This might be one of the most interesting TEDTalks I’ve seen in a while. It’s pretty clear that these animals are way more aware than you’d think. Their behavior is extremely human like. It’s fascinating to watch.
From the “you can’t make this stuff up department” over at LifeScience:
Previous studies have shown that humans slow down their speech when talking to babies, and the Japanese researchers speculated that viewing the cute images may have had a similar effect — slowing the behavior of the students who saw the cute baby animal images and improving their accuracy in the game. In addition, the researchers suspect the baby-animal group got a boost in nurturing feelings, something that would likely benefit performance in the care-related task that involved helping someone (even if that someone was an anthropomorphic game board).
So now you have an excuse to look at /r/aww. Here are some monkeys to help you work.
Ongoing debate with a coworker over dog vs. monkey. I feel a monkey is superior (no surprise there). This video suggests they can coexist together… at least when tiny.
Here’s a sea otter stacking cups. I didn’t realize they were so intelligent.
For no particular reason other than it’s the internet and cats of all sizes own it. Here’s a set of vintage photos (1944) of tiger cubs being raised at the Bronx Zoo. Looks like they were from Life. Keep in mind these little guys grew up and could bite your head off long ago.
