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 🧵

Our raffle is now live! Enter to win some amazing primate artwork! Tickets are on sale until Friday afternoon, or as long as tickets last. The ticket draw will take place at the end of our winter meeting on Friday 13th December. To enter, follow the link: raffall.com/372990/enter...

New paper out now! 🥳Nonadjacent dependencies and sequential structure of chimpanzee action during a natural tool-use task: peerj.com/articles/184...

New preprint! 🚨 Old age variably impacts chimpanzee engagement and efficiency in stone tool use (tinyurl.com/2j324t9p). For short synopsis, see 🧵.

Hey y'all I'm on bluesky! Follow me for updates on my research into great ape behaviours, and also a lot of sharing of other cool work on primates/animal behaviour/human evolution! 😎😎