Some dogs ‘as clever as human infants’

(Image credit: mariah Mobley)

published 6 October 2021

Some of breeds of dog can learn the names of a dozen toys in a single week and still recall them two months later, a study has found. According to scientists who ran the Genius Dog Challenge, border collies, German shepherds, Pekinese and mini Australian shepherd dogs are particularly bright. The researchers concluded that some dogs have “cognitive skills that are functionally similar to those of human infants”.

Chicken-sized dinosaur found in Wales

Fossilised remains of a dinosaur related to Tyrannosaurus rex but with a body the size of a chicken has been discovered in a quarry in south Wales. Stephan Spiekman, from the Natural History Museum, said the Pendraig milnerae lived near the beginning of the evolution of the meat-eating dinosaurs. “Early in the evolution of this group these animals were quite small, in contrast to the very famous meat-eating dinosaurs like T rex which evolved much later,” he said.