Tactile sense

Tactile sense includes the obvious sense of contact with another object, but also incorporates a bird's ability to sense air flow over its wings and a fish's sensitivity to water movements. Some creatures, such as the yapok and the star-nosed mole, have a highly sensitive sense of touch through specialised organs that they use in situations where eyes are of no use.

 

Eurasian lynx

The Eurasian lynx is the third largest predator in Europe after the brown bear and grey wolf. It is the largest of the four lynx species and a strict carnivore, consuming one or two kilograms of meat every day. This extremely efficient hunter uses fine-tuned stealth and pounce techniques to bring down animals four times its size, delivering a fatal bite to the neck or snout of an unsuspecting deer. During winter, its variably patterned coat is long and dense and large fur-covered paws help it move through deep snow. The Eurasian lynx is one of the widest ranging cats and is found in the forests of western Europe, Russia and central Asia.

 

Scientific name: Lynx lynx
Rank: Species

Common names:

• Common lynx,
• European lynx,
• Northern lynx,
• Russian lynx

Maternal care

Maternal care is where the mother of the offspring provides most or all of the effort needed to protect, feed or raise the young. In egg-laying species, maternal care includes looking after the eggs before the young hatch - for instance a mother crocodile guarding her clutch. In mammals, only the mother can provide the milk that youngsters are dependent on for the first part of their lives, so in many species all the primary care is done by the female, though males may play a part in defending or providing for the female.

Snow leopard

Snow leopards are exceptional athletes capable of making huge leaps over ravines. They are highly adapted to their harsh environment in the mountainous areas of central Asia, with long, thick body hair, a woolly belly and enlarged nasal cavities which heat inhaled cold air. Snow leopards are critically endangered since their fur was once highly prized and their natural prey has declined. They can bring down prey three times their own size, but on average only kill one large animal twice a month. 

 

Scientific name: Uncia uncia
Rank: Species

South American coati

South American coatis are omnivorous members of the raccoon family and have long mobile snouts, reddish fur and ringed tails. Male coatis were once thought to be a separate species from the females because of their solitary habits, and were called 'coatimundis'. The females live in highly social groups.

 

Scientific name: Nasua nasua
Rank: Species

Common names:

Ring-tailed coati

Fossa

Fossas are the largest carnivores in Madagascar. Secretive and cat-like, these predators are well equipped for chasing down lemurs in the forest. They are famed for having some strange development, courtship and breeding traits. As they grow, female fossas go through a period of 'masculinisation' during which their genitals resemble those of a male. Breeding takes place in the autumn when a female attracts a large number of males. A week later, she leaves and another female takes her place to mate with the assembled males.

 

Scientific name: Cryptoprocta ferox
Rank: Species

Asian golden cat

Asian golden cats are enigmatic and elusive forest predators whose population is difficult to estimate as a result. Very little is known about the behaviour of this medium-sized, wild cat. What is known, is that Asian golden cats are under severe pressure from habitat loss and poaching. Their diet consists of small animals and birds, and individuals team up to bring down larger prey. Asian golden cats have some interesting local names, for example, 'seua fai' which translates from Thai as 'fire tiger'.

 

Scientific name: Catopuma temminckii
Rank: Species

Common names:

• Asiatic golden cat,
• Temminck's golden cat

Cheetah

Cheetahs are found in sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Iran. Reaching speeds of over 100kph (almost 65mph) they are the fastest animals on land, easily capable of outrunning any other animal over short distances. To perfect their locomotive skill, cheetahs have evolved harder paws than most other cats and have claws that are only semi-retractable. These provide continuous traction that allows the cheetah to make quick turns at top speed. Full sprints take a lot of energy, last roughly 20 seconds and rarely exceed a minute. Unfortunately for the cheetah, most of their hunts still fail.

Did you know?
Achieving speeds over 100kph (65mph) cheetahs are the fastest animals on land.

Scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus
Rank: Species

Cats

Cats are more purely carnivorous than any other meat-eating family and they like their meat fresh, relying on prey they have caught and killed themselves. Cats usually live solitary lives, with one famous exception: the lion, the only truly social cat. For stealth, and to protect against wear, cats retract their claws, although the cheetah's remain visible. With over 40 species, from the familar domestic to the mighty tiger, cats are found everywhere except Australia and Antarctica. Explore the familiar and the lesser known below, including the Asian golden and leopard cats, as well as the extinct sabre-toothed tiger. 

 

Scientific name: Felidae
Rank: Family

Common names:

• Felids,
• Felines

Tiger

The magnificent tiger, largest of the big cats, is a heavily muscled, powerful predator that stalks and ambushes large prey, camouflaged by its stripy coat. Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day. Sadly, they have been pushed to the edge of existence through hunting and habitat loss, with three of the eight subspecies already extinct, and the other subspecies at high risk.

Did you know?
A tiger's stripes are like a human fingerprint, no two tigers have the same pattern.

Scientific name: Panthera tigris
Rank: Species

South American grey fox

South American grey foxes are widespread throughout Patagonia and western Argentina. They prefer to live in the foothills of coastal mountain ranges and in forest edge habitats. Foxes pair up and maintain their territory throughout the year. Mating is monogamous and both the males and females are actively care for the young. These little foxes are omnivorous, but their diet changes seasonally. They are native to South America, but have been introduced to the Falkland Islands.

Scientific name: Lycalopex griseus
Rank: Species

Common names:

• Argentine grey fox,
• Chilla,
• Grey Zorro,
• Patagonian fox

Red fox

Red foxes have overtaken grey wolves as the most widespread canines in the wild. Distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, red foxes are highly adaptable and occupy territories in deserts and tundra as well as urban areas. They live in family groups in dens and eat most things including small mammals, fruit, carrion and the contents of dustbins. As well as having excellent vision, smell and touch these bushy-tailed true foxes can produce 28 different calls.

Did you know?
There are 45 subspecies and several colour morphs of red fox.

Scientific name: Vulpes vulpes
Rank: Species

Tibetan fox

Tibetan foxes are small true foxes that live high up on the remote Tibetan plain where they form life-long partnerships. They live, hunt and share the responsibility of raising the young together. Kits stay with their parents until they are 8-10 months old, when they leave the den to find mates and home ranges of their own. Tibetan foxes are not overly territorial and many pairs live in close quarters and share hunting grounds.

 

Scientific name: Vulpes ferrilata
Rank: Species

Common names:

• Sand fox,
• Tibetan sand fox

True foxes

True foxes fall within the genus vulpes, and are therefore distinct from other species of canids also referred to as foxes. They are opportunistic feeders, eating what ever they can from small mammals and birds to carrion and fruit. Species of fox can be found on every continent except Antarctica, occupying habitats from the mountainous to the sandy. They range from the large and very successful red fox to the small Rüppell's fox. Quite often the tip of the tail is a different colour from the rest of the pelt. 

 

Scientific name: Vulpes
Rank: Genus

African wild dog

African wild dogs form packs of up to 40 members, each with a dominant breeding pair, that remain monogamous for life. These gregarious animals are co-operative hunters, relying on sight rather than smell to pinpoint their prey. Hunts tend to occur at dawn and dusk, but on occasion the dogs will venture out if there is a full moon. They chase until their prey tires, reaching speeds up to 55 kmph, and sometimes disemboweling prey it while it is still running. 

 

Scientific name: Lycaon pictus
Rank: Species

Common names:

• African hunting dog,
• Cape hunting dog,
• Painted hunting dog,
• Painted wolf,
• Spotted dog

Maned wolf

Maned wolves have the most incredibly long legs, a characteristic that helps them see above the tall grasses of central South America. They hunt mainly at night and during dusk and dawn hours, while the days are spent dozing in areas of thick bush cover. Unlike other wolves that live in packs, maned wolves are solitary. Mated pairs share a home range but remain fairly independent of each other at all times except during the breeding season.

 

Scientific name: Chrysocyon brachyurus
Rank: Species

Ethiopian wolf

Ethiopian wolves number fewer than 500 in the wild, and have the unfortunate title of the most threatened canid in the world. They are the only wolf species to exist in Africa, reduced to a handful of mountain ranges by pressures on their habitat. Ethiopian wolves live in close-knit territorial packs. Strong social bonds exist between members of the group. Adults gather to patrol and mark the territory at dawn and dusk repelling intruders, but individual pack members tend to forage alone.

 

Scientific name: Canis simensis
Rank: Species

Common names:

• Abyssinian fox,
• Red fox,
• Red jackal,
• Simien fox,
• Simien jackal

Grey wolf

Grey wolves have long embodied the spirit of the wilderness. Once they had the largest natural distribution of any mammal except humans. Sadly, they can no longer claim this record as they have been lost from much of their former lands. Grey wolves still occupy a range of habitats including Arctic tundra, prairies and forests.

The young are born blind and deaf in dens and totally reliant on their mother, and the pack, for warmth and food. Hunting with the pack for reindeer and bison begins before the pups are a year old. There are almost 40 subspecies including Arctic, tundra and Arabian wolves, domestic dogs and the dingo. They are the largest of the wild dogs. 

 

Scientific name: Canis lupus
Rank: Species

Coyote

With its blood-curdling nocturnal howl, the coyote is emblematic of North American wildlife. Extraordinary adaptability has led to an expansion of their range from Panama to all but the northernmost portions of Canada. Primarily carnivorous, coyotes can sprint at speeds of 65kph - making them one of North America's fastest mammals - though such speed is of little use in their hunt for fruit, insects and human refuse. One of the coyote's most interesting traits is the formation of hunting partnerships with American badgers: the coyotes sniff out rodents, the badgers dig them out, and both share the proceeds.

Did you know?
Reaching speeds of 65kph, coyotes are one of the fastest terrestrial mammals in North America.

Scientific name: Canis latrans
Rank: Species
 

Common names:

• American jackal,
• Prairie wolf

Wolves, dogs and jackals

The canis genus has as its members jackals, wolves, the coyote and the domestic dog. Members of the genus are found on every continent except Antarctica, the dingo having been introduced to Australia a few thousand years ago.

 

Scientific name: Canis
Rank: Genus

Arctic fox

Arctic foxes live in some of the planet's most extreme conditions. An arsenal of cold-conquering adaptations helps them survive temperatures that plummet below -50 degrees Celsius. These include the animal kingdom's best insulating fur and increased blood circulation to the feet which stops the fox's paws freezing to the ice. They range far and wide in the arctic and alpine tundra, but home dens are important and may be used for centuries by subsequent generations. Lemmings are such an important part of their diet that arctic fox populations can be greatly affected by their availability. 

Scientific name: Alopex lagopus
Rank: Species

 

Common names:

• Polar fox,
• Snow fox,
• White fox

Dogs

The dog family (Canidae) contains all the fox, wolf, coyote, jackal and dog species. Wild canids are found on every continent, with the exception of Antarctica.

 

Scientific name: Canidae
Rank: Family

Common names:

Canines

Carnivora

The Carnivora is an order of mammals descended from carnivorous ancestors. Although most of the living Carnivora are indeed meat-eaters, some are omnivorous, and the giant panda is largely vegetarian. Bears, hyenas, cats and seals are all members of the Carnivora.

 

Scientific name: Carnivora
Rank: Order

Common names:

Carnivorans

Mammals

Mammals are a class of vertebrates characterised by warm-blood, hairy bodies, a four-chambered heart, a single jaw bone, sweat glands and - in females - mammary glands for suckling young. Some mammals, such as naked mole rats and whales have lost some or all of their hair. Almost all mammals give birth to live young, but there are a few that lay eggs. These are known as monotremes, and include the platypus.

Scientific name: Mammalia
Rank: 

animalia

Scientific name: animalia

Rank: Kingdom

Common names:

 

• Animalia,
 
• Metazoa

Animal and pet so love

Dogs

Moral status of animals

Moral status of animals

Which animals deserve moral consideration?

Peter Singer ©

The idea that non-human animals have significant moral status is comparatively modern. It owes much to the work of philosopher Peter Singer and his 1975 book 'Animal Liberation'.

Animal lovers would say that all animals deserve moral consideration.

This doesn't help resolve cases where the moral interests of different animals are in conflict.

Philosophers have made valiant attempts to offer a systematic answer to this question. But all their attempts are subjective and have a human bias:

• they involve human values in the way they approach the subject
• they involve human value judgements in applying them to particular cases

A moral classification of animals

The approach below is what philosophers call consequentialist. It does not argue that animals have rights. Although this line of thinking is both useful and persuasive it does lead to one rather unpleasant conclusion.

Outline

Organisms can be arranged in a moral hierarchy in which the lowest group deserves no moral consideration at all, and the top group deserves more moral consideration than the second group.

• Sentient organisms that are aware of their own existence and would prefer to continue to exist
• Sentient organisms that are not self-aware and don't have any idea of continuing to exist in the future
• Inanimate objects and insentient organisms

Moral hierarchy discussed

It's helpful to look at the three categories in more detail.

Sentient organisms that are self-aware

Sentient organisms that are aware of their own existence and would prefer to continue to exist deserve full moral consideration because:

• They experience pain and pleasure
• They are aware of their own existence and context
• They prefer to experience pleasurable lives
• They prefer to stay alive

This group includes most human beings and the higher animals. Using this criterion leads to a conclusion that would shock most people.

Sentient organisms that are not self-aware

Sentient organisms that are not self-aware and don't have any idea of continuing to exist in the future deserve some moral consideration because:

• They can feel pain and pleasure
• They prefer to avoid pain
• They prefer to experience pleasure
• It is wrong to cause pain to members of this group
• Killing and replacing individuals in this group is not significant
  • because one individual is not significantly different from another

This group includes animals like fish and rodents.

Inanimate objects and insentient organisms

These deserve no moral consideration because it doesn't make sense to talk of treating them badly or well. This is because:

• They can't feel
• Nothing can matter to them

This group includes insects and simple animals, plants and inanimate objects.

Sentient and insentient organisms

Sentient organisms

Sentient organisms are creatures that have subjective experiences.

Some writers argue that "only organisms that have subjective experiences deserve moral consideration."

Let's unpack that thought:

Only organisms that value one experience more than another deserve moral consideration.

Such organisms must have 'interests', because only organisms with 'interests' are able to value one experience more than another experience.

These organisms have an 'interest' in avoiding painful experiences and an 'interest' in seeking out pleasurable experiences.

So, organisms must be able to experience pain or pleasure if they are to value their experiences.

Such organisms are described as "having subjective experiences".

Insentient organisms

Both snail and plant are considered insentient

Insentient organisms don't have subjective experiences.

Organisms that don't have subjective experiences don't experience events as good or bad, and so, in moral terms, it doesn't matter what happens to them.

As Peter Singer puts it: where "a being is not capable of suffering, or of enjoyment, there is nothing to be taken into account."

The organisms and things that don't have subjective experiences and so don't deserve moral consideration are:

• non-living things
• plants
• very simple organisms
• insects
• molluscs

All other animals - human and non-human - deserve moral consideration.

Self-aware organisms

Sentient organisms (see above) can be divided into two groups:

• those that are merely conscious
• those that are aware of themselves as
  • beings that are alive
  • beings that have been alive in the past
  • beings that would prefer to stay alive

The first group experience pain and pleasure but don't think about themselves in any meaningful way.

This kind of being is, in a sense, impersonal ... in killing it; one does it no personal wrong, although one does reduce the quantity of happiness in the universe. But this wrong, if it is wrong, can be counterbalanced by bringing into existence a similar being which will live an equally happy life

Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press, 1979

Members of the second, self-aware group, which includes human beings, are aware of their own existence and concerned about what will happen to them in the future.

This awareness and preference to go on living, makes them deserve greater moral consideration than the first group.

Problems with this approach

There are several problems with this way of looking at the moral status of animals:

How can we understand the mental landscape of any other sentient creature?

• by inference from the animal's behaviour or physical structure
• by imagining what the creature is feeling

How can we tell whether an animal has a preference to continue living?

• we probably can't
• an animal's attempt to avoid being killed painfully will appear exactly the same to us whether the animal is attempting to avoid being killed or whether it is merely attempting to avoid a painful experience and has no concept of death

How do we compare the relative interests of different animals in the same category?

Interests, needs and wants come in different varieties with different weights; how do we include the relative weights of different interests when we are faced with moral choices?

Weights of interest

• Basic interests: interests concerned with survival.
• Serious interests: needs - interests that have a major effect on the animal's quality of life.
• Trivial interests: wants that are nice to have satisfied, but the animal can manage perfectly well even if they are frustrated.

How do we judge an issue where satisfying the trivial interests of a higher animal frustrates the basic interest of a lower animal? For example: to protect the basic interest of a fish to survive, a human's trivial wish to eat it must be frustrated.

What about the problem of human animals that are not self-aware?

The problem with self-awareness

There is a serious difficulty with using self-awareness and the preference to stay alive as criteria for full moral status.

Young babies, people in comas and people with certain types of brain defect do not show these characteristics. And this means that these 'marginal' human beings deserve less moral consideration than other human beings, and even than some non-human animals.

Most people would regard this as a totally immoral idea, and would want to reject the theory that leads to this conclusion.

The easy way to solve the problem is to cheat and put human beings in an even higher moral category, and simply state that even human beings who aren't self-aware and have no preference to go on living should be regarded as deserving full moral consideration.

This is speciesism, which, despite much criticism, is a perfectly coherent moral position to take.

Thinking like an animal

Thinking like an animal

Animal ethics often requires human beings to see an animal's point of view.

We usually do this by trying to imagine how we would feel if we were in the animal's position.

This is very different from imagining how the animal feels to be itself - for example, how being a bat feels to a bat, is not at all the same thing as how a human would feel to be a bat.

And not only are attempts to put ourselves in the animal's place doomed to failure, but trying to do this doesn't respect the animal's own unique view of the world.

Thinking like an animal is impossible anyway

It is impossible for a human to think like a bat ©

In a famous article called "What is it like to be a bat?" the philosopher Thomas Nagel came to the conclusion that it wasn't possible for a human being to imagine what it was like to be a bat, even if they knew all the objective facts about bat physiology.

This is because a being's conscious mental landscape involves things that can only be accessed from the point of view of the being that is having the experiences. Since human beings are not bats, they can't adopt a bat's point of view and so can't gain any experience of what it's like to be a bat.

The same goes for any other non-human animal (and actually for much of human experience too - but the more different the organism, the more different its subjective experiences will probably be).

The consequence is that all arguments about animal welfare that are based on a subjective assessment of what the animal will or won't like should be regarded very suspiciously.

Reference: Thomas Nagel, "What is it like to be a bat?" The Philosophical Review LXXXIII, 4 (October 1974): 435-50.

Finding out what animals like

Objective tests of animal well-being

We can't use subjective tests of animal well-being because we can't ask an animal how it feels, nor can we imagine what it thinks.

The only alternative is to find objective methods of assessing whether an animal is contented with particular events or states of affairs.

But objective tests of animal well-being have their problems too:

• Well-being is inseparable from values, and values aresubjective
  • so objective tests only give part of the picture
• Objective tests don't measure well-being directly
  • Well being is subjective and can't be measured
  • All objective tests are indirect - they measure some other thing that we hope will give us an idea of the level of well-being
• Objective tests involves human assumptions about animals
  • We don't know what animals themselves think is important for their welfare
• There is disagreement about what level of well-being is appropriate

The preferred objective measures of animal well-being will change over time in response to both new scientific information and changing public attitudes to the welfare of animals.

Measuring animal well-being

How can we measure the well-being of animals?

Scientists think that these things demonstrate that animals are happy:

• a high level of biological functioning - good physical health and productivity
• freedom from suffering - the absence of prolonged fear, pain, and other negative experiences
• many good experiences - comfort, contentment and so on

Measures of animal well-being

There are several possible ways of measuring animal welfare, and value judgements must be as to which will be most accurate in particular cases, and the weight to be given to different measures in arriving at the final verdict.

Productivity measures

Measures of productivity include things like growth rate and reproduction rate - the idea being that high productivity shows a high state of well-being.

It's important to apply these measures to individual animals and not be deceived by high overall productivity into ignoring the suffering of individuals.

But productivity measures can be deceptive, as these examples show:

• an unhappy animal kept in bad conditions may be kept productive by the use of antibiotics
• growth rates and reproduction rates can be artificially raised by feeding the animals hormone supplements

But even if no artificial methods are used to raise productivity, the measure itself has a basic flaw. Farm animals have been selectively bred for to achieve high productivity, so productivity measures will be artificially high in comparison to non-farmed members of the species.

But breeding for productivity can compromise well-being since it promotes only certain characteristics of the animal (those important to human beings). This may be at the expense of other things that may be more important to the animals themselves.

Veterinary measures

A healthier group of animals is probably a happier group of animals, so levels of disease, injury and mortality can be used to measure well-being.

This is misleading if drugs are routinely given to keep the animals healthy.

Veterinary studies can be used to compare the health impact of different ways of keeping animals. The conditions that produce healthier animals are regarded as ethically more satisfactory.

Physiological measures

The stress a creature is suffering can be shown by certain physiological measures such as suppression of the immune system, raised heart rate, increased catecholamine secretion and so on.

Physiological measures are not reliable indicators of chronic stress in animals, and since these indicators can be affected by other things, they are not, on their own, reliable indicators of well-being.

Observing behaviour

Careful observation of behaviour can help us assess animal well-being. But in order to come to useful conclusions we need to have considerable information about the normal behaviour patterns of the species concerned.

Distressed animals usually show that they are unhappy - they cry out, move away from whatever is upsetting them or try to escape.

In the long-term, unhappy animals develop abnormal patterns of behaviour such as aggression, repetitive behaviour and avoiding contact with others of their species.

It's also possible to learn how a particular species behaves under pressure by deliberately putting animals into stressful situations.

Researchers can then look for this behaviour in captive animals of the same species.

If they find such behaviour then it's probable that action should be taken to improve the well-being of the captive animals.

Ethical question: Is it ethical to mistreat experimental animals in order to gain information that will be used to improve conditions for other animals?

Preference testing

The closest human beings have so far got to asking animals what they like is preference testing. This lets animals choose between various alternatives.

Experimenters are now also able to test just how strongly an animal prefers a particular alternative.

This sort of research enables to keep animals in the conditions that they prefer, and thus enhance their well-being.

An early experiment tested the preferences of hens for different types of flooring by housing the birds in double cages in which they could move freely between two areas with different floors.

To discover which flooring each bird preferred, the experimenters simply noted the amount of time a bird spent on each side of the cage.

But it is more complicated than it seems.

Animals don't always make the same choices - the conditions an animal will choose for one activity may not be the ones it chooses when it wants to do something else.

And animals can show one perverse human characteristic in that they may prefer something that actually isn't good for their long-term well-being (i.e. eating tasty food rather than nourishing food), so it may be sensible to limit the range of choices offered to animals.

Pain

In the past it was thought by some people that animals either did not feel pain in the same way as human beings, or that if they did, it didn't matter. This view is now unacceptable.

Because it is difficult to assess pain and distress in animals the preferred rule is to assume that animals experience and respond to pain in a similar manner to humans.

Wrongly guessing what animals want

The case of the mechanical chicken handler

Chickens preferred being caught by machine

A few years ago scientists discovered that chickens saw the world in a very different way to human beings.

When chickens need to be sent to market they have to be packed into crates for transport. This was traditionally done by human chicken-packers, but a few years ago someone invented a mechanical chicken-catcher to do the job.

This elaborate machine used conveyor belts and rubber fingers to do the job. It was obvious to everybody that this machine might be more efficient for the poultry industry, but was going to be a great deal worse for the chickens.

A research team looked into this, by comparing the stress on the birds caused by the machine and the stress caused by human catchers.

They detected statistically significant differences in the heart trace between the manually-caught and machine-caught birds. The trace in both systems rose to same levels immediately after catching; however, the trace of machine caught birds dropped quicker and the average heart rate was significantly lower than in manually 'harvested' birds.

This showed that the birds found being caught and packed by machine a great deal less stressful than being caught by human beings.

Reference: Duncan, I. J.H., Gillian, S. S., Kettlewell, P., Berry, P., and Carlisle, A. J. , "Comparison of the stressfulness of harvesting broiler chickens by machine and by hand," British Poultry Science 27 (1986)

The case of the poultry cage floor

A British government committee once recommended that hens in battery cages should not be housed on fine-gauge hexagonal 'chicken wire' floors.

But when hens were given a choice of various types of floor, they preferred the type of floor that had been criticised to any other type of floor.

Reference: Hughes, B.O. and A.J. Black. 1973. The preference of domestic hens for different types of battery cage floor. Br. Poult. Sci. 14: 615-619.

Animal love

Animals and pet love

Kleptoparasitic

Kleptoparasitic animals are thieves and bandits. They steal food, nest material or other resources from their own species or from another one. Gulls are a famous example - they harass other seabirds such as puffins and kittiwakes into giving up their fish, and even snatch chips from unwary people on many a seafront. Lions and hyenas both steal each other's kills, so both can be considered kleptoparasitic.

 

Watch video clips from past programmes (61 clips)

Acoustic communication

Acoustic communication is the sending and receiving of messages using sound. Bird song, the roars of lions and the chirping of cicadas are all examples of this. Sometimes the messages are outside the range of human hearing, such as the ultrasonic squeaks of baby rats or the infrasound rumbles of elephants. Most acoustic communication is not language, in the sense that humans use it, although language is one aspect of this adaptation.

Watch video clips from past programmes (61 clips)

Spooky monkeys  

The Dark: Nature's Nighttime World

The eerie sounds of a howler monkey's alarm call means there is something in the trees.

Badger communication  

The Burrowers: Animals Underground

Badgers have bad eyesight but they make up for it with their other senses, such as smell.

Talking to the animals  

Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild

David Attenborough uses a variety of communication methods to talk to animals in the wild.

Spooky monkeys  

The Dark: Nature's Nighttime World

The eerie sounds of a howler monkey's alarm call means there is something in the trees.

Calling pack  

Land of the Lost Wolves

Several wolves return expert Isaac Babcock's call, proving there is a new pack.

Acoustic communication

Acoustic communication is the sending and receiving of messages using sound. Bird song, the roars of lions and the chirping of cicadas are all examples of this. Sometimes the messages are outside the range of human hearing, such as the ultrasonic squeaks of baby rats or the infrasound rumbles of elephants. Most acoustic communication is not language, in the sense that humans use it, although language is one aspect of this adaptation. 

Polar bear

Remarkable adaptations allow polar bears to live in the frozen Arctic, but global warming is destroying their habitat and leaving them seriously endangered. Despite being born deaf and blind beneath the snow, cubs eventually grow into the most powerful of all four-legged animals.

Using their incredible sense of smell to track their prey, adult polar bears spend most of their lives alone, wandering over the vast tracts of frozen ice in search of blubber-rich prey such as seals, walruses and even whales. They are also remarkably good swimmers and have been spotted over 60 miles from shore.

Did you know?
Polar bears are the largest living land carnivore. 

Scientific name: Ursus maritimus
Rank: Species

Watch video clips from past programmes (7 clips)

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism describes animals where there is a physical differences between males and females of the same species (other than in the sex organs). One may be significantly larger than the other, colouration may be different or one might have additional body parts such as antlers, ornate plumage or a mane. In the rarer cases where females are larger or more ornate it is termed reverse sexual dimorphism.

Watch video clips from past programmes (7 clips)

Showing off  

The Life of Birds

Male frigate birds use sight as well as sound to attract a mate.

Role Reverse Birds  

The Life of Birds

Unusual in the bird world, male red phalaropes are duller in colour and care for the young.

Spot the difference  

Autumnwatch

How to tell the difference between a male and female hen harrier.

Fencing whales  

The Living Planet

Male narwhals use their tusk - an overgrown tooth - in courtship.

Flying colours  

Journey of Life

For a male zebra finch, being a pretty boy means you're the fittest mate.

Small, medium or large  

Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives

A huge variety of crest shapes distinguished duck-billed dinosaur species.

Spring plumage  

Bill Oddie Goes Wild

In early spring, ptarmigan begin to change out of their winter white.

Showing off  

The Life of Birds

Male frigate birds use sight as well as sound to attract a mate.

Role Reverse Birds  

The Life of Birds

Unusual in the bird world, male red phalaropes are duller in colour and care for the young.

Spot the difference  

Autumnwatch

How to tell the difference between a male and female hen harrier.

Fencing whales  

The Living Planet

Male narwhals use their tusk - an overgrown tooth - in courtship.

Flying colours  

Journey of Life

For a male zebra finch, being a pretty boy means you're the fittest mate.

Introduction