Aquatic animals must continuously gather information about their surroundings to cope with the changing conditions of their environment. In the current study we provide insights on information transfer among wild tropical fish schools, within the context of two survival-centric tasks: predator avoidance and detecting food sources. We investigated intra-species information transfer among zebrafish (Danio rerio) shoals and inter-species information transfer from flying barb (Esomus danricus), pool barb (Puntius sophore), or mixed species shoals to zebrafish shoals. Our experiments established that zebrafish shoals exhibited antipredator behaviours upon exposure to olfactory and visual cues from demonstrator shoals (in visual contact with a predator) consisting of zebrafish, flying barbs or mixed species consisting of both species. To gain insight into information transfer on the presence of food sources, we conducted two-choice experiments measuring the association time of test zebrafish with demonstrator shoals possessing or lacking information on the presence of food sources. Interestingly, these experiments revealed that while there was no evidence for information transfer from single species demonstrator shoals, mixed species demonstrator shoals did convey information to the observer test zebrafish. Therefore, our experiments reveal that wild zebrafish obtain information on predators and food sources through visual and/or olfactory cues from conspecific, heterospecific or mixed-species shoals, suggesting that information access may be an important driver towards shoaling among fish.

African harps as units of cultural evolution: a cladistic analysis on their morphology - Volume 7

EHBEA Committee 2026-2029: Nomination Form The EHBEA Steering Committee is calling for nominations for the following open committee positions for 2026-2029. You are invited to nominate one or more c...

There is a widespread belief, in both the scholarly literature and the popular press, that polygyny prevents large numbers of men from marrying by ...

Abstract. Anthropologists and human geneticists have long rejected efforts to purportedly scientifically justify racial inequality and colonialism. But race science has persisted, at least on the marg...

YouTube video by European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association

This online study with 3,371 participants from 13 societies found that perceived societal honour norms predicted both greater competition and greater cooperation at both societal and individual levels.

Understanding the role of humans as ‘ecosystem engineers’ requires a deep-time perspective rooted in evolutionary history and the fossil record. Howev…

End Sexism In School’s second crowd research project is looking into the History curriculum taught at KS3 (years 7-9) in England and Wales.

Human biologists seek to understand how cultural, environmental, and biological forces shape observed patterns of human variation. Yet contemporary insights and approaches to observational causal inf...

Gender stereotypes about spatial ability have been proposed as a contributing factor to the gender gap in STEM. This goal of this study was to investigate wh...

Sexual cannibalism, a behavioral syndrome where one mating partner consumes the other before, during, or after copulation, is particularly widespread among spiders and often exemplifies sexual conflict. Female sexual cannibalism has driven the evolution of numerous male counter-adaptations. Here we review sexual cannibalism in spiders, evaluate five broad hypotheses explaining its evolution, and provide possible explanations for numerous male reproductive strategies associated with this...

Darwin explained how seemingly purposeful and foresightful design could be decoupled from natural selection. Skinner followed suit for selection by reinforcement. Together with cultural selection, the...