61
votes
Accepted
Do the older slower wolves lead a wolf pack?
No, the pack is led by the alpha (breeding) females.
The picture is taken from the BBC 2011 documentary Frozen Planet. This Guardian article which features pictures from the documentary describes the ...
- 31.6k
31
votes
Accepted
Do apes/monkeys open bananas from the floral end?
This is a myth, because monkeys don't normally eat bananas in the wild.
"The entire wild monkey-banana connection in fact is total fabrication," Katharine Milton, who has studied the diets of ...
- 78.6k
26
votes
Do wombats share their burrows during fires?
Yes, they do share... but not specifically because of the fires or out of a sense of altruism.
According to AFP Fact Check:
University of Adelaide ecologist Dr. Michael Swinbourne told AFP via ...
- 712
15
votes
Accepted
Do dolphins intentionally intoxicate themselves with puffer-fish venom?
About Rob Pilley, the "zoologist and producer" who gave the Daily news their original quotes. A google scholar search does not turn up any research from him; none of the 120 papers by a R Pilley are ...
- 12k
14
votes
Do apes/monkeys open bananas from the floral end?
Yes, some monkeys do peel bananas from the floral end, if they get access to them, but not all the time.
While Sklivvz's answer is correct about the lack of access of monkeys to bananas in the wild, ...
- 31.6k
14
votes
Can lions sense menstruating women?
According to The Lady and Her Tiger, the autobiography of animal trainer and animal rights advocate Pat Derby, at page 75:
I remember one occasion when a television commercial was being filmed with ...
- 105k
13
votes
Are humans the only species to have homophobes?
No.
Quoting from Homosexual Behaviour in Animals: An Evolutionary Perspective
[page 28] When male Japanese macaques do exhibit an interest in homosexual consortships, female partners will ...
- 105k
11
votes
Accepted
Do Macaque monkeys steal money from wallets and use it to buy food from vending machines?
The claim is plausible. Let's break it down into several components:
Q: Are monkeys capable of stealing wallets or learning to use vending machines?
A: Certainly. There is ample video evidence of ...
- 10.8k
10
votes
Is the "Alpha Wolf" theory debunked?
Evidence:
The concept of alpha wolf in wolf packs was based on studies on captive wolves.
Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on wolves in captivity. ...
- 22.7k
9
votes
Accepted
Do European deer still stick to their sides of the Iron Curtain?
The Pacific Standard magazine published a critical look at this claim which is available for free on the web. It says the original study started in 2005 and may have received some attention while it ...
- 7,352
6
votes
Can Rambo, the German shepherd, follow written commands?
Summary:
We don't have good evidence that let's us conclude precisely what Rambo's "reading" abilities are. The experimental design and setup in the video does not allow to judge this, and ...
5
votes
Accepted
Have badgers eaten coyotes?
According to Cooperative Predation by Coyotes on Badgers Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 61, Issue 2, 20 May 1980, Pages 375–376:
Although badgers occasionally kill and eat coyote pups (Young, 1951), ...
- 105k
3
votes
Did a rabbit bite Justice David Souter?
According to the 25 July 1990 article Killer rabbit redux Chicago Tribune :
David Souter, President Bush`s choice for the U.S. Supreme Court, has at least one thing in common with Democrats. He was ...
- 105k
3
votes
Does human excrement or toilet paper attract wild animals?
I didn't find any systematic studies of wildlife digging up toilet paper (TP), but there is one which found that TP buried under rocks doesn't degrade fast enough, even in presence of feces (simulant, ...
- 59.6k
3
votes
Can a skunk spray with its feet off the ground?
Your colleague has this very backwards.
Spotted skunks specifically do a (very adorable) handstand and spray while upside down. If you see a skunk with it's hind legs off of the ground, assume that it ...
- 130
3
votes
Does swatting/killing a bee cause the hive to attack?
In Neurobiology of Chemical Communication., Chapter 5 - Chemical Communication in the Honey Bee Society, Section 5.1.2.5 Defensive Behavior: Alarm Pheromones details how trigger pheromones are ...
- 31
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible