Scientists know that humans, chimpanzees, and other primates can convey surprising amounts of information by means of a glance and tilt of the head. But what about animals with eyes on the sides of their heads, like deer and horses? What kind of social cues do they use to communicate?
Now, mammal communication experts report that, at least for horses, a great deal of information is conveyed through the position of the animal’s ears as well as its eyes.
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Author Jennifer Wathan is shown with study participant Bartie.
What can humans learn from meerkats? More than you might imagine.
A provocative new study shows that, among meerkats and other social animals, conflict yields better decisions about shared goals, such as foraging and avoiding predators. And the researchers behind the study — in which existing scientific literature was used to create a complex model of decision-making — think something similar to this so-called “swarm intelligence” may play out in the human realm as well.
“Our results showed that shared decisions, made by animals without conflict, were often surprisingly poor,” study co-author Dr. Christian List, professor of political science and philosophy at the London School of Economics, said in a written statement. “It’s possible that this could be applicable to human collective decision making and would provide a strong argument for not excluding different or minority factions from collective decisions.”
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