Apparently I’ve travelled to the aviary so many times this year that I’m a “gold rail“ member ??? I had no idea this was a thing 😆

The Christmas borbles are extra round this year 😍🎄🕊️ @birdfybynetvue.bsky.social

Even tho they’ve never been, our Austrian friends pooh-poohed us going to the Silvesterpfad (“New Year‘s Trail“ - free music stages across the Vienna city centre). And yeah, it was busy (its NYE!) but it was so much fun! Vienna is such a cool city sometimes, they have no idea how lucky they are 🥂

Our new theoretical paper on combinatory tool use origins is out ! with @raccoonologist.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

In 2025 we marked 30 years of the Kākāpō Recovery Programme. Kākāpō ranger and artist Sarah Little (www.instagram.com/sarahmaylittle) tells the story. Part 1 of 2: the history. #kakapo #conservation #parrots #birds

In Mexico, worcestershire sauce is called “English Salsa”, which is probably the best low-key culinary shade-throwing I’ve ever seen in my life

This photo is the perfect encapsulation of my experience living in the midlands 🇬🇧

I had the honour of working to bring @auersperga.bsky.social’s baby to life. It’s a VERY heavy baby - over 200 references (and yes I read them all) - but necessary to do justice to our new hypothesis of combinatory tool use origins 📝👶🛠️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

SIL has arrived with provisions from Canada 🇨🇦 😍

How do curiosity and surprise intersect following a violation of expectation? Read our paper here🔥 @auersperga.bsky.social @ivojacobs.bsky.social @elifduran.bsky.social

These are our cockatoos! And our @explanimals.bsky.social 😍🤩

gmgm today's visitor is a merry band of corellas

The sheer horror on my Austrian friends’ faces when I mixed eggnog and coke just now made me so proud to be Canadian lol (It was delicious)

You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.

Made a menorah for my parrot

Safe to say, the cockatoos had a lovely Christmas! And a surprise white Christmas too ❄️ ⛄️ I honestly don’t mind aviary duty on the holidays, the enrichment is a lot of fun (well also @labellejoel.bsky.social does most of the real work 😉)🎄🎁

I know it’s just boomer text but I can’t help but feel like I’m being yelled at 🙉

Did you spend your evening Christmas wrapping nuts for an aviary full of cockatoos or are you normal 🙃🎁🎄

The USA must be stopped at all costs.

This is probably my favorite artwork from last year. An older piece, but still one I'm particular fond of. #sciart #wildlife #mammals #primates #apes #orangutans

Good morning. Another of the local cockatoos having fun, a couple of days ago. Heat relenting a little here today.

It will never stop being funny to me that in Austria, instead of Santa, it is Baby Jesus (Christkind) that magically brings the Christmas presents. Not only does it seem totally heretical, but the visual cracks me up to no end.

I hate mint toothpaste, it burns my mouth. 4 years ago I tried this camomile toothpaste and its horrible (like bitter perfume) but left it at the lab in the communal bin for emergencies. Now whenever a student* forgets toothpaste, they have a terrible floral surprise… 😈😅😛🌼 *sometimes me

Found out that I was a finalist for a journal prize, and now I don’t know if I’m disappointed I didn’t win something I didn’t know I could win or if I’m pleased to have been considered 😆

Gingerbread loaf, boxed

I dunno maybe I overdid it on bringing back more tea from the UK.

Excited to share that the second paper of my PhD is now published! Kea but not cockatoos are susceptible to a bait-and-switch magic trick. And check out that thermal imaging! ❤️‍🔥 royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

End of another fantastic ASAB Winter meeting. Thanks so much to the organising committee and all of the wonderful speakers! @asab.org #ASABWinter2025 Looking forward to seeing you all in Bristol!

I attempted to make the most stereotypical TikTok-style reel possible for ASAB’s Instagram 😅😂 Am I an influencer now?

Nothing like unwinding after #ASABWinter2025 with friends old and new in the pub 🍻 I’m truly knackered!

Showing off our new matching ASAB t-shirts 💅🏻

I feel like @grahancock.bsky.social should win some sort of award for best shirt !!!! #ASABWinter2025

Cutting edge sock science at #ASABWinter2025! 🧦 🧦 🧦

You know you’re a millennial when your first thought is “oh noooooo it’s a snaaaaaakkeee .. badger badger badger” #ASABWinter2025

Brilliant talk by my favourite labmate and ride-or-die bestie Poppy at #ASABWinter2025 😍

First science conference I ever did was an ASAB Winter meet, & now my last pre-PhD corrections is the same! Ah nostalgia. Been loving it so far! If you have a postdoc post on bird vision or anything to do with urbanisation please come find me or my (very orange) poster 😁 😁 😁 #ASABWinter2025 🐦

On duty for #ASABWinter2025 in my fancy new ASAB shirt 😁

1/4 Cockatoos are winning the trash can war against Australians Human motivation to protect them falls five times faster than cockatoos' motivation to open them, and increasing protections makes cockatoos better at it. (paper) royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

We have the best building ever. This year every flat has an advent “day” to open and we all put little treats in them. Tonight some of my friends in the building are having a “flying dinner” and each flat has a different course

I haven’t been awake an hour yet and I’ve so far received this story from friends on Instagram, Bsky, Signal and WhatsApp. I guess it’s touching everyone thinks of me when they come across a drunk raccoon ?

Highlight of my day: Steve Novella from my fave podcast @theskepticsguide.bsky.social saw right through this immediately. The issue here is definitional and you can almost claim any object is tool use with the current definitions - which is why ”tooling“ is a better framework to study the phenomenon

Just saw this in my inbox. It seems to make a claim for biologically predisposed (due to natural selection) anatomy for nutcracking using hammers with power grips in west African chimpanzees. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

American thanksgiving is at a stupid time of year. That’s right, I said, us Canadians have it the correct way. 4 weeks before Christmas? Get out of here. A harvest festival so long after harvest it’s snowing half the time? Pah. Space out your feasts properly 🇨🇦

Vienna dog owners! Clever Dog Lab researchers and I have new study for your pups to participate in😊 Only need one visit to the lab to play with their favorite toy😍 Email to participate today! [email protected] @asommese.bsky.social

it's great that convergent evolution made sure we have the "evil muppet lurking in the swamp" niche covered on multiple continents

Glad Nessie O‘Neill is already debunking that ”raccoons are domesticating themselves“ paper that’s being reported everywhere, I haven’t had the chance to look into it myself yet but I was already suspicious based on the references to Balyaev 🦊… www.tiktok.com/@lochnessoff...

This is super cool object-related problem solving, but it is not actually tool use, the meaning of which I covered extensively IN THE PHD THESIS I JUST HANDED IN 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 globalnews.ca/news/1153034...

My brother is visiting, took him to see the amazing view from the Aggstein ruins

Excited to share our newly published study on object neophobia and how it relates to problem-solving in #GoffinsCockatoos #TanimbarCorella! @auersperga.bsky.social @mohara.bsky.social @bmioduszewska.bsky.social @plosone.org doi.org/10.1371/jour...

1/7 Vocal mimicry, robots, and music The ability to mimic sounds could be extremely common among corvids. Here, it has been found in 39 species (30%), but it is predicted that it could be present in around 82% of them. (paper) link.springer.com/article/10.1...