Cats might be skillful in knowing how to always land on their feet and keep themselves clean, but do they know their own names? When you call their names and they actually come,is it because they hear you getting their food ready, or is it because they know exactly what you said?

“Though cats might not always understand what exactly we’re saying, they can learn to connect sounds with good or bad results,” says Mikel Delgado, an expert on cat behavior.Cats can also recognize noises that show food or coming attention. They connect those sounds with a positive experience, so they learn to recognize the meanings.

A 2019 study found that cats react more to the sound of their own name than any other words. In the study, researchers would say four different words to the cats that were the same length and had the same accents (口音) as their own name. Delgado adds, “Over time, our pets do learn to connect their names with certain things like attention, or food. You can help your cats learn their names faster by not using lots of different nicknames (绰号), which might be confusing to your pets and they may not always realize that you are speaking to them. Keep sending a clear message.”

“You can train a cat to react to words the same way dogs do. You can teach them to site, sit,stay, high five, or go to their beds. In order to train your cat,” Delgado says, “you first need to know what motivates (激发) your cat, like a particular treat or a toy. Then start with something simple such as sitting. Over time, your cat makes the connections between their behavior, your response or the sound, and then the treat.”

If you look at a photograph of leopards, would you be able to tell which two were related based on their spots? Unless you’re a leopard expert, the answer is most likely not, says Tanya Berger-Wolf, director of the Translational Data Analytics Institute. But, she says, computers can.

Berger-Wolf and her team are pioneering a new field of study called imageomics (成像组学) which uses machine learning to obtain biological data from photos and videos of living organisms. They have recently begun working together with researchers studying leopards to compare spot patterns of moms and children using efficient algorithms (算法).

Berger-Wolf says the computer uses algorithms to count how many animals are in the image, as well as where and when it was taken, which could contribute to population counts. Not only can AI do this at a much lower cost than hiring people but also at a faster rate. In August 2021, AI analyzed 17 million images instantly.

As Berger-Wolf points out, population size is the most basic indicator of a species’ wellness. AI scanned 11,000 images of whale sharks to create hot spots and help researchers identify individual whale sharks and track their movement, which led to updated information about their population size. This new data made the conservation status of the whale shark changed from “unsafe” to “endangered” in 2016.

AI is still a fast-growing field when it comes to wildlife conservation, but Berger-Wolf is hopeful. For now, the team is cleaning the data of the leopard hot spots to ensure the results are true biologically meaningful information. If meaningful, the data could teach researchers how species are responding to changing habitats and climates and show us where humans can step into help.

Music is known to have a great deal of mental and physical benefits on humans. From helping to treat physical medical problems to relieving stress, music can be extremely beneficial in helping to improve health. 【小题1】

Animals may have a great deal of stress. 【小题2】 Dogs and cats may be stressed when around men because they were badly treated by a man, and they may never forget that. A dog who was attacked by another dog while on a walk may be always afraid to go on walks, or even be afraid to leave the house.

【小题3】 Cats, dogs and horses will not all have the exact same stressors (压力源), so you just have to pay close attention to your animal and what makes them unique, such as changes in eating habits, too much sleep and too little sleep, just to name a few.

Music can be extremely beneficial for animals in high stress situations. 【小题4】 In the atmosphere, they feel calm, safe and well protected. Music can be specifically helpful when played at veterinary (兽医的) clinics for animals who are afraid of the vet. This helps calm the owners of the animals and the staff at the office besides the animals. 【小题5】 That’s why it is being taken up at a variety of veterinary clinics around the world.