Dogs have a similar physiological response to humans when we tell them we love them, it releases happy hormones in their brains, slows their heart rates and reduces their stress levels. I always have told my animals I love them but I do it extra with doggo because I know this now
ETA: Oh my Dog! Can't believe I forgot this one!
There is a dog that has been taught how to talk using a mat with light up buttons incorporated into it, it started with just a couple of words and now this super dog knows lots of words! I would also recommend looking this up on Youtube, I'm sorry it's such a vague reference, I can't for the life of me remember what the dog is called
It's really incredible how much this dog understands and can communicate, I had read about studies that show dogs intelligence could be comparable to 1-2 year old children before but this blew me away!
Rats are amazing I used to have two, Roland and Splinter ha ha!
There has been a couple of studies with rats recently that I really found incredible.
The first showed that when two rats were put in a position where one would starve from lack of access to food (Ahh hated reading this bit although I'm hoping they wouldn't have let it go that far!
) and the other would be given sufficient food, most of the rats would purposely share their portion of food with the rat who was hungry
The second one was way more fun to read! Rats can be taught how to play hide and seek! They actively enjoy the game and can pick up the nuances very quickly, excelling at both hiding and seeking behaviours. There is a video of this on Youtube
Some Elephants have a similar physiological response when they see humans as humans do when they see cute kittens, puppies etc.
Basically humans think we are cute, tiny, hairless monkeys and they Naaaw!
when they see us
My factoid list wouldn't be complete without an Orangutan factoid in honour of UU's most prehensile Alumnus, the Librarian.
Did you know that Orang babies giggle like human babies when they are tickled? It is adorable! I highly reccomend you Youtube it immediately if you feel depressed!
When Orangs are orphaned they are sometimes lucky enough to be taken into a rehabilitation program where they go through Orangutan school from having all their needs taken care of by a surrogate human mum, to primary school/kindergarten where they learn Orang skills in the refuge, to secondary/high school where the basic skills are down pat and they have less interaction with humans and learn social skills from their peers in a semi wild replicated part of the program, to graduation where they finally have learnt to Orang like a Big Orange Boss and they get to leave school and make their way in the world completely free of their former human carers
While they are in the nursery to primary ages play and cuddles are a really important part of their day, much like it is for human babies. So their human surrogates will spend time playing peek a boo and cuddling and getting the cutest giggles and grins from their precious little charges with tickles and silliness - it's seriously heartwarming watching and I was giggling along when I watched it