Dimension
Fish exist in a completely different environment than humans. Although humans can jump or sit on the ground, we don’t have the ability to naturally fly, meaning we don’t traditionally think in terms of navigating up or down. However, fish…
Interview With a Manatee Researcher!
This week, we will be talking about manatee vibrissae and how different they are from some of the other species we have reported on so far. Much of the information here comes directly from a researcher who studies animal behavior…
The Aggressive Side of the “Love Molecule”
In the previous posts, a broad overview of the evolution of monogamy was described. Sexual behavior and parental care were compared in several different classes of animals, and different theories for the evolution of monogamy were discussed. These were ultimate…
The Case Of The Web-Jacking Wasp
What kind of good-for-nothing wasp can’t even build its own cocoon?
An Olfactory World
During the past two weeks, we’ve discussed the evolution from wolf to dog, and the powerful communication that can exist between human and canine. Today, we’re going to dive deeper into the inner world of dogs by examining their olfactory…
Path Integration in Mammals
The last two posts have focused on the navigation methods of non-mammals, such as birds and insects, which may be a little bit difficult to fully relate to. But today, we will be discussing mammals, including humans, as the navigation…
Rodent Vibrissae
Hello, fellow neuroethologists! This week, I will be discussing the whisker sensorimotor system in rodents, which has been studied quite well. Rodents collect the majority of the information they perceive from the environment through their whiskers by determining where and…