“De ware dierendokters: hoe dieren elkaar medisch behandelen. Chimpansees die verbanden aanleggen, muizen die EHBO verlenen: ook dieren verzorgen elkaar, blijkt uit groeiend stapel studies.” #wetenschap #biologie #diergedrag #boek Dokters van nature van @jaapderoode.bsky.social tinyurl.com/4b8eua9h

In many cases, crowding results in greater disease transmission. However, in monarch butterflies high host density can reduce per capita infection risk. This happens when caterpillars gobble up parasites on milkweed, removing them from the environment.🧪 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

From a grant rejection: "I would recommend finding a more cost effective way to conduct the study, such as using labor of a graduate student, which could reduce the overall cost by 80%." To clarify: that would leave $9,856 for 2 years. Shocking! Graduate students are NOT free and forced labor! 🧪

Mijn @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social boek ‘Dokters van nature’ is genomineerd voor de shortlist van de Natuurboekenprijs 2025! Hiernaast is er dit jaar een publieksprijs. Mocht je het leuk vinden op mijn boek te stemmen, dan kan dat hier: meedoen.bnnvara.nl/.../publieks.... 🧪

Wound care in chimpanzees! Like chimpanzees in Central Africa, scientists have now shown that East African chimpanzees also apply flying insects to their own and each other's wounds. This is likely some form of medication, which is more widespread than we thought. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

So excited and honored that my @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social book #doktersvannature, translated from my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #doctorsbynature made it to the shortlist for best Netherlands nature book of 2025. Fantastic how many people appreciate nature. 🧪 www.bnnvara.nl/vroegevogels...

De shortlist voor de Natuurboekenprijs 2025 is bekend, met de boeken van Eva Meijer, Nikki Dekker, Jeroen Helmer, @jaapderoode.bsky.social en Geert-Jan Roebers & Merlijne Marell. Bekijk de hele lijst, lees meer, bestel: athenaeumscheltema.n...

Could not agree more. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The only way back to normalcy is through, and that means getting these people out of power. I'm not going to get an NIH grant to do the work I care about until RFK and Jay are out anyway. So I hope you'll read and share our piece. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

Great opportunity!

Shocking but perhaps unsurprising finding by @findingnature.bsky.social that human connection to nature has declined precipitously. This is bad for our health and for the preservation of nature. The solution? Regreen, and take your kids outside. 🧪 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Good week for our understanding of manipulative parasites. A fungal pathogen of silk moths produces a host-like trehalose gene that reduces trehalose in the caterpillar's hemolymph. The larva perceives starvation, and fattens up to provide more resources for the fungus. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Wow, this new study used a form of the "rubber hand illusion" to show that an octopus experiences body ownership of its own arms. Body ownership is an important feature of self-consciousness, and had previously only been demonstrated in mammals. 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Another summer; another wonderful undergraduate research project. Congratulations to Marlyne Gonzalez for a fascinating project and beautiful poster. Monarch caterpillars sometimes hardly have any gut microbes! Supported by the INSPIRE program at Emory University and @emorycollege.bsky.social 🧪

@jaapderoode.bsky.social (author of Doctors by Nature, available now) spoke with @wired.com about the original wellness influencers: animals. Check it out:

It was great talking to @cjgiaimo.bsky.social for @wired.com about how animals use medicine on a sketchy phone connection on a moving rain in Germany :-). Bears, caterpillars, ants, and many other animals are health experts, as described in my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #doctorsbynature. 🧪

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Seattle Friends: I will be at Ada's Technical Books & Cafe on Friday July 25th to talk about how animals use medicine, and what we can learn from them. 🧪 @princetonupress.bsky.social adasbooks.com/event/2025-0...

'Van vlinders tot vogels, van apen tot insecten: het dierenrijk zit vol met slimme strategieen om ziekten te voorkomen of te bestrijden.’ @jaapderoode.bsky.social Marloes Stemerdink @newscientistnl.bsky.social @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social www.newscientist.nl/recensie/dok...

Very grateful for this wonderful review of my @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social and @princetonupress.bsky.social book on animal medication in @newscientistnl.bsky.social www.newscientist.nl/recensie/dok...

Very interesting observations on orcas "kelping" each other. They manipulate the kelp and groom each other with it, perhaps for skin maintenance. Most work on tools, allogrooming and culture focuses on terrestrial animals. So cool to see this study on a marine mammal! 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Portland friends: I will be giving a #scienceontap public lecture on my book Doctors by Nature at the Alberta Rose Theatre on July 23rd. Beer, books and science! Good combo. 🧪 @princetonupress.bsky.social www.scienceontaporwa.org/events/alber...

Work from our lab shows that non-native milkweed can allow monarch development into the winter, creating butterflies during a season where they can no longer migrate or breed. If you want to help monarchs, plant native milkweed only. 🧪 #plant-insect #nativeplants academic.oup.com/jinsectscien...

Thank you!

If you were at #evol2025, *this* is why every conversation you found yourself in had someone from LSU! We roll deep. Join us in Baton Rouge in January for the @systbiol.bsky.social breakout meeting! Equally good science conversation, just add gumbo and king cake.

Very exciting to present this idea at #Evol2025. The toxins and pigments of aposematic animals often act against infections, providing animals with individual fitness benefits.

Great get-together with @princetonupress.bsky.social at #Evol2025 to discuss the process of writing a science book. Check out the booth in the Grand Hall to learn more. You can also enter a raffle to win a copy of my book.

Fantastic talk by Jason Chen at #Evol2025 Stochasticity can override selection in symbiont assembly. Great analogy: drift is like the wind that moves arrows from their selective target. Amazing pictures!

Very grateful to Becca Safran and @currentbiology.bsky.social for this great review of my @princetonupress.bsky.social book!

What an amazing opportunity to give a public lecture on my @knnvuitgeverij.bsky.social book Dokters van Nature at the beautiful Groote Museum at the Artis zoo in Amsterdam.

One of my favorite podcasts I have done. In Ask Me!, third grade students from Morningside Elementary in Atlanta interviewed Erik Edwards and me about how start a pollinator garden. Understand the world through the eyes of the next generation! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Vrienden, familie en collega’s in Nederland: op 4 juni geef ik een boeklezing over mijn nieuwe KNNV Uitgeverij boek Dokters van Nature. Gratis toegankelijk; aanmelden kan via de link. 🧪 knnvuitgeverij.nl/nieuws/wegen...

Reminder: tomorrow!

NEW PAPER OUT🙉🦠🌱! In our new study in PLOSONE, we combined behavioral observations with pharmacological testing to highlight several plant species as suspect medicinal resources for the wild chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest. doi.org/10.1371/jour... More below:

A long-term study on chimpanzees in Budongo Forest in Uganda by @elodiefreymann.bsky.social and colleagues reveals that these animals use many different ways to treat their own wounds and those of others. 🧪 www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

This is such an important call from an early-career scientist. The current delays in decisions on publications are absolutely damaging to the careers of our junior colleagues. (1) 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

In our new paper #GabeDuBose used transcriptomics to show that parasites of monarch butterflies undergo very strong changes in gene expression between monarch life stages. Larvae, pupae and adults essentially act like different host species for parasites! 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks, Kate!

Atlanta friends: I will be giving a public talk on my @princetonupress.bsky.social book Doctors by Nature at Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta at 7pm on May 20th. With A Cappella Books. Books, beers, and bears. Free event. www.acappellabooks.com/pages/events...

Merci!

Podcast très intéressant avec @jaapderoode.bsky.social où il est question de médication chez les animaux. Fourmis, Monarque, Chimpanzé, Ours, Chien, etc. Vraiment intéressant !! open.spotify.com/episode/2VLF...

It’s official! The Dutch translation of my @princetonupress.bsky.social book just came out with @knnv.bsky.social Uitgeverij. I’m so excited to share all the fascinating stories of animals acting like doctors and pharmacists in my native language.🧪

So exciting to talk about animals using medicine to @nienkebeintema.bsky.social at @nrcwetenschap.bsky.social.

First monarch of the season in my pollinator garden in Atlanta. This video nicely shows how the monarch lands on multiple plants before deciding to lay an egg on Asclepias tuberosa. They definitely are picky! #plant-insect 🧪

One of the best parts of our job is to advise undergraduate students. Last week, Sara Gotkin presented her ongoing project to figure out the effects of milkweed chemicals and trichomes on monarch resistance to parasites. 🧪#plant-insect

This is great science journalism! Very well written account on the negatives of de-extinction. bbc.com/future/artic...

Exciting study on chimpanzees sharing fermented fruit. Social drinking? Social eating of fruit made digestible by fermentation? Future studies will tell. (Alcohol levels are similar to alcohol-free beer) 🧪 Wild chimpanzees share fermented fruits: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Tonight in Philadelphia! Excited. @princetonupress.bsky.social

Join @jaapderoode.bsky.social at @freelibrary.bsky.social tomorrow (April 22) at 7 pm EDT and hear him discuss his new book, Doctors by Nature. He will be in conversation with @beebrookshire.bsky.social. Get your tickets today: