Conformities in human and animal nature
Take the brown bear that has to ride a bicycle in the circus, or a lovebird that "speaks" — people like to say that these are human characteristics. But in fact there are species that share more of us than we think.
Tools
Chimpanzees have had a knack for dealing with tools for a long time. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig have found evidence in West Africa proving that chimpanzees have been cracking nuts with stone tools for the last 4,300 years.
Call by name
British scientists have shown that bottlenose dolphins call their mates using individual whistling patterns. In other words, dolphins use something that is comparable to our names. Apparently, they develop their individual series of whistles as a signature at a very young age.
Fishing
New Caledonian crows (not pictured) seem to have the ability to invent tools. In 2002, the magazine Science reported on a crow bending a straight wire into a hook to fish food from a vessel.
Long-term memory
Pigs can learn certain behavior by observing their relatives. That's what scientists from Vienna found while working with Kune Kune pigs. The animals were also able to repeat what they learned half a year later, thus proving a long-lasting memory.
Keeping farm animals
Ants keep plant lice as farm animals to harvest a sweet nectar that the lice secrete. To make sure they do as their masters want, the ants use a chemical substance, with which they force the lice to move slower, thus make it impossible for them to escape.
Self-awareness
Pigeons can do something that humans must develop over a couple of years: they are among the few animals that recognize themselves in a mirror. This self-awareness is an important piece of evidence in distinguishing intelligent animals from instinctively acting ones.
Social life
Two orca populations near Canada's west coast are apparently maintaining a 700,000-year-old culture. The so-called "Residents" and "Transients" share the same habitat temporarily. However, they do not mate and rely on different food. Transients traditionally eat mammals; the Residents eat fish. Surprisingly they do not deviate from their habits even in times of need.