To survive and flourish, many animal species rely on ecological knowledge. But this knowledge is not always spread across the group—it's often held by certain "keystone individuals." Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @pbrakes.bsky.social! Listen: disi.org/the-value-of...

In one of those days where purpose seems hard to find, nice to read: "why does the world still need behavioural ecologists?" A reminder of how exciting it is to see the world from the eyes of a behavioural ecologist. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our newest research in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... We find dominant baboons have more interrupted and less rest at night. Author list and story in comments below :-)

Whee 😆 #wildlifephotography #wednesdaymotivation

Pleased to announce that @exetermarine.bsky.social will be a founding member of Marine Science UK - an umbrella organisation that will champion the ocean and communicate robust and coherent marine science evidence to government, industry and the wider community. 🌍🧪🦑 See also: marinescience.org.uk

👋to @josharbon.bsky.social who has completed a truly outstanding #NERC-funded postdoc investigating #pre-emptive #behaviour in relation to #intergroup #conflict 👏 Loads of exciting #research, new #methods learned & an awe-inspiring level of help provided to others 🥇 Good luck in #Cambridge, Josh

New paper, led by our former PhD student Victoria Lee. Wild jackdaws recognise the contact calls of their mate: link.springer.com/article/10.1... @uniexecec.bsky.social @guillmcivor.bsky.social

This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptation to optimizing biocontrol of pest species www.nature.com/articles/s41... Free to read: rdcu.be/eRKbv

After many years of trying to combine my 2 passions, art 🎨 and science 👩‍🔬, into something meaningful, i have created an educational #ChildrensBook! 📚 ✨ Meet The Rimba🦧, a gentle, lyrical tale about a wise orangutan guardian spirit who protects her rainforest home and the creatures who depend on it.

Are you looking for a wild PhD opportunity? 🦠🧵 There are several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026! Scroll for more information, or visit the link below for full project descriptions and application information👇 xavharrison.github.io

PhD opportunity in NZ - Fabulous supervisor, exciting questions, great system! Get your applications in!

The final chapter of my thesis has just been published in Ecology and Evolution! @ecol-evol.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Here we find that the social environment, notably vocal and aggressive interactions, are linked to cognitive development in magpie fledglings.

Exciting PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Fully funded by EPSRC DLA. Based at @uniexecec.bsky.social; co-supervised by Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social and collaborators. Apply: tinyurl.com/5fr73snt

Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Turns out gulls don't like being shouted at (or stared at!) New paper led by excellent masters students @uniexecec.bsky.social with @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Huge congrats Andoni!

🚨Who wants to work with Kalahari meerkats? A MSc project with @mathildemartin.bsky.social at the University of Zurich. #bioacoustics 🧪

📢JOB alert Excellent opportunity with fantastic team and study system. 🐬 What are you waiting for???

#PhD position! Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

New paper from @joewoodman.bsky.social et al in @asn-amnat.bsky.social uses the long-term study of Great Tits in Wytham Woods to ask how differently aged birds are distributed in space & what consequences this has for spatial variation in reproductive output www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!

BehaveAI is live! Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease. Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source. Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI

Last night, Peers voted against Swift bricks: rejecting a simple, proven way to help one of our fastest declining birds recover. ❌ We share @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's disappointment & frustration. The vote came late, but with government refusing to back it, its fate was already sealed.

This is an exciting project as part of an exciting larger grant - excellent opportunity

PhD studentship on antimicrobial resistance in wild baboons! Fully-funded by @swbiodtp.bsky.social Application deadline: Wed 3 Dec 2025. More details: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo.... Apply here: www.swbio.ac.uk/programme/ho... @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social

Several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026 to do a PhD! Details below #phd #ecology @uniexecec.bsky.social

I have published a childrens book! 📚🦧 'The Rimba' is a lyrical tale about the rainforest’s guardian spirit, a wise orangutan named Rimba, who rises to protect her home and the creatures within it, from the impacts of deforestation for palm oil. 🌴 #NewBook #ChildrensBook #orangutan #conservation

Thanks for the invitation and the kind hospitality! It was great to catch up with folk and chat to the @egioxford.bsky.social crew.

Coming up soon (9 am today) an opportunity to hear this classic episode of In Our Time on Bird Migration featuring Tim Guilford of @biology.ox.ac.uk www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

I'm very excited to go back to Oxford, where I did my undergrad, to talk about the group's recent work on jackdaws and what it tells us about the evolution of sociality and cognition!

"Unsung Songbirds: Advances in the Study of Corvid Communication" - a new review paper (preprint) https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/10600/ Corvids are amazing, so I'm v pleased to be a small part of this review led by Claudia Wascher and Valerie Dufour. #corvids #bioacoustics

Congrats to @sheldonbirds.bsky.social, who's been awarded honorary membership by @britishecologicalsociety.org, the highest honour given by the society! A recognition of exceptional contribution to the generation, communication and promotion of ecological knowledge and solutions 👇 bit.ly/474eoAb

Investigating the relationship between heat-mediated cognitive impairment and antipredator response in a wild bird | royalsocietypublishi... | Royal Society Open Science | #ornithology 🪶

🐦 Exciting news! Our new paper is out in PLOS Biology: “A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.” Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍 🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... @themanybirds.bsky.social

Social relationships are powerful predictors of fitness across social animals. But *why*? In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts. tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7

One of the risks of bowerbirds sharing space with a university - sometimes scientific equipment (and samples) get pinched! Soy sauce containers also seem to be popular

Out today in @plosbiology.org (1/5) Siblings and non-parental adults provide alternative pathways to cultural inheritance in juvenile great tits 🐦🧩 Link to study: 10.0.5.91/journal.pbio... Co-authors: @lucymaplin.bsky.social @galarconnieto.bsky.social

Back in the land of bowers this week! Investigating how male courtship signals are affected by urbanisation #greatbowerbirds @uniexecec.bsky.social

Research assistant + postdoc position on a NERC funded project working w @darrenobbard.bsky.social and collaborating with @savebutterflies.bsky.social on the ecological and evolutionary drivers of the virome of UK moths @uniexecec.bsky.social. Descriptions below and links here benlongdon.com/join/

Sad news. We know Jane Goodall was an inspiration to many of our members. She brought real change not only to animal behaviour, but to the world 🌍

“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.” Goodnight Jane, thanks for caring. ✊🏻

Are you a student studying ecology or conservation? Do you lecture ecology or conservation? I created this playlist for you and hope it is useful. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Great postdoc opportunity to work with a fantastic team!

Selection Shapes Animal Minds: next up in our highlighted talks from last year's Royal Society Discussion Meeting is Michael Sheehan (Cornell) talking about pop gen approaches to the evolution of cognition youtu.be/VIlSj5lwSMQ @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org

Incredible animal system, awesome science and the nicest group of people to work with - what’s not to like? ⬇️

📢 #CFP: We are now accepting #grant applications for research projects in wild animal welfare science. To learn more about the grants we offer, what we're looking for, and how to apply, visit our grants page: www.wildanimalinitiative.org/grants Submit your EOI by November 14.

Selection Shapes Animal Minds: More completely free videos of talks from our Royal Society Discussion meeting last year. Today's highlighted talk: Dr Zegni Triki (Neuchatel) @zegnitriki.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social youtu.be/WQLjnfhSyD4?...

Great new paper led by @laurenvane.bsky.social from her masters work on the dwarf mongooses. Despite early mornings and late nights, the increasing temperatures we’re seeing are stopping the mongooses maintaining body mass. @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @andyradford.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

New research from #BiologyLetters: Wild jackdaws learn to tolerate juveniles to exploit new foraging opportunities buff.ly/CXm7rPe | #AnimalBehaviour #Cognition #Ecology

@lucahahn.bsky.social gave a very interesting talk on his research investigating feedback effects between social relationships and social information in jackdaws @behaviour2025.bsky.social @asab.org