In 2013, things were looking bleak for a malnourished, undersized parrot who was missing half his beak and struggling to survive in the wilds of Arthur鈥檚 Pass in New Zealand鈥檚 South Island.

Then, says at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, one of her students came across the struggling kea (Nestor notabilis). The bird had lost the upper part of its beak, probably due to trauma. Because the kea is classified as an endangered species, the student decided to bring him into captivity.

Little did anyone know that this was a decision that would change the bird鈥檚 life and thrust greatness upon him.

The carers at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, New Zealand, named the bird Kati, assuming that such a small parrot must have been a female. That assumption also made sense because it was the top half of the beak that the bird lacked. The upper beak is huge in male kea, and used for digging. It looks 鈥渓ike it could bite your finger off鈥�, says Nelson.

But a DNA test revealed that Kati was actually male, so the parrot was given a new name: Bruce 鈥� 鈥渢he silliest name we could think of鈥�, says Nelson.

This wasn鈥檛 the only surprise. Bruce is one of nine males and three females held at Willowbank. But in spite of his beak, he quickly asserted himself as the alpha male in the 鈥榗ircus鈥� 鈥� the collective name for a group of kea.

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The key to Bruce鈥檚 success was that, without the top half of his beak, he could use the bottom portion as a weapon.

Nelson says it is not just bluffing on Bruce鈥檚 part, as his lower beak is 鈥渧ery straight and sharp and can be used to joust the other birds鈥�.

The other males, most of which are over a kilogram and outweigh the 800-gram Bruce, can鈥檛 respond in kind because their upper mandibles cover their lower beaks.

鈥淪o even if they tried headbutting another bird, it would just be a blunt rounded curve that would hit them,鈥� Nelson says. 鈥淲hereas Bruce pushes himself so fast forward against another bird that he kind of topples over.鈥�

She adds that it鈥檚 鈥渁 serious jab, and the other birds really don鈥檛 like it. I mean, when he does that, they鈥檙e just wings in the air, jumping back as fast as possible.鈥�

Out of 162 aggressive interactions recorded between all the male birds over a total of four weeks, Bruce always came out on top, winning each of the 36 interactions in which he took part.

He also maintained absolute control and priority over the four feeding stations in the birds鈥� enclosure and even co-opted lower-status birds to help clean his lower beak and preen him 鈥� something none of the other captive birds did.

The team then wanted to see what kind of toll Bruce鈥檚 dominance was taking on the males fighting for their place in the hierarchy. They found that Bruce鈥檚 stress hormones levels were by far the lowest, seemingly, because his alpha status was so secure, he only had to display aggression a fraction of the times required of the other males.

Ancient giant kangaroos could have hopped despite their huge size

Long thought to have walked bipedally, like us, Australia鈥檚 extinct giant kangaroos have features that indicate they could also have bounced

The team says, with the exception of humans, Bruce provides the first example of a severely injured animal 鈥渋ndividually achieving and maintaining alpha male status through behavioural innovation alone鈥�.

They also say he is living proof that a difference is not always a disadvantage, and that it proved unnecessary to repair his beak with a prosthetic.

鈥淚 really like Bruce, actually,鈥� Nelson says. 鈥淲hen there is reason to fight, yeah, he鈥檒l fight and he鈥檒l fight hard, and scrappy. But he鈥檚 not a bully.鈥�

Even the giant kangaroos that roamed Australia thousands of years ago might have been able to hop, according to a new analysis of bones.

Some of the kangaroos living during the Pleistocene were more than twice as heavy as those that live today. One group, the sthenurines, were so bulky that it was thought they couldn鈥檛 possibly hop 鈥� they must only have walked on their hind legs.

鈥淪thenurines are what most people are talking about when they talk about giant kangaroos. They鈥檙e the really weird ones,鈥� says at the University of Manchester, UK. 鈥淭hey have these really short, boxy skulls and a single toe on each foot. A large male red kangaroo is the biggest you鈥檙e going to get today, at about 90 kilograms, but the largest sthenurine was about 250 kilograms.鈥�

That giant was Procoptodon goliah, the biggest kangaroo species known to have existed, standing at about 2 metres tall. It died out about 40,000 years ago.

However, there has always been debate about how much stress its legs could have taken. To try to get a better handle on this, Jones and her colleagues collated bone measurements from 67 species of macropods, a group that includes existing kangaroos, wallabies, potoroos, bettongs and rat kangaroos, as well as the extinct giant kangaroo lineages.

Taking measurements of leg bones including the femur, tibia and calcaneus 鈥� the bone the Achilles tendon inserts into 鈥� and data on body mass, the researchers estimated how big the attached tendons would be and how much force they could handle.

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鈥淭he Achilles tendon in today鈥檚 kangaroos is quite dangerously close to breaking, but that serves a purpose,鈥� says Jones. 鈥淚t allows them to store a lot of elastic energy so they can push into the next hop. If you just took today鈥檚 kangaroo and scaled it up, you鈥檇 be running into problems.鈥�

But she says the ancient kangaroos aren鈥檛 just scaled up. They have shorter feet and a wider calcaneus, for example. The researchers鈥� calculations show that this would have helped the bones of the giant kangaroos resist the bending moments involved in hopping and accommodate tendons large enough to resist the loads generated during the activity.

鈥淚t鈥檚 evidence that they weren鈥檛 mechanically barred from hopping,鈥� says Jones. 鈥淲hether they did hop is a different question.鈥�

Hopping almost certainly wasn鈥檛 their primary mode of locomotion, but they might have used it for short bursts of speed, she says.

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鈥淭he study supports what is now a solidifying picture of the iconic kangaroo hop as a functionally adaptable component of a surprisingly variable gait repertoire,鈥� says at Upsala University in Sweden. This repertoire has been key to the ecological success of macropods over many millions of years, he says.

That flexibility is still in evidence today. Although we may think of red kangaroos, for example, as always hopping, they can also walk using their tail as a fifth limb, says Jones. 鈥淎nd tree kangaroos basically do everything under the sun: they walk, they hop, they bound, they walk quadrupedally and even bipedally.鈥�

Same-sex sexual behaviour may help monkeys and apes rise up the social ranks and ultimately have more offspring 鈥� and it seems to be especially beneficial in harsh environments where there are lots of predators, say, or a shortage of food.

That鈥檚 the implication of a study looking at why the level of same-sex behaviour varies in different primate species. It supports the idea that, contrary to what is commonly assumed, same-sex sexual behaviours in apes and monkeys are an adaptive trait that boosts survival.

It has often been claimed that same-sex behaviour is somehow 鈥渦nnatural鈥�. But in addition to people, it has now been reported in at least 1500 animals, from insects and dolphins to bison and bonobos.

There are many reasons to think this is the tip of the iceberg. Most species haven鈥檛 been closely studied; same-sex behaviours often aren鈥檛 recognised when seen because the sexes of the individuals involved may not be clear; and even when such behaviours are recognised they may not be reported.

Of the 20 or so mammal species that have been closely studied over long periods, same-sex behaviour has been . In a colony of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) on the Puerto Rican island of Cayo Santiago that has been studied for many decades, for instance, three-quarters of males engage in same-sex behaviour, at Imperial College London and his colleagues reported in 2023.

In other words, there can now be no doubt that same-sex behaviour is entirely natural. The question is why?

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This has sometimes been referred to as 鈥渢he Darwinian paradox鈥�, because of the common assumption that homosexual behaviour is non-adaptive 鈥� that is, that it doesn鈥檛 help individuals have more offspring, or boost the survival chances of those they do have.

Various explanations have been proposed for why same-sex behaviour is so common if it is non-adaptive. One is that same-sex behaviour occurs , that is, because individuals can鈥檛 tell the difference between males and females. This is probably true of simple animals such as insects, but it鈥檚 certainly not the case for highly intelligent animals such as apes and dolphins.

Another is that it鈥檚 a side effect of selection for other traits. For instance, it has been suggested that some traits that boost reproductive success in women may be linked to a greater likelihood of homosexuality in men.

It鈥檚 also possible that same-sex behaviour is adaptive, after all. One idea is that it helps males build coalitions that ultimately give them more access to more females. 鈥淪ame-sex behaviour is, if you want, a currency that you can use to navigate your way in these societies,鈥� says Savolainen.

His team has now analysed data on the prevalence of same-sex behaviour in 59 primate species and looked for associations with environmental and social factors. Among other things, they found that it was more likely to occur in drier environments where food was scarce or where there was more predation pressure, as well as in more complex societies.

For a behaviour to become more common in stressful environments does suggest it is adaptive. If, say, same-sex behaviour was done for pleasure only, you鈥檇 expect it to be less common in stressful environments.

鈥淪ame-sex behaviour may facilitate better cooperation and cohesion by strengthening social bonds, which is particularly important in these stressful environments,鈥� says team member , also at Imperial.

鈥淏ut to demonstrate adaptive value, the behaviour needs to be linked to increased fitness, that is, a higher number of offspring,鈥� says Savolainen. 鈥淭his is precisely what I intend to test in macaques.鈥�

So we are not yet at the point where we can conclusively say same-sex behaviour in at least some primates is adaptive, but it could be that science is about to turn yet another of our preconceptions about this behaviour on its head.

What does this tell us about homosexual behaviours in people? Well, if these findings are confirmed, it might help explain why it is as common as it is. What it does not tell us, the researchers stress, is anything about the rights or wrongs of such behaviour 鈥� this is the so-called naturalistic fallacy. That is, human behaviours should not be judged based on what animals do.

That said, there is a certain delicious irony in the idea that when it comes to the survival of the fittest, we may need to redefine who the fittest really are.

Jellyfish seem to sleep for about 8 hours a day, take midday naps and snooze more after a bad night鈥檚 sleep 鈥� just like us. Sleep is thought to have first evolved in marine creatures like these, and having a better understanding of their precise sleep patterns may help explain why it came about at all.

鈥淚t鈥檚 funny: just like humans, they spend about a third of their time asleep,鈥� says at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel.

In animals with brains, such as mammals, sleep is crucial for things like storing memories and clearing metabolic waste from the brain. But it was unclear why sleep evolved in jellyfish, which belong to a group of brainless animals called cnidarians, in which neurons 鈥� arranged in a relatively simple network across the body 鈥� are also thought to have first evolved.

Appelbaum and his colleagues used cameras to record Cassiopea andromeda, a species of upside-down jellyfish, in tanks for 24 hours. The jellyfish, which usually sit tentacles-up in shallow waters on the seabed, were exposed to light half the time to simulate day and night.

The team found that during the simulated daylight, C. andromeda individuals pulsed their bell-shaped bodies more than 37 times per minute, on average, and rapidly responded to sudden bright light or food, suggesting they were awake. In contrast, at night, they pulsed less often and took longer to respond to the light or food, indicating they were asleep. Such pulsing is thought to help the animals feed and spread oxygen throughout their bodies, says Appelbaum.

Overall, the jellyfish slept for about 8 hours, mostly at night, with a short midday nap lasting roughly 1 to 2 hours. Prior studies had already shown that C. andromeda sleeps at night, but until now its exact sleep patterns were unclear, he says.

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In another experiment where the researchers pulsed water at the jellyfish to disrupt their sleep, the animals slept more the next day. 鈥淭his is like us: if we鈥檙e sleep deprived during the night, we sleep during the day because we鈥檙e tired,鈥� says Appelbaum.

Crucially, further analysis revealed that DNA damage accumulates in C. andromeda鈥檚 neurons while it is awake, but sleep seems to reduce this damage, which would otherwise degrade and impair neurons, he says. Supporting this idea, when the team used ultraviolet light to dial up DNA damage, the jellyfish slept more.

Further research is needed to see if the same occurs in other jellyfish species, or even mammals, but the researchers saw similar results when they repeated the experiments in the starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) 鈥� providing the first evidence that sea anemones sleep, says Appelbaum.

Killer whales and dolphins have been working together to hunt salmon in the northern Pacific Ocean, an unexpected finding that further reveals the complex social lives of marine mammals.

Video cameras and sensors attached to nine killer whales 鈥� also known as orcas 鈥� showed four of them diving with numerous Pacific white-sided dolphins towards Chinook salmon hiding in the depths off northern Vancouver Island. Three more whales were observed by drone. The orcas ate the salmon, while the dolphins scavenged the scraps.

鈥淭hey were cooperatively foraging,鈥� says at Dalhousie University in Canada. 鈥淵ou could anthropomorphise it and say that they鈥檙e being friends for hunting purposes.鈥�

Also known as king salmon, Chinook salmon can grow more than a metre long and are often too big for dolphins to eat.

But northern Vancouver Island whales are messy eaters and often tear fish apart to share with family, leaving blood, scales and fragments for dolphins to consume. The dolphins help whales 鈥渟cout鈥� out salmon, the researchers believe.

Six out of the 12 whales interacted with the dolphins, orienting to face them a combined total of 102 times in the videos. Four dived with dolphins as deep as 60 metres, where it鈥檚 dark and salmon can take cover among rocks and crevasses.

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While both species emitted clicks and buzzes, the sensor data revealed that whales often reduced their echolocation 鈥� apparently to 鈥渆avesdrop鈥� on the dolphins. Since echolocation is narrowly focused like a spotlight, a large number of dolphins scanning the water may improve a whale鈥檚 chances of finding fish, says Fortune.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like turning on the high beams鈥� on a car, she says, 鈥渁nd the light is the sound.鈥�

女生小视频s have previously found inter-species cooperation such as fish leading an octopus toward crustaceans, or honeyguide birds leading a human to bee colonies. But killer whales鈥� scientifically observed interactions with other species have typically been to prey on or harass them.

Orcas around the Iberian peninsula have recently rammed and sunk half a dozen sailboats, although scientists say it鈥檚 more likely than attacking them.

at Ocean Wise, a global conservation organisation, argues dolphins in the study are stealing scraps rather than cooperating with whales. In a she and her colleague published this year, drone footage in the same area showed whales appearing to ignore, play with or, in one case, lunge at dolphins. Her study concluded dolphins were mainly seeking protection from a particular population of mammal-eating orcas known as Biggs鈥� killer whales, which avoid the resident killer whales.

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鈥淲e observed no clear evidence of benefits to the killer whales,鈥� says Visona-Kelly.

last month reported 30 to 40 Pacific white-sided dolphins circling an emaciated killer whale known to researchers as I76, who dived and didn鈥檛 re-emerge. This suggested the dolphins may have 鈥渆xhausted I76 so that he was unable to return to the surface鈥�, according to the paper.

at the University of St Andrews, UK, says the new research convincingly shows cooperation, regardless of whether the whales could interpret dolphin echolocation or were simply attracted to the commotion as a possible sign of fish.

鈥淭hese animals are smart and behaviourally flexible,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see all kinds of interactions between killer whales and dolphins, everything from the killer whales eating them to playing with them to cooperating with them.鈥�

Orcas in the Gulf of California have been hunting juvenile great white sharks using a clever tactic: flipping them upside down to render them immobile. The discovery suggests there may be a previously unrecognised group of orcas in the region that specialises in hunting sharks.

Only a few orca populations are known to , and even fewer have been found to eat great whites (Carcharodon carcharias). For example, orcas (Orcinus orca) off the coast of San Francisco were , and a great white carcass near Australia showed signs of an orca attack in . But until recently, there had only been one known instance, recorded in South Africa, of the animals preying on juvenile great white sharks.

, an independent marine biologist in Mexico, and his colleagues captured video footage of orcas in the Gulf of California hunting juvenile great white sharks on two separate occasions. The first, recorded in August 2020, showed five female orcas working together to push a young great white to the surface. 鈥淭he orcas were ramming the great white to flip it upside down,鈥� says Higuera.

The manoeuvre forced the shark into a state of temporary paralysis, called tonic immobility. It also allowed the orcas to get at the shark鈥檚 energy-rich liver, which they shared amongst themselves. A few minutes later, the pod repeated the attack on a different adolescent great white. In August 2022, the research team recorded another group of five orcas using the same technique to hunt a young great white around the same location at the same time of year.

The researchers identified some of the orcas in the first incident as those previously spotted hunting whale sharks and bull sharks. Footage from the second incident wasn鈥檛 clear enough to determine whether these orcas belonged to the same pod. 鈥淏ut it is highly possible,鈥� says Higuera.

Orca populations drastically differ depending on where they are located. 鈥淥rcas are hunting machines. They are like snipers 鈥� they use specific hunting strategies, very specific ones depending on their prey,鈥� says Higuera. These findings suggest the orcas belong to a previously unrecognised shark-eating group, he says.

鈥淪o now we have an example of another unique feeding strategy that probably isn鈥檛 shared by any other group of [orcas] in the world,鈥� says at the University of British Columbia in Canada. However, more research is needed to know for sure, as the orcas could be an offshoot of those from the Pacific Northwest that hunt other types of sharks, he says.