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Looking back on our teenage years often elicits a grimace — it’s an awkward time, full of social faux pas, uncertainty and acne — but it’s one that we all must pass through on our way to adulthood. 

But do other animals also experience adolescence? This period of life comprises both physiological and social changes. Unquestionably, other animals experience puberty, the cascade of hormonal and physiological changes that enable mating. But researchers such as Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, a cardiologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard University, argue that most, if not all, animals experience a period of adolescence too — what Natterson-Horowitz calls “wildhood” — that also includes the social shifts that youngsters must navigate as they transition into adulthood.

Years allocated to adolescence in the life history of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) compared with three widely studied model species: Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) and laboratory mice (Mus musculus). (Image credit: Reddy et al. (2022))

For a long time, adolescence was thought to be unique to humans, Natterson-Horowitz told Live Science. “But the more you peel that back, the more you find that while there are certain aspects of adolescence that are uniquely human, that period of transition that starts with the onset of puberty and ends when a mature adult emerges — that’s universal.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, in the species that are most closely related to us, such as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), some of these changes are easily recognizable to humans. Aaron Sandel, a biological anthropologist and primatologist at the University of Texas at Austin, published a paper showing that young chimps experience a growth spurt that leaves them clumsy as they adjust to their new bodies.

Related: Do any animals know their grandparents?

During adolescence, young Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) learn intricate courtship behaviors by watching experienced adults and then practicing with their peers.  — Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

At the same time, these juveniles are learning to integrate into adult society. They begin spending less time with their parents and more time with their peers, including members of the opposite sex. Young male chimps aren’t aggressive during this time, deferring instead to the guidance of older adult chimps that serve as mentors and teach them social cues. “It’s a period where you’re really attentive to what will give you status and you’re really attentive to what it means to be an adult,” Sandel said.

But do these characteristics extend beyond our closest relatives? Indeed, scientists have documented forms of adolescence across the animal kingdom that highlight how common this period may be.

Christine Ribic, a landscape ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that young grassland birds buck the “early bird gets the worm” trend and instead sleep late into the day, “mooching food off of their parents for as long as possible” before they finally go out on their own. Even after fledgling, young birds are not always self-sufficient. Other researchers have noted that, in challenging years, juvenile Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) return to their parents for help, mirroring a trend of young adults moving back in with their parents amid an economic downturn.

Gentoo penguin juveniles sometimes return to their parents for help before they reach adulthood. (Image credit: Manuel ROMARIS via Getty Images) Related mysteries—Do animals hug each other?

—What’s the chattiest animal?

—Can animals give birth to identical twins, triplets or even quadruplets?

Animal experiments have also demonstrated how juveniles become more tolerant of risk. Young rats raised on the same nutritious diet as their mothers will intentionally choose to eat less-tasty foods, or even ones that make them sick, to fit in with a group of peers, and adolescent mice drink more alcohol among peers than they do when alone. When in groups, many animals — including fish, gazelles and bats — engage in predator inspection, in which packs of juveniles intentionally approach a predator. This group think is the same reason new drivers usually aren’t allowed to drive with their friends in the car for a period of time after getting their license.

While we should be mindful of projecting our own biases and judgments onto other animals, probing these links between humans and their wild kin can be unifying and may help us navigate our own challenges, Natterson-Horowitz said. 

“It really is recognizing that whatever struggles you may be going through, there’s an animal and an evolutionary story behind them — that actually, adolescence has a function,” which is to help animals survive and thrive in adulthood,” she said. “Their struggles are not exactly the same as humans’, but there are some pretty remarkable similarities in what they’re going through.”

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US

‘Fordow is gone’: US warplanes strike three nuclear sites as Iran warns of ‘everlasting’ consequences

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'Fordow is gone': US warplanes strike three nuclear sites in Iran

The US has carried out a “very successful attack” on three nuclear sites on Iran, President Donald Trump has said, as Iran warned of “everlasting” consequences.

The strikes, which the US leader announced on social media, included a hit on the heavily protected Fordow enrichment plant, which is buried deep under a mountain.

The other sites hit were at Natanz and Isfahan. It brings the US into direct involvement in the war between Israel and Iran.

Follow latest: US bombers strike three Iranian nuclear sites

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the US strikes “will have everlasting consequences”, adding that his country “reserves all options” to retaliate.

“The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,” Mr Araghchi wrote on X. “Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior.

“In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”

More on Iran

Iran has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to “maintain international peace and condemn the US strikes”, according to state media.

According to the Israeli state broadcaster KAN, ten places in Israel have been hit by Iranian missiles in response.

Several explosions have been heard over Tel Aviv, according to witnesses, with Israeli media saying missiles have hit northern and central Israel, including in Haifa, Ness Ziona, Rishon LeZion and Tel Aviv.

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Trump: Iran strikes ‘spectacular success’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the “bold decision” by Mr Trump, saying it would “change history”.

Iran has repeatedly denied that it is seeking a nuclear weapon and the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said in June that it has no proof of a “systematic effort to move into a nuclear weapon”.

Addressing the nation in the hours after the strikes, Mr Trump said that Iran must now make peace or “we will
go after” other targets in Iran.

Commenting on the operation, he said that the three Iranian sites had been “obliterated”.

“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight
days,” he said.

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‘Trump’s bold decision will change history’

In a posting on Truth Social earlier, Mr Trump said, “All planes are safely on their way home” and he congratulated “our great American Warriors”. He added: “Fordow is gone.”

He also threatened further strikes on Iran unless it doesn’t “stop immediately”, adding: “Now is the time for peace.”

Sky News understands there was no UK involvement in the strikes.

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Fordow: What we know about Iran’s secretive ‘nuclear mountain’

Among the sites hit was Fordow, a secretive nuclear facility buried around 80 metres below a mountain and one of two key uranium enrichment plants in Iran.

“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” Mr Trump said. “Fordow is gone.”

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There had been a lot of discussion in recent days about possible American involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict, and much centred around the US possibly being best placed to destroy Fordow.

Meanwhile, Natanz and Isfahan were the other two sites hit in the US attack.

Natanz is the other major uranium enrichment plant in Iran and was believed to have possibly already suffered extensive damage in Israel’s strikes earlier this week.

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‘US strikes won’t end Iran’s nuclear programme’

Isfahan features a large nuclear technology centre and enriched uranium is also stored there, diplomats say.

US media reported that six ‘bunker buster’ bombs were used to strike Fordow.

Mr Trump said no further strikes were planned and that he hoped diplomacy would now take over.

Map showing the Fordow enrichment plant
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Map showing the Fordow enrichment plant

It’s not yet known what Iran’s response will be – particularly as the government was already struggling to repel Israel.

However a commentator on Iranian state TV said every US citizen or military in the region was now a legitimate target.

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UK

Latest polling says if an election was held tomorrow Reform UK would win a majority

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Latest polling says if an election was held tomorrow Reform UK would win a majority

Since the local elections Reform UK has had no shortage of good polls.

But a new one suggests Nigel Farage‘s party has a chance not only of winning the next election, but of claiming a decent Commons majority, too.

In February, Reform topped a Sky News/YouGov poll for the first time, with Nigel Farage’s party edging in front on 25%, Labour pushed into second on 24%, with the Tories on 21%.

But a fresh one from Ipsos puts Reform on 34%, nine points ahead of Labour on 25%, with the Conservatives a distant third on 15%.

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Zia Yusuf: I sent a tweet I regretted

While the other parties are flatlining, Reform appears to be pushing boundaries.

Were these figures to be replicated across the country at a general election, with every constituency behaving the same way, then Reform could win as many as 340 seats, giving it a majority of 30, Sky News analysis suggests.

Labour could be reduced to 176 seats, down 236 on last year’s election, while the Tories would hit a record low of 12 seats.

But polling should always be taken with a pinch of salt and with the firm acknowledgement that there is not an election coming any time soon.

Conservative backbenchers might also tell you publicly that opinion polls are notoriously difficult to translate into seat numbers because voting percentages in individual constituencies can vary hugely from the overall average.

But the truth is that the symbolism of Reform UK topping another poll is likely to be noticed by MPs from all parties, especially backbench Conservatives who have actively been hoping their leader, Kemi Badenoch, can help them climb the polls and bring the party back into public favour.

Politics is a brutal game and when it comes to toppling underwhelming party leaders, the Tories are more ruthless than most. One wonders how many of these polls Mrs Badenoch’s party will allow her to endure.

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Reeves takes aim at Reform UK

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This poll is also a warning to Labour.

As the party approaches a year since its major victory, it will not have much to celebrate if these numbers are anything to go by.

According to this survey, only 19% are satisfied with the job Sir Keir Starmer is doing as prime minister, with 73% dissatisfied.

And the figure of 25% of voters intending to vote Labour is a level not seen since October 2019.

While abstract to much of the public, polling can often shape not only the chatter inside Westminster but how and when plots by MPs begin.

For Reform UK, this is a much-needed morale boost after a surprise resignation by their former Chairman Zia Yusuf, and then an almost immediate U-turn back into the party.

And Kemi Badenoch – who said during her leadership campaign that the Conservatives needed to go back to first principles and that this would take time – will be wondering, seven-and-a-half months after winning the leadership, how much time she really has left.

Ipsos interviewed a representative probability sample of 1,180 British adults aged 18+, via the Ipsos UK KnowledgePanel. Data was collected between 30 May-4 June 2025.

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UK

Palestine Action: The ‘enemy within’ or non-violent protesters?

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Palestine Action: The 'enemy within' or non-violent protesters?

The impending ban on protest group Palestine Action has divided opinion – described as both “outrageous” and “long overdue”.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to take the step after the group broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on e-scooters and sprayed two Voyager planes with red paint.

The prime minister described the attack as “outrageous” and a rapid review of security at MoD bases is under way.

It was the latest protest in a five-year campaign from Palestine Action (PA) that has targeted arms manufacturers, financial institutions, political figures and government buildings.

Red spray paint has become its signature.

Damage to planes at Brize Norton
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Damage to planes at Brize Norton

Damage to planes at Brize Norton

On its website, PA says it is a “direct action movement” committed to ending “global participation” in what it calls Israel’s “genocidal and apartheid regime”.

It adds that it uses “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex”.

Banning the group would make membership of it illegal. It would be treated as a terrorist organisation.

Saeed Taji Farouky, a spokesman for PA, told Sky News that potential proscription was “unfair”, adding that it was “ludicrous” that a “civil society direct action group” could end up on the same list as ISIS.

He added: “It’s not logical, it’s not even consistent with the British legal definition of terrorism, it’s a reaction that’s been taken overnight, with almost no discussion or debate.

“The whole thing is incredibly worrying, mostly for what it means about British law in general, about undermining the very basis of British democracy and the rule of law.”

There are “no circumstances” under which the two people who breached Brize Norton would be handed over to the police, he said.

Singer-songwriter Paloma Faith, who spoke at a pro-Palestine rally in Whitehall in central London on Saturday, told Sky News she was “devastated” by the move.

Paloma Faith spoke at the pro-Palestine rally
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Paloma Faith spoke at the pro-Palestine rally

“I have met some of the people who have friends in that group. They are young students and they are basically trying to do something because they feel that our government is failing them.”

She added that “everyone” wants to end what she described as a “massacre” in Gaza.

Israel says its military campaign in Gaza is a way of defending itself against Hamas, which killed more than a thousand people in its 7 October attacks and took about 240 people hostage. Hamas-run health authorities claim Israeli attacks have since killed almost 56,000 people in Gaza.

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What’s happening to Palestine Action?

Faith continued: “When you scribble on something, or paint on it, it’s a non-violent protest and it shouldn’t be made at the same level as a violent protest – it is unjust.”

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, backed Palestine Action’s use of non-violent protest.

A bank damaged by Palestine Action
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A bank damaged by Palestine Action

He told Sky News: “There has been a place for that in all political movements in history.

“In the struggle for the rights of black people in the US, in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, in the struggle for women to have the vote, people took forms of non-violent direct action.

“Imagine if we had the current [situation] back in those days – we would have been proscribing the suffragettes, treating them as terrorists.”

There was a pro-Israeli counter-protest
Image:
There was a pro-Israeli counter-protest in London

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Others have welcomed the move. Lord Walney, who served as the government’s independent adviser on political violence, told Sky News the decision was “long overdue”.

“Palestine Action have acted as the enemy within which is why it’s right, now, to crack down on them,” he said.

“They have terrorised working people for a number of years and there’s a number of serious violent charges that are going through the court system at the moment.”

The UK government is expected to announce its decision early next week.

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