Thank you to @chesterzoosci.bsky.social and @biaza.bsky.social for the chance to present my research on visitor effects on wild dogs at today’s BIAZA Research Conference. This was my first ever conference, and my first time presenting, so I really appreciated the friendly supportive atmosphere

What a wonderful weekend at Lyme Regis Fossil Festival!

Had a wonderful first time at #lymeregis #fossilfestival. It had everything you could possibly want - interesting talks, book signings, palaeoart workshops, stalls full of merch, stunning weather, fossil hunting, good company, and best of all, a seal. I’ll be sure to return next year!

Join me on the Chester Zoo Youth Board! Applications close Sunday 8th June. If you’re aged 18-26 and passionate about youth voice and conservation then apply today. I joined in November and I’ve already had the chance to get involved in so many opportunities #youthvoice #conservation #chesterzoo

It was lovely getting to see the painted dogs again at Chester Zoo with @eleanorpinkney.bsky.social now that they’re back on display in the Heart of Africa area. #wilddogwednesday

Happy #WorldDinosaurDay

Happy #InternationalMuseumDay

It may not be #wilddogwednesday, but I’m still very excited to see that they’re finally arriving @dudleyzoo.bsky.social. I’ll have to head over there again soon (and hopefully it will be 3rd time lucky trying to see wolverine kits).

As a very late entry for #invertefest - a contest between two beadlet anemones filmed as part of the Uob Biosciences’ Adaptations to Aquatic Environments field course @fieldstudiesc.bsky.social’s Dale Fort in Pembrokeshire

Happy Easter - please enjoy this selection of reptile photos from some recent visits to Dudley Zoo (the link with Easter was meant to be that they lay eggs, but it turns out that prehensile tailed skinks are viviparous)

For this #wilddogwednesday we have the pack at West Midlands Safari Park enjoying some enrichment.

Happy (somewhat late) #wilddogwednesday!

First evidence of narwhal play They have been recorded for the first time using their tusks to stun their prey, as well as to manipulate them for no other purpose than play. (paper) www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar... (blog) studyfinds.org/video-narwha... (videos) figshare.com/s/b6171dd102...

I need to take more photos for #wilddogwednesday, but the fact that they keep coming out blurry isn’t helping!

A few of my own photos from a very enjoyable trip to West Midlands Safari Park. It was a nice change getting to be a visitor rather than being there for data collection.

For 2,500 years, women have been fighting for their place in our democracies. Ahead of International Women's Day, we trace the slow path towards equality.

Looking for photos for #WildDogWednesday I came across some I took at West Midlands Safari Park back in 2020. Even though they’re not great photos, I was excited to see the distinctive markings that I now use to identify these individuals for my data collection.

Happy #worldwildlifeday. To quote Sir David Attenborough, “The natural world is the greatest source of excitement, the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest”. I hope today you get to go out and experience the magic of nature and, in return, act to protect it.

Happy #wilddogwednesday

Happy #DarwinDay - here we have the Huxley Room @morethanadodo.bsky.social which I was lucky enough to see on a trip for Lapworth Museum volunteers. This is where the famous Great Debate was held in 1860 - the first public debate on Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

This #wilddogwednesday comes to you from Chester Zoo, with photos taken by @harrybridger.bsky.social

Happy #womenandgirlsinscience day. To celebrate, you can now view the profiles introducing the new ASAB Student Subcommittee (including my own). @asabeducation.bsky.social is also putting them up on their Instagram story, so you can check them out there too. www.asab.org/expertvisitors

Another week, another #wilddogwednesday. These photos were taken during the snow we had in November.

www.instagram.com/reel/DFpUAP6... For #TigerTuesday, I’m so excited to hear about the birth of three tiger cubs at West Midlands Safari Park recently. I’m hoping to go and see them soon, and also catch up with Lestari (the cub born in 2023) as she’ll presumably be moving somewhere new soon.

I’ve decided that #wilddogwednesday needs to become a thing. I’m kicking things off this week with a video of the pack in the drive through enclosure at West Midlands Safari Park.

For this #caturday we have the snow leopards @twycrosszoo.bsky.social - and a reminder to check out my review of Twycross on @devilledtoads.bsky.social (just follow this link sites.google.com/view/deville...)

For #WhatsItWednesday we have ‘sea pork’ - the common name for a tunicate. Tunicates are marine invertebrates, and many live as a colony of zooids. The thing I found is the goopy protective ‘tunic’ they live in. I visited Rhyl just after bad weather, which probably ripped them off the sea floor.

I was in the Mineral Gallery at the Lapworth Museum yesterday looking at the cinnabar, when a friend asked which was named first, the mineral or the moth?

I might be studying African wild dogs, but that doesn’t stop me taking part in #caturday. Daseep and Joao on a recent visit to Dudley Zoo.

🦑 Squid Anatomy🦑 I am so genuine- if you are a marine biologist who has written or wants to write a comic, please consider this post my application. 🐡🌊💥

It might feel like I’m the only student at the University of Birmingham who hasn’t seen the Oxfordshire trackways (check out Digging for Britain if you somehow missed it). However I can still join the Megalosaurus fun this #fossilfriday with the original jaw @morethanadodo.bsky.social

I’m slightly obsessed with the Blaschka models, if you ever go to @nhm-london.bsky.social you must make sure you go and see them in the Treasures Gallery. It’s on my bucket list to see the Harvard glass flowers.

A selection of concerned looking primates from my recent visit to Dudley Zoo

Check out this excellent thread about ways into the field of palaeontology. The best part? A lot of the advice is applicable to other natural sciences too.

Impressive new Jurassic dinosaur trackways from England! Discovered by a quarry worker on his digger! Looking forward to seeing @richardjbutler.bsky.social @kirstymedgar.bsky.social @dremmanicholls.bsky.social & crew discuss them on TV soon... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Science Santa #science

Thought it was time to introduce myself - I’m a 4th year MSci Biological Sciences student at The University of Birmingham, for which I’m currently studying African wild dogs at West Midlands Safari Park. You can find my blog @devilledtoads.bsky.social. I love all animals, extant and extinct.

In our newest installment of 'The Zoo Review', we talk about the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park, a tiny hidden gem of a zoo in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Read it here: sites.google.com/view/deville...

Welcome to Devilled Toads! We are a blog about the natural world, covering everything from conservation to palaeontology, animal biology to our famous zoo reviews. sites.google.com/view/deville...