New paper for primatology, comparative cognition & cultural evolution: @ammiekalan.bsky.social & Tennie “Brokering peace in the ape (culture) wars”. "Ape culture wars” is the term for the long-running dispute over how ape culture should be understood / studied. Open access: doi.org/10.1017/ehs....

It took 3 years to complete this paper and it was difficult(!) but I think both @ctennie.bsky.social and I are grateful for the varied perspectives we gained as a result of this collaboration. If you work on ape culture, hopefully you'll feel the same doi.org/10.1017/ehs.... [Opens in a new window]

What’s better to read about on Valentine’s Day than our new paper on same-sex sex in Rwenzori colobus? ❤️❤️ Monkey love knows no bounds. can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Chess 🇨🇦: #Canada

Back in the Boé, Guinea-Bissau after a long journey with two of GAB lab's finest! Happy to see many familiar faces. Thanks @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca for the funding to make this happen!

Deliberate fire-making by humans in the UK may date to more than 400,000 years ago, according to evidence in Nature. The findings predate previous evidence for the deliberate lighting of fires by around 350,000 years. go.nature.com/4oKHAS4 🏺 🧪

Big thrill to also see my @beps-bangor.bsky.social colleague @cmbettridge.bsky.social present some of her work on galagos in Senegal and Kenya - from her student Grace Ellison’s PhD! #PSGBCardiff2025

📢 Come to Tübingen and get your PhD with us! Unique opportunity to explore great ape communication 🐵🦧🦍 from multiple disciplinary angles within a single, integrated project. 👇

First time organizing a primatology session on behavioral flexibility in the Anthropocene, let alone first time organizing a conference! Easy to do with supportive co-organizers @uvicanthro.bsky.social, excellent volunteers and the wonderful CABA-ACAB community! @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social

Are humans the only rational animals? For thousands of years, we’ve thought so. Our new paper, out today in Science, suggests otherwise! We present evidence that chimpanzees possess several core capacities for rational thought. Check out Emily's thread: bsky.app/profile/emil...

TWO papers just out in @royalsocietypublishing.org #biologyletters : 1) Red kites switched from scavenging along roads to foraging away from roads during the COVID-19 lockdowns. 2) Fishers synchronise heart rates when cooperating with dolphins, but only when in close proximity. 1/

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

Low quality papers are flooding the cancer literature — can this AI tool help to catch them? @nature.com A large language model scans abstracts and titles for signs that an article was produced by a 'paper-mill' company. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Dr. Jane made an indelible mark on our understanding of chimpanzees and other species, and also of humankind and the environments we all share. She inspired curiosity, hope, and compassion in countless people, and paved the way for many others. #ThankYouJane #RememberingJane Photo: Marko Zlousic

The world has lost its most powerful advocate for nature and hope. Yet many remain who will continue her legacy and I know she will continue to inspire generations more.

The count down starts for #CESRabat! Follow @ces2026.bsky.social and join us May 11-13 next year for an exciting meeting in Rabat, Morocco. Massive thanks to the #CESRabat organising committee: Sarah Alami (co-chair) Mathieu Charbonneau (co-chair) Zachary Garfield Edmond Seabright

Research just published by Marla MacKinnon and Helen Kurki looks at how environmental factors impact growth of the pelvis in forager populations www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

“Avoidance of reproductive conflict and the evolution of menopause in chimpanzees” Read how we used genomic data to examine kinship dynamics as they relate to menopause in chimpanzees! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Why do chimps throw stones at trees? UVic's Ammie Kalan uncovers this unique behavior, offering insights into primate communication and tool use, linking it to our evolutionary past. Image Credit: A.Kalan. @uvicanthro.bsky.social @ammiekalan.bsky.social Full article: news.uvic.ca/2025/great-a...

This interviewee rehabilitates illegally traded pangolins that fetch a high price on the black market https://go.nature.com/3SUakL2

Hot off the press 📣: one of the most surprising and unsettling findings of my PhD. A novel social tradition emerged in the tool-using white-faced capuchins of Jicarón island… abducting and carrying the infants of another species. Thread with gifs, videos, and all the bizarre details 👇

The orangutans and bonobos are the first two illustrations of a series on behavior and movement of animals in their environment. #SciArt More coming soon! :) For @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

Everyone watch the interview w @alondra.bsky.social on The Briefing with Jen Psaki tonight. She reveals that a member of DOGE "invited himself" to the closed sessions of the recent #NSB meeting and that DOGE is making decisions about #NSF awards. @briefingwithpsaki.bsky.social @jenpsaki.msnbc.com

Primatologist @ammiekalan.bsky.social is a contributing author on a new @royalsocietypublishing.org paper: "Concerted conservation actions to support chimpanzee cultures" part of a theme issue on ‘Animal culture: conservation in a changing world' 🧪 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Happy #EarthDay! Today—and every day—we stand with scientists, communities, and conservationists around the world working to protect the planet’s #biodiversity. 🌍🦑🐋🍄🌱🐛🦥

cultural legacies of wild animals - a new perspective in @science.org by our own Dr. @ammiekalan.bsky.social 🧪🔋📚🪛

Interesting article in Science today about why we should safeguard animal cultures too doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Behavioural diversity in animals threatened by #biodiversity decline. In @science.org, @ammiekalan.bsky.social @uvic.ca & Lydia Luncz @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social emphasise the urgent need to develop strategies for preserving animal cultural #behaviour. tinyurl.com/569u66sv & doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Happy to have a new piece in @science.org with my friend Lydia where we draw attention to the significance of animal material culture for understanding human technical evolution and why we should digitally preserve and protect primate tools and tool use sites. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Really happy to see this paper out, using field biomechanics we show that wild chimpanzees don't just randomly select plants materials for termite fishing tools – they use a little “folk physics” choosing materials with specific properties! Study in iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful.... 1/5

Interviewed by Mongabay for our latest GAB Lab paper, so proud of my student! news.mongabay.com/2025/03/as-a...

Pierre Poilievre: Complains About Public Funding… While Living Off It Pierre Poilievre loves to rant about the CBC getting public funding—but guess who’s been cashing taxpayer-funded paychecks his entire adult life? That’s right, Pierre himself. #SaveTheCBC #PoilievrePublicPayroll #CBC #Cdnpoli

the feminine urge to

Elon’s own AI says that he is the biggest propagator of this disinformation on X.

@jeffsebo.bsky.social @birchlse.bsky.social and I put a lot of philosophy into our new Science Perspective on animal consciousness. Mill's analogical argument + inference to the best explanation + careful experiments = justification for consciousness in many animals. Where might it end?

🚨Come work with us in charming Tübingen and become a member of our growing Freigeist group! We offer a 2-year postdoc position on the communicative plasticity in wild and captive bonobos, fully funded by @volkswagenstiftung.bsky.social. Applications open until March 15th. bit.ly/4gVa5Je

We were able to get a clip of the video to upload from the "turtle dance" research paper. 🧪

Tesla's stock is ridiculously overvalued, and even a modest consumer boycott could tank the company, which accounts for the majority of Elon Musk's wealth. The divestment movement weakened apartheid South Africa. Let's do that again. slate.com/business/202...

Awesome new publication about how Great apes respond to varying levels of HUMAN disturbance 🧪 by ANTH honors student Miranda Gilbert & GabLab founder @ammiekalan.bsky.social www.ammiekkalan.com

Very proud to share this review published today on responses and consequences of great apes to anthropogenic impact. Led by my fantastic @uvicanthro.bsky.social BSc Hons student Miranda Gilbert! doi.org/10.1007/s103...

Papers like this really underscore the importance of long term monitoring datasets for understanding climate change impacts on biodiversity... And highlight the dire consequences of even modest temperature increases. 🧪🌍🦤🦜 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

After 9 years in the making, it's finally out (!) White-faced capuchins with a stronger stress response to previous droughts were more likely to survive a severe El Niño drought. Kudos to the heroic efforts of first authors Sofia Carrera and Irene Godoy. www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

Collective action in wild chimpanzees provides further insight into the evolution of cooperative ritual behavior A. K. Kalan Religion, Brain & Behavior 2024 Vol. 14 Issue 4 Pages 416-418 DOI: doi.org/10.1080/2153...

🚨 Postdoc Opening! 🚨 Join our human-animal interaction research group at @uarizona.bsky.social College of Vet Med, receive dual mentorship from myself & Kerri Rodriguez, + contribute to a funded study investigating the impact of pets on mental health and wellbeing. Open until filled! bit.ly/3CenLAE

Neglected primates no more! 162 lemur genomes from 50 species in our latest paper: Ecological and anthropogenic effects on the genomic diversity of lemurs in Madagascar! 1 of 2 lemur evolution papers in Jan25 @natureecoevo.bsky.social 3 big takeaways below! rdcu.be/d4XWV @tmarquesbonet.bsky.social

Y’all! My new book is out on January 25! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Excellent new paper leveraging the amazing chimp poo collection of the PanAf!

Joseph D. Orkin et al. use genome-wide data from 50 lemur species to reveal widespread introgression, robust genetic diversity, and demographic shifts. They link major population declines in the past 2,000 years to human expansion, highlighting the combined ecological and anthropogenic pressures:

Studies from wearables show that even small doses of physical activity provide health benefits. The authors of a Comment article in Nature Medicine argue that guidelines should be updated to reflect this. https://go.nature.com/4fVAh5P #Medsky 🧪