Join us in Münster this autumn!

WG4 members met in Warsaw to advance communication efforts: drafting a PAW translation manuscript, planning upcoming social media, reviewing outputs, and developing a children’s book. They also explored “life after LIFT” and the future of the website and channels post–COST Action.

OK, I'm obsessed with this study in @science.org It took Reddit "Am I The Asshole" posts & asked LLMs if the poster was the asshole. Aaand (surprise) AI was more likely to tell people they were NOT the asshole ... even when humans said yeah YTA 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

doi.org/10.1186/s131... #SPEetologia #AppliedEthology #ResearchTransparency #FAIRPrinciples #AnimalResearch #ScientificIntegrity #Reproducibility #EthicsInResearch

doi.org/10.1186/s131... #SPEetologia A survey of Applied Ethology researchers reveals limited adoption of Open Science practices. Preprints and preregistration remain uncommon, data sharing is inconsistent, and awareness of FAIR principles is low, with lack of training identified as a key barrier.

🚨 New study by #SPEmembers 🚨 #AnimalBehaviour #Ethology #OpenScience "Exploring open science in applied ethology: practice and attitudes among researchers" Nawroth et al. with SPE members Anna Olsson @ BMC research notes

📢Webinar alert📢 Join Dr Rebekah Humphreys for a thought-provoking talk on shared language, interspecies trust, and ethics - inspired by Vicki Hearne's work. Don’t miss this fascinating exploration and tune in! ⏰ 5 pm CEST 📅 April 13th 🔗 us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Motivation in cognitive tests and its outcome on test performance in pigs www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Conventional systematic reviews can become outdated before they're even published. In our new @nathumbehav.nature.com piece, we discuss how living systematic reviews can help keep evidence current by continuously integrating new evidence. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper alert with Stephan Kaufhold, Mia Borzello and David Kirsh! How well does cognition studied in the lab reflect cognition in the real world? Much of what we think we know about cognition rests on methodological assumptions that have become so established that they often go unexamined.

February 2026 boardgame stats: Duck & Cover had a short but very intense phase. Zenith is already a solid 2-player staple. 🎲

Rethinking self-awareness: insights and biases from self-recognition research www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This one took a while, but we’re happy to finally have it out! We were wondering how prevalent different Open Science practices are in applied ethology. To find out, check this pre-proof version that is already available. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Join us for the 4th Synergy Webinar on Animal Welfare! 🎙 “What can rats teach us about positive animal welfare with a focus on play and tickling?” 👤 With Prof. Alistair Lawrence 📅 25 February 2026 | 13:00 CEST 🔗: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📰✨ Our Feature Paper of the Month! ✨📰 This month's highlight: "Vocalisations in farm animals: A step towards positive welfare assessment" by Karin Laurijs, Elodie Briefer, Inonge Reimert, and Laura E. Webb. 📖 Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.ap...

Exploring open science in applied ethology: practice and attitudes among researchers | BMC Research Notes | Springer Nature Link https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13104-026-07685-x

How do we know our research results are REAL? We replicate them! Most folks agree but lament on how hard it is to publish these replications. My dearest gentle reader, lament no more! Delighted to unveil: Replication Studies, a new section of Behavioral Ecology 1/ academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

This one took a while, but we’re happy to finally have it out! We were wondering how prevalent different Open Science practices are in applied ethology. To find out, check this pre-proof version that is already available. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

LIFT’s very own podcast ‘Lifting Animals’ Lives’ is finally here! Our first episode with Dr Laura Webb, Assistant Professor at Wageningen University & Vice Chair of the COST Action, is now live. Happy listening! Link to RSS website: rss.com/podcasts/lif... Link to YouTube: youtu.be/pIEGkFBHA0M

📢 Deadline approaching! There are only a few days left to submit your abstract for UFAW's Centenary Conference 2026. Submissions close on 6 February. Don't miss your chance to speak at our biggest event to date ➡️ https://ow.ly/na8g50Y7xeB #ScienceForAnimalWelfare #AnimalWelfare

January board game stats - not a bad start to 2026! @bgstatsapp.bsky.social

The ISAE 2026 congress website is now officially open! isae2026delhi.in Abstract submission is also open, please visit the website to learn more about deadlines and topics. #ISAE2026 #ISAEcongress #appliedethology

Local specialists’ experience and skills in animal behaviour studies: insights from wild chimpanzee field assistants royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

First paper of 2026 just got accepted! 🚨🎆

Una #vaca demuestra por primera vez un uso flexible de #herramientas y desafía lo que sabemos sobre la cognición animal @goatswhostare.bsky.social 

Online survey for dog owners on cold and heat stress and its implications for dog welfare (in English or Portuguese): survey.vetmeduni.ac.at/index.php/83... Please share, participation is anonymous, and we hope to identify indicators and risk factors of thermal stress in dogs

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual... My latest for @science.org about the first documented case of tool use in cattle!

Cow Tools! We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years. We breed them and exploit them It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS Here I describe our study (paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social with @auersperga.bsky.social

Our new paper (with @biotay.bsky.social) is out and on the cover story of @currentbiology.bsky.social !!!! Veronika, a Carinthian mountain cow flexibly uses a “multi-purpose tool” to scratch herself. A video and more information will follow in the comments. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Absolutely terrific study! Check the video footage in the ESM! www.cell.com/current-biol...

Is dogs’ tendency to follow human misleading communicative cues influenced by humans’ auditory perspective? link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Chimpanzees’ working memory is not affected by the presence and activity of zoo visitors link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Smart Ungulates: What Sheep and Goats' Performances in a Reversed-Reward Contingency Task Tell Us About the Evolution of Cognitive Flexibility onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🚨 Dairy farmers needed – urgent input requested! 🚨 We urgently need responses from dairy cattle producers for a survey on Positive Animal Welfare (PAW), carried out within our action (WG3). 🔗 Survey links (choose your language) are in the replies!

Loving this scene 😍🐐

🔢 42 ist die Antwort auf alles. Aber ganz sicher nicht auf die Frage: Wie schlau sind die Tiere, die wir essen? ARTE „42 – Die Antwort auf alles“ mit Forschung unserer AG Verhalten & Tierwohl am FBN & Dr. Christian Nawroth 👉 https://shorturl.at/D1l0J

📢 Registration & abstract submission are now open for UFAW’s Centenary Conference 2026. As UFAW marks its centenary, we invite you to join this 3-day conference to explore the latest developments in #animalwelfarescience. Further details and submissions: scienceforanimalwelfare2026.org

Take note! 📝 There are a lot of important dates coming up for #ASABSpring2026 and #ECBB2026 🗓️ More information here: www.asab.org/conferences-...

Goats who stare at wolves - identifying natural response stimuli for an affect-driven attention bias test in small ruminants https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.03.692016v1

Domestic goats can follow the direction of human voices to solve a hidden-object task https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.08.692563v1

ManyFishes: a big team science collaboration on fish comparative cognition link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Do pigs like to brush? An observational study of pig brushing behaviour in a commercial production environment www.frontiersin.org/journals/ani...

Code-sharing policies are associated with increased reproducibility potential of ecological findings peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10....

New preprint out on "Goats who stare at wolves - identifying natural response stimuli for an affect-driven attention bias test in small ruminants"! Apparently, snakes might be the new wolves! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Review in #ProcB - From welfare indicator to welfare contributor: the role of play in building flexibility and resilience in captive animals #OpenAccess #Behaviour royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Wildlife in the city! Together with @dzg-evol.bsky.social, we are launching a special issue on "Wildlife in Urban Spaces – Adaptations and Human Perceptions” in the journal Ethology! You can find further details here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

I’ve come across fully AI-generated manuscripts and reviewer reports before, but until yesterday I had never seen a fully AI-generated retraction request—with all the same kinds of flaws. Has anyone else encountered this? And what’s the motivation behind it?

⚠️ New Postdoc or PhD position open (3 years+) ⚠️ 🚩Developmental milestones across cultures 🌍 Based @leuphana.bsky.social , in collaboration with @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social Please share/apply! Link: tinyurl.com/58dsn43u

📢 #Ethology2026 – A Double Event Join us for: • Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau • DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication. univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog... @ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at