Very happy this has finally been published! Thread by co-author @theissbendixen.bsky.social about our study on cephalopod brain evolution

Female orangutans are generally solitary, but they travel more and eat less in an apparent effort to ensure their offspring have someone to play with www.newscientist.com/article/2532...

The WISDOM OF CROWDS emerges in flocks of thousands of migrating songbirds! Excited to share our work published by @aaas.org in Science Advances! doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Can I speak German now? No! But can I read the packaging of items in the supermarket? Sort of!

Coverage in the Guardian of our latest publication in Royal Society Open Science, with fantastic collaborators Alan McElligott (@amcell.bsky.social), Christian Nawroth (@goatswhostare.bsky.social), Federico Rossano and Simon Townsend. Paper threaded below! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

New preprint in review! 🤩 "Identifying social learning through peering: predictions and recommendations". 👀 Led by Elisa Bandini alongside @revathe.bsky.social, myself, and Caroline Schuppli. See 🧵 and read it here: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

🚨We're hiring again, this time for a research assistant position 🚨 The position is to help with a project looking at learning and social behaviour in birds along an urban gradient Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆28th June deadline More info: shorturl.at/vBxiW #ringing #fieldwork

🦅 Re-Evaluating the Neanderthal Mind 🪶 What happens when we look past stone tools to the most delicate, ephemeral materials in the Pleistocene ecosystem? We find a Neanderthal world rich in color, symbolism, and personal ornamentation.

💙New paper!💙 How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society? With @danielredhead.bsky.social we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Human childbirth is not uniquely difficult among mammals: Birth complications are widespread across mammalian species, including in the wild www.univie.ac.at/en/news/pres...

Is bigger always better? For social animals, group size is a dilemma: big groups face more internal competition, yet hold an edge over smaller neighbors. 33 years of data on 12 wild capuchin groups reveals how these forces shape behavior. Out today in *Nat Eco & Evo*: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A delayed personal update, but two months ago I got married! ✨ No new scientific insights, but who needs 'em! (Also please know my husband is a lawyer and I will be using that as a threat from now on!) 😌

🎉 The winner of the 2nd Frans de Waal PhD Dissertation Prize is the brilliant @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social. Congratulations! Her 2025 thesis “Cracking Capuchins” dives deep into how tool use shapes survival and evolution. Some capuchins wield stones like pros, others don’t.

Phil Trans Roy Soc B theme issue ‘The evolution of collective intelligence’ is out! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

Our new paper exploring the measurement of complexity in tools - the result of significant and ongoing work, including that which emerged from our Complexity in Lithics Conference! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Our new paper is out in @intjprimatol.bsky.social! Huge credit to Luca Wienand for an excellent bachelor's project on spatial and sociosexual behavior in common marmosets! Read all about it here: shorturl.at/R5eju @primatenzentrum.bsky.social @nccrlanguage.bsky.social @evocoggroup.bsky.social

We are offering two 4-year PhD positions in our new SNF project "The Evolutionary Roots of Altercentrism"

Our new preprint is out! Animal collocation analysis 2.0: improving statistical inference and applications for cohort comparisons. 🥳 Check it out here, or read our summary below: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

UCL Evolutionary Anthropology seminars starting up again for the new term every Tuesday pm. Anthropology Dept. 14 Taviton St. DFL 3.30-5pm followed by 🍷. All welcome. www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...

Statistical Rethinking 2026 Lecture B01 Multilevel Models is online. This is the first lecture of the "experienced" section, in which we start with multilevel models and venture into vast covariance spaces. Full lecture list still here: github.com/rmcelreath/s...

Our Science Perspective on Ianni et al - neural control of facial expressions involves voluntary pathways @jamiewhitehouse.bsky.social www.science.org/eprint/EKJTZ...

We are looking to hire a Seabird Field Assistant for 2026 for our Manx Shearwater research project. Please share this to anyone who'd like to get out in the field this summer and learn about biotelemetry, bird handling and research into animal behaviour. drive.google.com/file/d/1SGZt...

If you work on corvid ecology, behaviour, cognition, or conservation, this might be useful for you 👇 I’ve just published CORVIDATA in Scientific Data 🐦 doi.org/10.1038/s415... (1/4)

Have you been too busy to read our recent paper on orangutans' culturally-dependent diets? 😔 Never fear, we have published a two-page research briefing to give you a quick overview of our paper's aims, findings, and implications! 🤩 Check it out here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New science demonstrates how orangutans learn what to eat in their rainforest habitat. Read the latest scientific blog from guest writer Dr Elliot Howard-Spink: www.orangutanlandtrust.com/post/orangut... @ehowaspi.bsky.social

📢 Calling all primatologists 📢 EFP2026 in Montpellier is now open for abstracts & registration! 🗓 Deadline for abstract : 13 March 2026 (before if mobility grant application) Submit: www.alphavisa.com/efp/2026/abs... Register: www.alphavisa.com/efp/2026/reg... All abstracts will be accepted!

I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students. I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...

New paper out today w @dalmaijer.bsky.social @barbaraklump.bsky.social and @lucymaplin.bsky.social as part of the Phil Trans special issue doi.org/10.1098/rstb.... Over 2 years, we studied a population of cockatoos thought to be the source of the innovation of bin-opening.

Today sees the publication of the Theme Issue featuring the CES Transformation Fund grant scheme. Enjoy! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3... @durhamdcerc.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @cultevolfunding.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social

New Paper out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B! 🎉 Sequence organization of mother–infant interactions in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the wild. See the thread below for a quick explanation, and check out the paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

In this study, Howard-Spink et al. develop an empirically based model of orangutan diet development, which suggests that social learning is vital for allowing orangutans to acquire varied diets.

New paper from the Schuppli group and colleagues! Video summary 👉 youtu.be/W_eOg7vsL_M?...

Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵

Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...

New research from #ProcB: A wide range of abiotic and biotic variables leaves most variation in bird nest architecture unexplained buff.ly/eRawojZ | #AnimalBehaviour #Ecology #Evolution

📢 The Call for Abstracts for Culture Conference 2026 is officially OPEN! 📢 🗓️ Deadline: 8 Dec 2025 We welcome submissions from all career stages and relevant disciplines. 🔎Details & submission info: culture-conference.com/abstract-sub... Keynote speakers & workshop details coming soon!

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

New article just out in NBR, co-authored with some brilliant linguists I’m working with in the new @dfg.de-funded CRC “Common Ground” (link below)! What can ambiguity in nonhuman communication teach us about the evolution of language? 🐵🗣️🐘

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

So happy to see my first PhD paper out royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... With my amazing supervisor @robinmorrison.bsky.social and the @savinggorillas.bsky.social, we examined female dispersal decisions in mountain gorillas.

Exciting new opening @nccrlanguage.bsky.social with the option of permanent extension. If you work in cutting-edge stats and are interested in joining a highly inter-disciplinary, vibrant community, don't hesitate to apply at tinyurl.com/3fxwjk8e

Please consider helping us support the next generation of primatologists! Any support is greatly appreciated, and will help us host this fantastic event for the second time! 🐒

Brilliant to see this fascinating research! We're especially delighted to see @ehowaspi.bsky.social, visiting researcher at the @qmulsbbs.bsky.social, contributing to this amazing study.

Chimps age - and when they do, using tools becomes more difficult. Pretty relatable. Article by @ehowaspi.bsky.social et al. here: elifesciences.org/articles/105... - and footage below. 🧪🌍🐒🔧

Then vs Now: Same chimp, same task - 17 years apart 🐒🔧 New Oxford-led research suggests that ageing can affect how wild chimpanzees use tools, though the impact varies widely between individuals. More info ⬇️ www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-07...

New paper out in eLife! 🎉 Old age variably impacts chimpanzee engagement and efficiency in stone tool use elifesciences.org/articles/105... (including videos of wild elderly chimpanzees using tools! 🪨 🌰)

1/n Hot off the press! The first empirical chapter of my PhD and the fruit of a hugely collaborative project led with Franziska Wegdell and Johanna Schick is out! We explore if immature-directed vocalisations are present and in what quantity in wild great apes. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

News you can use for better sleep 💤 Like us, orangutans need a good night's sleep. If they don't get enough, they squeeze in a nap the next day. They even have a trick: up to 10 mins napping for each hour missed last night. Try it at home. @livingingroups.bsky.social www.ab.mpg.de/718751/news_...

Important study yielding new insights into the deep roots of aspects of our communication system/#language— @berthetmelissa.bsky.social M. Surbeck and S. Townsend did great work to reveal semantic composition in vocal combinations in bonobos. 🧪 Out in @science.org : www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New Preprint! 🦧 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! Summary in 🧵