20 Things That Animals Do That Prove They Are More Similar To Humans Than We Thought
Animals around the world, big or small, never cease to amaze us. Scientists estimate that there are nearly two million species of animals on earth today and even more that we don't know about. With all that variety out there, surely humans must have some stuff in common, right?
We might think we're the top of the food chain, but these strange similarities between us and some pretty weird animals are hitting way too close to home.
African Buffalo Vote
African buffalo display democracy in the best way possible. A herd of buffalo will vote for where the herd should travel next. They vote, one-by-one, by standing up, looking in the direction they want to travel, and sitting back down.
Oh, and did we mention that only adult females get to vote? African buffalos seem like they've got things figured out. They have the women and mothers of the herd calling the shots and they know that democracy is way better than having a dictatorship. Maybe some of our societies should take notes.
Koalas Keep Eating What They Shouldn't
According to scientists, koalas should not be eating their favorite foods. A koala's favorite food is the leaves of the eucalyptus tree but they're actually really bad for them. Koalas have to eat by grinding the food down with the teeth, but eucalyptus leaves are surprisingly hard to grind up. Not only are they hard to grind, they're poisonous, low in carbs, and don't really provide any nutrition.
The koala refusing to give up eucalyptus leaves sounds like me refusing to give up ordering take out three times a week. Science tells us that animals only survive if they are the smartest, and the fittest, so then how are koalas still around?
There Are A Lot Of Gay Animals Out There
People seem to really, really hate the fact that a surprising amount of animals show homosexual tendencies, but it's just a fact of life. Biologist Bruce Bagemihl pioneered the study of homosexual tendencies and has shown homosexuality in more than 450 animal species, from swans to monkeys to fruit flies.
One of the most notable of these has been Ninio the gay elephant. Ninio loves to hand out with his fellow guy elephants and refuses to mate with the females, even hitting them with his trunk when they try to mate. The other animals didn't seem to care but some humans continue to criticize Ninio. Once again, maybe humans should take notes about accepting people (and elephants) the way they are.
Snow Monkeys Need Spa Days
Snow monkeys — also known as the Japan Macaques — have been long-time visitors to the Jigokudani Monkey Park hot springs. The females often take "spa days" in the hot springs and completely shrug off their normal animal responsibilities. The spa day apparently reduces the stress hormone and resets their mental health.
It may sound extra but women aren't the only ones who need to take spa days. The male equivalent is sitting back on the couch on Sundays and watching four different football games. I think we can all agree that we as an entire species are pretty extra.
Goats Have Accents
Young goats may not have a known language but they can pick up different goat accents as early as one week after being born. Goats can imitate different goat calls and sounds which essentially create a goat accent. Since goats are social creatures, their accents change over time and depending on the social group they're in.
This has shown scientists that goats are surprisingly similar to humans with language. Similar to humans, there seems to be a key period of time, usually when their young, that goats pick up their permanent accent. I wonder if an Australian goat accent is as sexy as the human version?
Sea Lions Can Keep A Beat
If you've got a spot to fill in your dance crew, consider filling it with a sea lion. The surprisingly adorable sea mammals were shown to be the first ever non-human mammal that can keep up with a beat and follow a dance. Biologists in California rescued a sea lion, Ronan, in 2009 and noticed when they played music she could move and keep time with the beat.
She mostly just bobs her head along with the beat, so maybe she's a secret Metallica fan. Even if it's just head bobbing it's official: even a sea lion can dance better than me.
Wild Chimps Are Big Drinkers
It's not that shocking that our closest relatives also love to crack open a cold one and kick back after a long week. Wid chimps in Guinea will drink sap from palm trees that have about 3% alcohol content.
It's not just in the wild either. When given a choice between a non-alcoholic drink and an alcoholic drink, primates seem to love the booze. In a test, one in twenty monkeys officially became binge drinkers, drinking enough that they would pass out. These monkeys really make you rethink those weekends that you spend at the bar.
Male Lemurs 'Stink Fight'
Boys will be boys. Ring-tailed lemurs are very social creatures, living in groups of 20 or 30, and everyone knows that social groups often spell conflict. In order to get the girl and mark their territory, the males in a group will engage in a "stink fight." The males have scent glands which produce a thick brown substance with an awful odor. They drag their tails through the stinky substance then flick it at another male to say, "back off."
The stink fights can last hours and go on until one of the males back down. We're not trying to make any connections here... but this sounds like something guys would do.
Cows Have BFFs
Not only do cows have best friends, they get stressed and depressed if they spend too long apart. Scientists have proven that a cow's heart rate and cortisone levels will spike if they spend too much time alone. The levels go to normal when they're with other cows, but when they are with their BFF, then they have the healthiest resting heart rate and cortisone levels.
Studies in humans have found basically the same thing. Even if you're socially anxious, spending time with a preferred person can be extremely beneficial to your health. A.k.a. get off the couch and go see your best friend.
Horses Communicate With Facial Expressions
Horses may not look like they can express much with their faces, but according to studies, they actually express a lot of emotion with their eyes and ears. Horses don't seem to have much verbal communication and instead use ear twitches and eye glances to tell other horses important horse info, like where the food is, if there is a predator nearby, or which way to travel.
If a horse can say all that with just a glance of his eyes, then they clearly miscast Jim on The Office.
Male Sparrows Have Side Chicks
It's not only human women who will do anything they can to get their man. Male house sparrows aren't monogamous but the females want them to be (shocking). Males will mate with several females to produce offspring and some females will go find the nest of her man's side chick and take a Louisville slugger to them.
The female sparrow will kill the other female's young and destroy the nest to remove the competition. The female sparrow does that so the male will spend more time with her and help raise her chicks.
Some Cats Are Allergic To YOU
The only things that can get people arguing faster than whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza is whether cats or dogs are better. A lot of people hate cats because they can be cold, selfish, or nasty and many avoid them due to allergies. But one study has shown that cats can actually be allergic to you.
Often they're not allergic to humans but rather the chemicals that humans put on their skin. So maybe next time a cat hisses at you, consider that it may be for a good reason.
Dolphins Have Names
At one point we've all stopped to ask ourselves, "do animals have names for each other too?" What if your cat Mr. Fuffy Pants was actually named Fred and you had no idea? Well, dolphins seem to prove all our fears right, because they have names for each other.
Bottlenose dolphins have shown that they give themselves a unique call sound, and copy back the unique sounds of other dolphins, essentially giving each other unique names. In linguistics, they call it "vocal copying" but we know it better as simply introducing yourself as "Joe the dolphin."
Owls Get Divorced
Love is dead, even the owls know it. Barn owls are a naturally monogamous species but, like humans, they know love doesn't last and nearly 25% of the barn owls get "divorced." It may sound sad, but it seems that the owls only divorce when they are having trouble breeding and that the split is mutual, so no one is cheating on the other one.
What is clear is that the female leaves the nest, so she might be the one seeking a new partner quicker, but at the same time, younger males are more like to "divorce" than older males. Whatever the reason, at least it isn't due to irreconcilable differences.
Ants Are In A Turf War
If you thought the biggest turf war to see the United States was Biggie vs Tupac, think again. Two ant colonies are going head-to-head and it's a continent-wide turf war. The Argentine Ant became an invasive species in California in 1910 and has grown into a supercolony since, expanding across the states until they ran into another supercolony, the Asian Needle Ant.
The two colonies have been known to battling it out for trees and square footage since 2009 and neither seems to be slowing down. Like humans, ants seem to take what they want without looking back.
Honeybees Can Get STDs
Bees, like many humans, have multiple partners in their life. The head of a bee colony, the queen bee, can mate with hundreds of bees in just an hour but that also means that the entire bee colony can transmit sexually transmitted diseases. These aren't the same STDs that humans think of, but rather they are parasite diseases.
Luckily, scientists have proven that the STDs passed between bees don't transfer to their offspring. If science can figure out how to test bee semen for STDs then we're sure they can figure out how to create little bee condoms to protect the colonies.
Brown Trout Fake Their Orgasms
In 2002, Swedish biologists found that in almost 50% of their sexual encounters, female brown trout were faking their orgasms. According to the scientists, the females would fake their orgasms in order to make the male prematurely ejaculate so that the male will swim off and think they had successfully mated. Promptly after this, the female swims off to find a more suitable mate.
The scientists didn't exactly open up about how the female brown trout do it, but we can only assume its just as entertaining as Meg Ryan's famous scene in When Harry Met Sally.
A Dog Went To Jail
The United States (sadly) boasts the top spot in the world for incarceration rate and holds nearly a quarter of the world's jailed population, and one member of that population was a dog. Pep the dog was sentenced to life in prison in Pennsylvania after chewing the sofa cushions of the Governor, Gilford Pinchet.
Pinchet had the black Labrador retriever sentenced to life in the Eastern State Penitentiary where he actually became a therapy dog to many prisoners inside. I don't know what this did for Pinchet's reellection compaign, but there's no way it would have helped.
Male Puppies Are Gentlemen
Researchers studying puppy play fighting have shown that often times, male puppies willingly let themselves get into compromising positions in order to let the other pup win or learn better fighting techniques, but only if the other pup is a female.
Male puppies will do this to allow the females to learn fighting techniques that will help in the future because it has been shown that female vs female fighting is often more aggressive. This tactic isn't too far off of when the older brother let his sister win when fighting just to show her she can do it.
Macaques Love Snowball Fights
Animals have really taken to the 21st century and as cities expand, the animals have been figuring out how to navigate their way around urban centers. Videos have surfaced that show macaques in Japan taking coins from wallets and the ground and using them to buy snacks from vending machines.
The weird similarities don't stop there. Macaques also really enjoy making snowballs and tormenting each other with them. It seems like these monkeys must be taking tips from a clever group of kids.
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