My PhD chapter has come to an end 🐘❤️. I want to thank everyone who supported this dream, especially my mentors, close friends, colleagues, and family!

When assembling your dog, please make sure that you follow the instructions carefully.

Happy to see our elephant multimodal communication paper among this collection of articles celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday!

🪲To mark Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, we have compiled a retrospective collection of articles. Today we celebrate the enduring legacy of a naturalist and scientific communicator of unmatched talent who has inspired generations of scientists. www.nature.com/collections/...

“In my lifetime I have witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recovery.” What an immense privilege it has been to be alive at the same time as this incredible human being—David Attenborough. #Happy100thBirthday🥳 www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Happy 100th birthday to 'our David' 🎂🥳🎉 “Universities, it seems to me, are the most important institution in our society bar none." Happy birthday Sir David Attenborough, Honorary Doctor of Science, 2011 🎂🥳🎉 https://ow.ly/YwKc50YWu6v #EverToExcel

Grooved to share our new paper reporting the supercool flexible rhythmic drumming of the chimp Toon! 🥁🐒

PhD Opportunity! 4-year funded PhD @uniexecec.bsky.social: “From cognition to conservation: using cognitive and behavioural research to enhance animal reintroductions”. Closes: 5 June 2026. Funding: @royalsociety.org (UK/Home students only). More info & to apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin... 1/

Job Alert 🚨 - please share! My brilliant friend and collaborator, Fumihiro Kano, is launching a new Ecological & Collective Cognition lab at Kyushu University, and has postdoc, grad, and tech openings! Lab video: youtu.be/rXT-yjQzJxU More details: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

New paper alert! In this Current Biology paper led by Hassan Al Razi, we show that chimpanzees in Rwanda adjust nest construction with weather conditions. @ox.ac.uk @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our new paper is now out showing how time perception in animals is linked to their ecology. Using data from 237 species we show temporal perception is faster in species that fly and pursuit predators www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌐

Thrilled that our elephant gesture work got featured in the latest National Geographic PhotoArk edition @natgeophotos.bsky.social @angelastoeger.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social. Photo Ark uses the power of photography to inspire people to help protect at-risk species before it’s too late.

Important new study out led by the one and only @adriansoldati.bsky.social highlighting the skills and importance of local field assistants for the study of animal behaviour 👏. Shout out to all the amazing field assistants out there! royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

“Restoration isn't just about bringing animals back, it's about bringing back what they do," says Ty Loft, lead author of new research on decreasing trophic energy flows suggesting collapse of ecosystem functions by animals like primates & terrestrial herbivores in Africa phys.org/news/2025-10...

Elephant Dream 2025 - Females are more wary here in Marataba. Although we were with them for a while, these females seem to start forming a coalition against us here to warn us before crossing the road. So we talked gently to them to reassure them we weren’t a threat

Elephant Dream 2025 - Yesterday we had a large elephant gathering at the river. We observed them for hours playing, swimming, greeting, affiliating and sometimes even aggressing each other. Elephants are such complex beings where social gatherings shape their deeply social lives.

Yesterday we ended up being surrounded by our big boys. Here we had a magical elephant encounter up close. The Mountain wanted to go past our car but we couldn’t move as there were other males a few meters ahead so he gently passed by us ❤️.

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Days 1 and 2 of 🐘 fieldwork: -Flat tyre ✅ -Got stuck in sand and had to dig out the car for an hr while checking our backs for lions/ellies ✅ -Mozambican spitting cobra under our wheel ✅ -Got lost at night in the park ✅ -Amazing rhino encounters: also ✅

👋 Back in the field! Stay tuned for regular posts about our adventures following elephants 🐘❤️

Do you love research & writing & all things animal behavior? Well our journal, Animal Behavior, recruiting up to 5 (count em!) new Associate Editors! Editors serve three-year terms beginning January 2026. If you're interested, email Exec Editor Scott Sakaluk ([email protected]) by Oct 31!

We are hiring - PDRA position exploring how information access shapes social dynamics in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social Prof Dan Franks (York) start 1st Nov (or ASAP) end 31st Oct 2028. Apps close on 19th Oct. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT336/p...

🚨 First call! 🚨 European Congress for Conservation Biology (Leiden, the Netherlands in July 6th to 10th 2026) is open for proposals: symposia, panels, workshops & training on effective biodiversity conservation. Deadline Oct 31st 2025 👉 eccb26Leiden.eu #ECCB2026

Analysis of habitat connectivity and aggregation suggested that more than half of global #forests have become more fragmented over the past two decades, painting a picture of widespread forest degradation beyond the direct effects of #habitat loss www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thank you #behaviour2025 for hosting my talk on overimitation in dogs, the topic of ManyDogs 2! 🐶 @manydogsproject.bsky.social We are collecting data now in dog labs across the world! Email [email protected] / check out our website below to join! manydogsproject.github.io/manydogs2.html

It's not all about size. New research on female #gorillas challenges the male power narrative. Study by @nikos.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy & Martha Robbins now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social. #primates @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social @utu.fi More: tinyurl.com/y778faw2 & www.cell.com/current-biol...

Do the words we choose influence our relationships with other animals? 🧪 #academicsky news.mongabay.com/2025/08/its-...

🐘 HAPPY WORLD ELEPHANT DAY! 🐘 If you're curious about these hugely intelligent gentle giants check out our ele ep: open.spotify.com/episode/7kJT... And our 'meet the hosts' ep: open.spotify.com/episode/4piX... Spotify or wherever you get your pods! Photo: Rachel Dale #elephant #SciComm

The scientists who convinced someone to pay them to study cockatoo dance moves are the true winners "...it's possible the birds just didn’t like Avicii, the researchers suggest." 😂🧪

Happy to share this article on @theconversation.com covering our study on elephant gestures 🐘👋 @angelastoeger.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social Lucy Bates, Josh Plotnik theconversation.com/do-elephants...

I am advertising 2 positions in language evolution with my group at ‪‪@dondersinst.bsky.social: 📢 Fully-funded PhD position (Robotics/AI 🤖) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... 📢 Postdoc position (Virtual Reality 🎮) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... Deadline for applications is August 14th. Please RT! :)

🐘 New Paper on Elephant Gestures Featured in The New York Times 📰 NYT article: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/s... The study is part of Vesta Eleuteri’s PhD research, supervised by me and Catherine Hobaiter, in collaboration with Josh Plotnik and Lucy Bates.

Check out our study on elephant intentional gestures covered by @science.org @angelastoeger.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social 🐘!

🆕 Just published our latest study !!! "Investigating intentionality in elephant gestural communication" 🐘🖐️ Do elephants gesture on purpose? Our new study explores the cognitive underpinnings of their gestures. 📄 doi.org/10.1098/rsos... Royal Society Open

🚨Second PhD chapter is out today! We show that elephants gesture intentionally to ask humans for food using many different gesture types! Check it out 👉 tinyurl.com/elephant-int... 🧵TLDR 1/16

📣 Join the K/Creative Ape Team 🤓 2 PhDs on Creativity in Wild Chimpanzees & Bonobos; w myself & the v awesome @kathelijnekoops.bsky.social @snf-fns.ch Uni Zurich @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @efp2026.bsky.social @ips-primatenews.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social @primbehavecol.bsky.social 🐵🧪

We are looking for a Research Assistant to contribute to our ongoing analysis of dolphin acoustic data from West Wales - collaboration between @wtsww.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🐬 Deadline is 29th June - please share widely! www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

"Rethinking Ostensive Communication in an Evolutionary, Comparative, and Developmental Perspective" now published in Psychological Review psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

Humans have many unusual traditions. But did you know animals’ strange behaviors can become culture too? Out now in Current Biology (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...) we show the rise and spread of a surprising tradition: interspecies infant abduction. Interactive timeline (www.ab.mpg.de/671374) 🧵 (1/12)

Interested in biology and comparative psychology, and working in an interdisciplinary project and research team? I’m advertising two PhD positions on the evolutionary origins of cooperative sociality and communication (start 1.10.) at the University of Konstanz👇 links below!

One of my favorite articles I've worked on—as a drummer aspiring to be as good as these chimps one day! @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social and their team find chimpanzees drum rhythmically to communicate

Tune into this awesome new chimp drumming study!!! 🧵 🥁 Featuring the fabulous Nimba chimps!

Chimps’ rhythmic drumming could shed light on music’s evolutionary roots

This one has been a long, hard one, and would not have been possible without massive team work! A particular thanks to @nakedprimate.bsky.social for starting me on this drumming path and to @andrearavignani.bsky.social & Jelle van der Werff for having introduced me to the world of rhythm and music!

"Schimpansen trommeln, um die anderen Mitglieder ihrer Gruppe darüber zu informieren, wo sie sich gerade befinden und was sie tun – eine Art "Check-in" im Regenwald", erklärt @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social, Studienleiterin und Verhaltensbiologin der #univie. medienportal.univie.ac.at/media/aktuel...

"Wild chimpanzees drum with non-random timing & isochrony...Furthermore, we found subspecies regional rhythmic variation; western chimpanzees drum isochronously, eastern chimpanzees alternate shorter & longer inter-hit intervals." @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social et al in @currentbiology.bsky.social 👇🧪

When your dog steals the show during a talk 🐶❤️

WORLD-FIRST: Ground-breaking research published today in the Ornithologist Journal has, for the first time, translated common UK bird vocalisations into equivalent phrases in the human language. The results tell us a lot! Extracts below... 🧵

Don't let their distinctive looks fool you! Genetic studies revealed that Aardvarks are part of the Afrotheria superorder which contains elephants, manatees, & hyraxes! This unexpected family tree highlights Africa's unique role in mammalian evolution. #2025MMM pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...