Working Like a Dog

I really enjoyed my time on X this week! I gained more followers which is always exciting to see, especially because I've been passionate about all my tweets. I also decided to focus my scicomm research on dogs, which is why you might have observed a change in my cover picture. Everything I read and reposted regarding dog cognition and behavior resonated with me, especially since they are common in so many of our lives. In previous weeks, I had already followed many informative accounts that aligned with this interest (including Family Dog Project, Marc Bekoff, and Dogs Trust's Canine Behaviour & Research Teams). This week, I was able to follow several other similar accounts with really interesting content. Among them, my favorites were Dog Aging Project, Giulia Cimarelli, and Clive Wynne. These dog experts are the perfect combination of informative and engaging. They consistently share recent scientific findings with a sprinkle of cute and unique dog photos! I definitely recommend checking their content out, even if you are not a dog enthusiast.

I mentioned earlier that dog research really resonated with me, and it certainly showed in this week's tweets and retweets! Although not dog experts quite yet, several of my classmates have been sharing interesting articles about dog behaviors that I wanted to add to my feed. For example, I reposted an article link I saw from Erin Bartholomew about dogs being able to be plant-based, which I never would have expected! My retweets weren't completely taken over by the dogs, however. I also reposted some fun animal photos and an article about genomic color variation since it tied into decision making in animals. I broadened this topic of decision making by linking an article discussing mice and how they interact to understand their environment. I was enthusiastic about everything I read, but my most thought-provoking information is in a tweet thread that detailw the behavioral differences between pet dogs and shelter dogs. I encourage you to check it out since it challenges the justification of dog testing.

While that is the end of my X updates, I want to briefly go over some of my classmates' blogs that I read this week. I checked out Alicia Kim, Annalise Buell, and Thomas Wedewer. Only Annalise is focusing on canines, so I enjoyed the perspective Thomas and Alicia provided as they are more interested in bird research. I recommend you also check out what they have been learning! My best response was to Thomas. He discussed the documentary Bird Brain, explaining both the intelligence and emotional capacity of crows. Because most studies I have read about crows focus solely on their learning ability, his discussion about emotions reminded me that many animals beyond just dogs, cats, or primates can appear to feel similarly to the way we do.