Offbeat studies, sometimes called “ecologically irrelevant research” can raise the question – WHY on earth study THAT?

But, they can help us develop bio-inspired technology, and explore how both animals and ourselves might behave in the face of environmental change.

Dr Scarlett Howard is Head of the Integrative Cognition, Ecology and Bio-inspiration Group in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University, and an animal cognition expert, joined us this morning to chat about these studies.

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Article in The Conversation: Fish driving cars and chimps doing maths: what teaching animals ‘irrelevant’ skills reveals about our own minds