Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Kangaroos Can Ask Humans for Help, New Study Shows
News
By News
Published 5 years ago on
December 17, 2020

Share

[aggregation-styles]

It may sound a bit “Dr. Doolittle,” but it turns out kangaroos can communicate with humans.

Researchers found that kangaroos “intentionally” communicated with humans — a behavior that was previously thought to be reserved for domesticated animals, like dogs, horses, or goats.

BMW 1280x180

Experts from London’s University of Roehampton and the University of Sydney set up a task, known as “the unsolvable problem task,” where they presented kangaroos with food trapped inside a plastic container.

After trying, and failing, to open the boxes, the kangaroos turned their gaze on a nearby human — and sometimes even nudged or scratched them to ask for help, researchers said.

“Their gaze was pretty intense,” co-author Alexandra Green, a post-doctoral researcher in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, said in a statement.

Read More →

RELATED TOPICS:

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend