In his seminal work Animal Play, Marc Bekoff argued that play bows (PBs from now on) are example of metacommunication, or communication about communication. His hypothesis that PBs signal playful intentions during a play bout was a good one. I summarized it in an earlier post by saying "Just as a football jersey means a tackle isn’t true aggression (okay, maybe American football is a bad example?!), play bows signal other dogs that any behavior to follow is meant as play." (I also talked about PBs in a post in 2008 if you'd like to see more.) But new research by Byosiere, Grossman and Smuts (in press, Beh'l Processes 2016) tested that and other theories and found some interesting results. Their paper is a lovely example of how science is designed to generate and test hypothesis. It's Read More
Archives for March 2016
Animal Dreaming…?
Do humans and animals have similar dreams? This is a question asked by a young participant in a science exhibit at the Discovery Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. I heard about the question from Jeff Bauer of Blue Sky Science, who asked if I would be willing to be taped attempting to answer the question. We’ve already taped “Can humans have similar abilities as animals,” which was great fun. (I’ll let you know when it’s up online. I love supporting science education for young, curious minds.) The question of animal dreaming is a great one, and it’s been asked by curious people for centuries. Even Aristotle wondered about it in 350 BCE, and concluded that “all viviparous quadrupeds” probably join our species in dreaming at night. But do they? Certainly most dog lovers think so. Read More
The Pain of Being Alone
Ever thought of the words we use after the death of a beloved dog? We talk about the "pain of loss," and "healing" from the grief. And what do we do for someone who has lost a dog, or a dear friend or family member? We do the same things for them that we do if they've had major surgery. We bring them food and flowers. We hug them and tell them that they are loved. These connections between physical pain and grief aren't random, as I learned when I first read Jaak Panskepp's Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. Panskepp, is one the world's leaders in the neurobiology of mammalian emotion, and has much to tell us all about the subject. (Not beach reading, I'm just saying.) Reading the book, I found that what is often called "social pain" is registered in Read More
Spring Catch Up
It's all "back on the farm" today. I'm getting my paws back on the ground after being at IFAAB (lots of article topics to come from there) and three heavenly vacation days in Tucson. I'm also finally feeling like myself after re-arranging my brain two and a half weeks ago in a fall, so I'm feeling a tad behind. Stay tuned for lots of pithy content to come, and forgive my indulging myself this week in a short post. It's very March-y here in Wisconsin. Snowy/rainy/sleety/sunny--you name it, it's a typical March in Wisconsin. This morning it's warm and sunny, after a huge thunderstorm blew through last night, threatening to cut off my access to the last Downton Abbey show (a crisis beyond description). But now that the storm has past, it's feels very springish. There are even bulbs poking Read More