Countdown Dogs
Ten Dog Behaviours Explained by the Job They Were Bred For
Circling before lying down, herding children, digging up the lawn and staring at nothing. Ten everyday dog behaviours traced back to the work the breed was shaped for.
🦜 Section
Animals
Animals are the easiest subject in the world to exaggerate, so we try hard not to. You get the behaviour that is actually documented, the breed quizzes that are actually solvable, and the occasional story that is remarkable precisely because it is true.
Countdown Featured
Countdown Australian Wildlife
Ten Facts About the Platypus That Sound Invented
Venomous, electroreceptive, egg-laying and without a stomach. Ten documented facts about an animal that European scientists initially assumed was a hoax.
Topics in Animals
All topics →- Dogs Breeds, behaviour and the working history behind the way dogs act. 1 article
- Cats Feline behaviour, breeds and the research into what cats are actually doing. 1 article
- Birds Identification, song, migration and the birds doing things nobody expected. 1 article
- Horses Breeds, colours, gaits and the long working relationship between horses and people. 1 article
- Farm Animals Cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and poultry, including the heritage breeds that nearly vanished. 1 article
- Australian Wildlife Marsupials, monotremes, reptiles and birds found nowhere else, with the myths corrected. 1 article
- Animal Intelligence Tool use, problem solving, memory and communication, as actually tested. 1 article
- Amazing Animal Stories Documented accounts of animals doing something extraordinary, with the record attached. 1 article
- Wildlife Mysteries Open questions in zoology: behaviours nobody can explain and species nobody can find. 1 article
- Cute & Unusual Animals Small, odd and rarely photographed species that deserve more attention. 1 article
Latest in Animals
Myth or Fact Cats
Nine Things Cats Do, and What the Research Actually Says
Purring, kneading, slow blinking and the noise aimed only at humans. Nine cat behaviours, separated honestly into the well evidenced and the still uncertain.
How It Works Birds
How to Tell Common Garden Birds Apart in About Three Seconds
Beginner bird identification without a field guide: the four things to look at, in order, and why colour is the least useful of them.
Quiz Horses
Can You Name These Horse Colours Correctly?
Horse colour has its own vocabulary, and most of it is counter-intuitive. Eight questions on coats, markings and the terms that trip everyone up.
Countdown Farm Animals
Nine Farm Breeds That Nearly Disappeared, and Why They Came Back
Regional livestock breeds were nearly wiped out by twentieth-century agriculture. What happened, who saved them, and why the reason they survived is not sentiment.
Countdown Animal Intelligence
Nine Animals That Use Tools, and How We Actually Know
Tool use in animals is often overstated. Nine cases with genuine experimental or field evidence, and a note on what each study did and did not show.
Feature Amazing Animal Stories
Eight Animals That Travelled Extraordinary Distances, With the Evidence
Tracked migrations, ringed birds and tagged sharks. Eight remarkable animal journeys that were actually measured, plus a famous one that was not.
Mystery Wildlife Mysteries
Seven Animal Behaviours Nobody Can Fully Explain Yet
Genuinely open questions in zoology: whale song, cat purring, magnetic navigation and the mass strandings. What is known, what is guessed, and what is being tested.
Countdown Cute & Unusual Animals
Ten Animals You Have Almost Certainly Never Heard Of
Small, strange and rarely photographed species that never make the documentaries, plus the reason the same few animals always do.