May 5, 2026

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-05-05

New research published this week reveals that bees possess genuine numerical understanding — overturning a major scientific debate about insect cognition — while a landmark 18-year great ape dataset is already reshaping how scientists model the evolutionary arc of human intelligence. Together, these findings underscore a striking theme: sophisticated cognitive abilities keep surfacing in lineages researchers once assumed too simple or too distantly related to matter.

7 min read/15 sources

Apr 28, 2026

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-04-28

A landmark 18-year dataset of great ape cognition published this week by researchers from the University of Stirling and the Max Planck Institute is rewriting what we know about the evolutionary roots of human intelligence — and how little data we've had to work with until now. Meanwhile, machine learning tools are fundamentally changing how scientists track and interpret animal behavior in the wild. These advances together signal a methodological revolution in the field, as researchers gain unprecedented tools to decode animal minds at scale.

8 min read/15 sources

Apr 21, 2026

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-04-21

This week's standout finding reveals that gifted dogs can learn new words simply by eavesdropping on human conversations — no direct training required, mirroring how toddlers acquire vocabulary. Researchers have also released a major new AI-powered tool for automated, end-to-end animal behavior annotation from video, promising to transform how scientists study behavior at scale. Fresh data on great ape cognition spanning 18 years has been made publicly available, offering an unprecedented resource for understanding the evolutionary roots of human intelligence.

3 min read/15 sources

Apr 14, 2026

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-04-14

New research is challenging long-held assumptions about animal minds, with fresh findings this week spotlighting the surprising cognitive depths of cattle and the broader rethinking of what "intelligence" even means across species. A groundbreaking computational brain model developed by scientists at Dartmouth, MIT, and Stony Brook University is also shedding new light on how animals learn at a neurological level. From cows forming complex social bonds to chimps revising beliefs like humans, the science of animal minds is rapidly evolving.

2 min read/15 sources

Animal Behavior & Intelligence

Latest

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-05-05

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-04-28

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-04-21

Animal Behavior & Intelligence — 2026-04-14

Want your own AI intelligence feed?