These bears mimic facial expressions to communicate

Sun bears, the smallest of the world’s eight bear species, are generally solitary animals, content to spend most of their time alone outside mating season, foraging for fruit, rodents, birds and insects in Southeast Asian tropical forests. But, scientists said on Thursday, they also possess an unexpected social skill that puts them in elite company alongside humans and some of our close evolutionary cousins: the ability to mimic another bear’s facial expressions in a subtle type of communication. Researchers studied 22 sun bears in spontaneous social play at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center in Malaysia in outdoor forest enclosures big enough to let the animals decide whether to interact or avoid each other all day. The bears exactly mimicked facial expressions they saw other bears produce during social play, copying with high precision not only the type of expression but also specific muscular movements such as raising their noses and wrinkling the bridge of their muzzles


Female birds live longer when they have help raising offspring: Female birds age more slowly and live longer when they have help raising their offspring, according to a research. Studying the relationship between aging and offspring rearing patterns in the Seychelles warbler, researchers at UK’s University of Sheffield found that females who had assistance from other female helpers benefitted from a longer, healthier lifespan. The findings help explain why social species, such as humans, which live in groups and cooperate to raise offspring, often have longer lifespans.