Saturn, an alligator（短吻鳄）, aged 84, died at the Moscow Zoo. That in itself made Saturn unusual. In the wild, the normal life span for an alligator is 30 to 50 years. But longevity was the least unusual aspect of Saturn’s life story.

Saturn was born somewhere in Mississippi in 1936 and was shipped to the Berlin Zoo from which he disappeared on November 23rd, 1943, when the zoo was stricken in an air bombing campaign. Of the 16,000 animals once kept in the Berlin Zoo, fewer than 100 survived the war. Saturn was one of them.

When he got freedom in 1943, Saturn was 7 years old. In June 1946, an almost adult Saturn was discovered and captured by British army. The alligator was then turned over to the allied Soviet troops（苏联盟军）in Berlin who sent him on to Moscow where he would live in the next 74 years.

It was in Moscow that word got around that Saturn was a pet which belonged to Adolf Hitler. This undocumented episode with Hitler made Saturn a public figure.

"Even if he belonged to someone," the zoo's announcement of Saturn's death says, "animals are not involved in war and politics." Officials at the Moscow Zoo treated him as an honored guest. "We tried to take care of him with great care and attention. He was picky about food." Even among his keepers, he knew who he liked. He perfectly remembered the trusted keeper.

If a zoo animal can be a historical figure, officials say this one qualifies. "Saturn is a whole era for us. There is not the slightest exaggeration," the announcement of his death said. "He came after the victory in WWII—and witnessed（见证）its 75th anniversary. It is a great happiness that each of us could look into his eyes, just quietly being near. He saw many of us as children. We hope that we did not disappoint him.”

Death may not end Saturn's public career. It has been reported that his body will be maintained and placed on show at Moscow's Charles Darwin Museum of Biology.

Some chimpanzees(黑猩猩)are much wilder when it comes to making beats, scientists have discovered. In a Ugandan rainforest, the chimps have developed their own drumming(击鼓)styles on tree roots. Researchers observed their drumming styles range from rock to jazz. One chimpanzee brought back the style of the late John Bonham, a drummer who played a piece of music, Whole Lotta Love, and is ranked as one of the best. “The chimpanzee makes very fast drums with many evenly separated beats. His drumming is so fast that you can hardly see his hands.” said Catherine, leading scientist of the study.

Drumming with feet and hands with their special calls is used to exchange messages through thick forests, even with miles between them. Ben the Alpha’s call was a close two quick beats and a distant third, sometimes fourth.

Catherine also said. “We could often recognize which chimpanzee was drumming, and it was a fantastic way to find the different ones we were looking for. So if we could recognize, we were sure they could.”

The team was surprised to note the chimpanzees only used their personalized drumming styles when on the move, showing that the chimpanzees could decide whether to be recognized or not. The research could also settle a problem about why these chimpanzees greet each other when they meet but are not observed to say goodbye when they part in the forest. “The chimpanzees don’t need to say goodbye because they’re effectively able to keep in touch.” Catherine said. These long-distance signals give the chimpanzees a way to recognize with each other.

The researchers’ next study will be to explore whether different drumming styles can lead to different drumming cultures among the different chimpanzee populations.

Vampire bats live in the warmer areas of Central and South America. They are the only warm-blooded animals with a blood-only diet. They live in groups that can number from the tens to thousands of individuals.

Most people would not think of friendship and cooperation(合作)when considering vampire bats. But experts say maybe we should. New research shows that vampire bats have deeper social relationship with one another than scientists had thought. The study shows that vampire bats form friendships and meet at feeding time to hunt together.

Researchers attached small devices to 50 vampire bats in Panama to follow their path as they feed at night. The bats drink blood from wounds they cause on cows in open fields. Female bats were chosen in the study, as researchers believe they have stronger social relationships than males.

Twenty-three bats born in the wild had been caught and studied for about two years for related research into bat social behavior. Social connections had already been observed among some of them. They live together in trees, clean each other and share meals. The scientists used tiny sensor devices on the flying bats to learn whether their hunting behavior was also social. The sensor data showed that the bats would often join a “friend” while searching for food.

Gerald Carter is a scientist with the Ohio State University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He led the research published in the journal PLOS Biology. “This study opens up an exciting new window into the social lives of these animals.” he said, “Each bat maintains its own network of close cooperative social connections.”

The researchers guess that the bats join their friends during the hunt to help each other. They think the bats might exchange information about prey(猎物)position or access to an open wound for feeding.

Simon Ripperger, a researcher at the Smithsonia Tropical Research Institute and a writer of the study said people’s first response to vampire bats is usually fear. He added, “but once you tell them about their complex social lives, they are quite surprised that we can find such behavior that is somewhat similar to what humans do-and which one would maybe expect in primates(灵长类)—in bats.”