Shifting the spotlight from dominance towards shared decision-making in collective groups @damienfarine.bsky.social #COSMOS2025

Want to get the low-down on vulturine guineafowl societies? Here's a summary of our knowledge so far: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Interested in vocal #communication? How animals provide referential #information about danger? Then see our 🌟NEW🌟 paper by brilliant ANU #PhD student Chun-Chieh Liao out today in @asab.org Animal Behaviour. 🎉👏 #birds #choughs #fieldwork #ECR With Rob Magrath and Rob Heinsohn doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

We're looking for a new postdoc on our new BBSCR grant (Graham Taylor/Tim Guilford/Cait Newport). See link below! my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

What drives emergent leader-follower dynamics in animal groups? We integrate the process of movement initiations into the marginal value theorem, and discover that the identities of leaders can change over time. nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Celebrating the publication of our big collaborative spatial-social meta-analysis of density-dependent transmission effects, out now in Nature Eco Evo! doi.org/10.1038/s415... (or rdcu.be/eD6eB)

That's the spot...! A trio of allopreening cockies engaging in some social bonding at our field-site, captured by @elliearose.bsky.social. If you'd like to learn more about when and why cockies allopreen, check out a recent paper by @julia-penndorf.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

"Yellow-crested cockatoos are often mistaken for sulphur-crested cockatoos, commonly found in Australia rummaging through bins." 😂 @lucymaplin.bsky.social @clevercockierp.bsky.social

One of our project member's first PhD paper is now out!! Congratulations 🎉

🚨 My first #PhD chapter is now out in Biological Reviews @camphilsoc.bsky.social. We explore the link between non-breeding sociality and territoriality. 🦉⚔️ Check it out here: doi.org/10.1111/brv....

Lab member Lara Blumenstiel is currently wrapping up the last stage of training before moving on to cognitive testing. Sydney's clever cockies are playing her custom puzzle-box like pros!

Next week is National Science Week and we have so many upcoming events at ANU! From panel discussions with inpiring scientists, to science in the pub, to lab tours for students, there's something for everyone: science.anu.edu.au/news-events/...

An extremely clever cockie, or one regretting their life choices? Spotted at our Canberra field-site by @lisafontana.bsky.social, it's first time we've seen a sulphur-crested cockatoo successfully fledge 3 chicks! The usual is 2 eggs laid, resulting in 0-1 chicks.

When the team is out collecting guineafowl faecal samples and everyone wants to join in. @c-christensen.bsky.social

On Tuesday, @sramellini.bsky.social spoke to ABC Radio Canberra Drive about superb fairywrens and the #SFW_ANU project. If you missed it, you can listen to it here (from minute 07:50): www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

First tracking of wild gang-gang cockatoos. Ever. This is an awesome application of BLE tags to an important species for conservation. Also, cute!

In today's lab meeting we updated @damienfarine.bsky.social's website with a project overview and also added our finalised logo! Check it out here: sites.google.com/site/drfarin... Logo design by @franhckr.bsky.social

Out now: The physiological costs of leadership We reveal that initiating movements—especially when attempting to initiate against a majority and when there is directional conflict—drives elevated heart rates in vulturine guineafowl www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @currentbiology.bsky.social

4 year fixed term postdoc position in Tasmania, Australia. Drones, camera traps, population monitoring. careers.utas.edu.au/en/job/50114...

You want us to do what now? The first steps of Lara training Sydney's wild cockatoos on how to play a touchscreen task... We've found that it take about 2-3 weeks for cockies to go from these first steps to using the full apparatus, which we can then use to test individuals' cognitive abilities.

One of the best things about living in Canberra is the hug variety of parrots that share our city. Check out these cuties captured on our garden bird-bath cam! 1-Crimson rosellas 2-King parrot 3-Eastern rosellas

Today marks the end of my #ERC starting grant. I've been very fortunate to spend the last 5.5 years working with an amazing team. It's been a journey with challenges, but also amazing discoveries about individuals, collectives, and surviving droughts (many yet to be published). Thanks to all!

The three academic positions (Lecturer/Senior Lecturer) in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University are now advertised. Details here: Ecology: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo... Genomics: careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

In about a week we (Biological Sciences @ Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia) will be opening a search for 3 (!!!) permanent academic positions (40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service) at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. 1 Genomics, 2 Ecology. Please share, email me, DM, follow, send carrier pigeons…

In the LATEST ISSUE of IBIS Cooperative and plural breeding by the precocial Vulturine Guineafowl | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Brendah Nyaguthii, Tobit Dehnen, James A. Klarevas-Irby, Danai Papageorgiou, Joseph Kosgey, Damien R. Farine | #ornithology

This defense also marked the end of my lab group at Uni Zurich. It's been a wonderful time with incredible people—both with my group and with colleagues across departments. (More reflections soon.) For now I'm looking forward to focusing on the great group that has grown at @biologyanu.bsky.social

Congratulations Mina Ogino on a successful and brilliant PhD defense!

been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...

We are looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join an exciting project investigating the effects of bat seed dispersal on plant microbiomes and pathogen dynamics in tropical ecosystems. With @morceglo.bsky.social. More info: jobs.apsnet.org/job/postdoct...

Two paper just out from the #clevercockieproject! @julia-penndorf.bsky.social reveals how cockies play politics when deciding who to aggress: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.... & @barbaraklump.bsky.social describes a new 'drinking innovation': royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

End of another amazing field work season in Laguna, Brazil.

🚨Field assistant job in South Africa working with sociable weavers 🚨 🔌Experienced in electronics? 🏷️Enjoy working with RFID technology? 🪶Like working with birds? Find more information below! Applications close on 08/06/2025 sociableweaverproject.com/recruitment/... #fieldwork #ornithology

⏮️ Missed our first seminar of 2025? No worries! You can still catch Dr. @damienfarine.bsky.social's talk “The Costs of Collective Behaviour” on YouTube — but only until next Tuesday! 🐦⏳ 🎥 Don’t wait — watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc9z...

🐦🗣️ It's today! Join us in just a few hours for our seminar "The Costs of Collective Behaviour" with @damienfarine.bsky.social on YouTube! 🎥🌍 Discover the hidden challenges of group living 👥 📅 Time: Today, 2pm GMT 📺 Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc9z... #AnimalBehaviour #OnlineSeminar

📣SEMINAR SERIES 2025📣 We are kicking off 2025 with our first seminar. 📆Tuesday 29th April 2025 at 2pm GMT on our Youtube channel: @damienfarine.bsky.social will talk about “The costs of collective behaviour” 🐦 🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc9z... This event is free, no registration required. 🤗

The Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour conference is thus June in Armidale, NSW! Register to attend here: www.assab.org/assab-2025 If you are keen to present, we are also accepting abstract submissions until the 9th of May : docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Coming later this year, the 10th hole-nesting bird conference, from 10-12 Sept in beautiful Olomouc, Czech Republic. Held every 3-4 years, this is a great meeting bringing all those interested in cavity-nesting birds (natural & artificial) together. #ornithology zoologie.upol.cz/hnb-2025/

Happy to see our paper on "Using an agent-based model to inform sampling design for animal social network analysis" published this week rdcu.be/efjkF Great work from Dr Prabhleen Kaur as part of her PhD on animal social networks with @ucdwildlife.bsky.social and @damienfarine.bsky.social

🚨RT! The Social & Cognitive Origins group at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social (social-cognitive-origins.com), directed by Dr. Christopher Krupenye, is recruiting a full-time research assistant or lab manager to begin Summer 2025. The position has a one-year minimum, w/ the possibility of extension. 1/

🚀COSMOS is BACK!!!💫 The Computational School on Modeling Social and collective behavior (COSMOS) will take place in RIKEN, Tokyo, between 29 Sept - 3 Oct, organised by me and fantastic @thecharleywu.bsky.social ! Application deadline: 25th April. For more details see 👉️ cosmossummerschool.github.io

Moving as a group imposes constraints on the energetic efficiency of #movement #ProcB royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #OpenAccess

I am excited to announce that @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social and I are co-editing a special collection in the journal Animal Cognition on "Cognition in the Wild". Submissions are due by June 15. We are excited to see the amazing work you have been doing! link.springer.com/collections/...

When you go to collect data but the data doesn't let you write it down ✍🏻🐦😆 #bird #ecology #ornithology #SFW_ANU @sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social @scienceanu.bsky.social

On the cover of @royalsocietypublishing.org Proceedings B: We show that moving as a group constrains energy efficiency in wild vulturine guineafowl making large displacements (relative to individuals moving alone). A cost of collective movement! shorturl.at/nKhI0 @jamesklarevas.bsky.social

My sabbatical this semester is focused on finishing projects that have languished. This study was completed in 2017! We tested how different interactions with humans affect CORT levels in budgerigars, including whether stress transmits socially between neighbors - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone from us here at the #SFW_ANU project, including our birds 🐦 Even though the breeding season is over, it's the perfect day for some allopreening to strengthen our social bonds 😉 #ornithology #birds

Finally a very simple pipeline to translate drone-based images into geo-referenced animal tracks: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Complete with examples tracking 🐬s using moving drones with changing camera angles. I had tried this in the past... it took cleverer collaborators than me to succeed!

Our paper on the distribution of breeding stone-curlews in the face of #GlobalChange has just been published in #GECCO. Plenty of insights for #arid #environments species and their conservation! You can read it here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ge... #EcoEvo #ecology #birds #ornithology #GlobalEcology 🌐

Hi Australian Researchers. I have a plan. Let's thank the amazing @arc-tracker.bsky.social for a decade of selfless work by nominating them for a Eureka Prize (Leadership in science). Are you with me? If so, repost this. Please also reply and state your support for this quest. We can do this people.