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From monkeys washing potatoes to cockatoos raiding trash cans, socially spread behaviors allow creatures to adapt more rapidly to changing environments than conventional evolution would allow. But the traits are also more easily lost.
UCLA’s Susan Perry has devoted decades to studying the fast-motion life of these New World primates and learning how the young acquire the skills they need to thrive
Social insects and humans share the trait of divvying up tasks, as do some fish. Researchers find that it emerges naturally, and it often doesn’t take a boss to keep things in order.
Mexican tetras that got swept into pitch-black caverns had no use for the energetically costly organs. They lost their eyes in multiple ways — and gained some nifty traits too.
Elaborate courtship, devoted parenthood, gregarious nature (and occasional cannibalism) — earwigs have a lot going for them
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