Orangutans learn to trade favours

BBC News, December 24, 2008

Orangutans can help each other get food by trading tokens, scientists have discovered - but only if the help goes in both directions.
Researchers from the University of St Andrews found orangutans could learn the value of tokens and trade them, helping each other win bananas.
An article in Biology Letters, claims it is the first evidence of "calculated reciprocity" in non-human primates. Read more...

From Rhesus to Spartacus

The news – and more specifically, the photos – of three monkeys beating up a man in China who was abusing them to make them perform has again provided an opportunity to look at how we treat animals. Read more...

Test reveals dogs' jealous side

BBC, December 08, 2008

Scientists in Austria say they have found a basic form of jealousy in dogs. The Vienna-based researchers showed that dogs will stop doing a simple task when not rewarded if another dog, which continues to be rewarded, is present.
Writing in the journal PNAS, the scientists say this shows a sensitivity in dogs that was only previously found in primates. Read more...