American animal symbols, characteristics, myths, and stories are explored. It is suggested that peoples' emotional feelings concerning the goodness or badness of certain animals may affect the public's attitude toward the protection of these animals. (AJ)

Describes the role of mushroom bodies--cup-shaped structures perched atop the brain of an insect--in learning. Mushroom bodies may help fruit flies in learning meaningful odors, cockroaches in spatial learning, and honeybees both in locating pollen and nectar and in navigating back to the colony. (PVD)

Possible reasons for the current resurgence of biological determinism are discussed. Deterministic arguments are classified as being based on the general human species or based on presumed differences among racial groups. The first type of argument is presented and some alternate interpretations proposed. (LS)

The zoo's role in public education is analyzed. Despite good intentions, zoos may be creating animal stereotypes that are not only incorrect but that actually work against the interests of wildlife preservation. (BL)

Discusses how animals learn from companions, especially among Norway rats. Rats begin early eating foods that other rats eat. Adults also choose to eat a food largely because companions are eating it even if they had learned to avoid the food at an earlier time. Other animals also learn from watching companions' eating techniques, reactions to…

Experiments related to studying innate responsiveness to auditory stimuli in various infant organisms establish that animals have innate perceptual knowledge. (SA)

A human demonstrator showed human children and captive chimpanzees how to drag food or toys closer using a rakelike tool. One side of the rake was less efficient than the other for dragging. Chimps tried to reproduce results rather than methods while children imitated and used the more efficient rake side. Concludes that imitation leads to…

Explores the mathematical abilities of human infants compared with various species of animals. Studies indicate that human infants enter the world capable of doing simple mathematical operations. Nonhuman animals can discriminate among sets of objects based on the number of items in each set. Further studies may pinpoint the age at which children…