Stories by Jason G. Goldman

Two chimps had been shut out of their shelter by mistake during a cold rain storm. They were standing dejected, water streaming down their shivering bodies, when Professor Khler chanced to pass.

Where did dogs come from? The question is harder to answer than it seems. The problem with much of the research on domestication is that the focus has been on how dogs and wolves interact with humans.

Sometimes, from just the right angle, a flamingo strongly resembles a muppet. Life imitates art, which imitates life. Photo taken July 14, 2013 at the San Diego Zoo with a Canon 60D and Canon 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens.

New camera trap footage of a mother Amur leopard and her two cubs provides evidence to conservationists that the world' most endangered big cat is still breeding in the wild.

A Masai Giraffe lazily chews on some leaves at the San Diego Zoo. Photo taken July 14, 2013 at the San Diego Zoo with a Canon 60D and Canon 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens.

Chimps need parental guidance to safely horse around

We tend to think of the domestic turkey as a fairly unintelligent bird, skilled at little more than waddling around, emitting the occasional gobble, and frying up golden-brown-and-delicious.

A Sudanese Striped Hyena takes a nap at the San Diego Zoo. From the Thoughtful Animal Archives: Hyenas Give Up Eating Garbage for Lent, Hunt Donkeys Instead Silver Spoon Hyenas: Maternal Social Status Affects Male Reproductive Success Photo taken October 11, 2013 at the San Diego Zoo with a Canon 60D and Canon 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 [...]

You love your dog. Does your dog love you back? Is the love that an owner feels for her dog reciprocated? That's the question that a group of Swedish and Danish researchers wanted to answer.

Here’s something curious. The phrase “man’s best friend” didn’t appear in print, according to Google’s n-grams, until after the year 1750.

Photo taken October 11, 2013 at the San Diego Zoo with a Canon 60D and Canon 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom lens.

The Wildlife Conservation Society released new camera trap footage of the elusive African golden cat. One important outcome of their research is a new understanding of the daily activity patterns of the species.

Meerkats are one of the few other species in the animal kingdom that has something close to human-like teaching. Read about it in an old piece of mine at BBC Future: Pay attention… time for lessons at animal school Photo taken October 11, 2013 at the San Diego Zoo with a Canon 60D and Canon [...]

I'll be on participating in a panel about dolphins, animals in captivity, and the award-winning documentary The Cove tonight. Catch it on Take Part Live on the Pivot channel at 9pm Pacific/12am Eastern.

Probably the worst thing to happen to you, if you’re an animal playing the game of life, is to be eaten by some bigger beast. If you’ve already managed to successfully reproduce by then, as far as evolution is concerned, maybe it’s OK for you to shuffle off that mortal coil.

Last night, I joined a group of marine mammal and animal behavior experts to livetweet and liveblog CNN’s airing of the award-winning documentary Blackfish.

Join me and a group of marine mammal and animal behavior experts tomorrow as we livetweet CNN's airing of the award-winning documentary Blackfish.

I'm an animal behavior expert and I've lived in Los Angeles all my life. Why don't I know the birds in my backyard? In my latest piece, at Zocalo Public Square, I argue that I should know who my wildlife neighbors are, and that understanding our natural world can create a better human community, too.

Evidence has been accumulating for several years that contagious yawning is driven by social cognition. But how? And is it related to empathy?

It’s interesting what a small change in wing position does to a photo of a single bird. In this first photo of a Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, the forward bend in the wings gives the bird a magnificent, almost regal quality.

Camera traps are a useful tool that scientists to use study jaguars. The downside is they have to wait for an animal to pass in front of the camera.

Following on last week’s California gull photo, here are a few more from that day. It’s a lesson in composition: the top photo tells a story.

Shoot a bear in Croatia, and you can skin it and turn the hide into a rug to adorn the floor of your living room. Or, if you wanted, you could hack off its head, stuff it, mount it, and hang it above your fireplace.

Most people in Los Angeles interact with seagulls – that is, the California gull, Larus californicus – mainly by shooing them away from our picnics at the beach.