Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Vesta Eleuteri

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 9d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · 16d

Days 1 and 2 of 🐘 fieldwork:

-Flat tyre ✅
-Got stuck in sand and had to dig out the car for an hr while checking our backs for lions/ellies ✅
-Mozambican spitting cobra under our wheel ✅
-Got lost at night in the park ✅
-Amazing rhino encounters: also ✅

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · 18d

👋 Back in the field! Stay tuned for regular posts about our adventures following elephants 🐘❤️

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Animal Behavior Society @animbehsociety.bsky.social · 19d

Do you love research & writing & all things animal behavior? Well our journal, Animal Behavior, recruiting up to 5 (count em!) new Associate Editors!

Editors serve three-year terms beginning January 2026. If you're interested, email Exec Editor Scott Sakaluk ([email protected]) by Oct 31!

ron burgundy from parks and recreation says " you 'd be a fool not to pick me "

ALT: ron burgundy from parks and recreation says " you 'd be a fool not to pick me "

media.tenor.com

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Darren Croft @darrencroft.bsky.social · 20d

We are hiring - PDRA position exploring how information access shapes social dynamics in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social Prof Dan Franks (York) start 1st Nov (or ASAP) end 31st Oct 2028. Apps close on 19th Oct.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT336/p...

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Society for Conservation Biology - Europe @scbeurope.bsky.social · 26d

🚨 First call! 🚨

European Congress for Conservation Biology (Leiden, the Netherlands in July 6th to 10th 2026) is open for proposals: symposia, panels, workshops & training on effective biodiversity conservation.

Deadline Oct 31st 2025 👉 eccb26Leiden.eu #ECCB2026

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Simon Hedges @simonhedges.bsky.social · Sep 13

Analysis of habitat connectivity and aggregation suggested that more than half of global #forests have become more fragmented over the past two decades, painting a picture of widespread forest degradation beyond the direct effects of #habitat loss

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Fragmentation increased in over half of global forests from 2000 to 2020

Habitat fragmentation, in which contiguous forests are broken into smaller, isolated patches, threatens biodiversity by disrupting species movement, shrinking populations, and altering ecosystem dynam...

www.science.org

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Louise Mackie @louisemackie.bsky.social · Aug 26

Thank you #behaviour2025 for hosting my talk on overimitation in dogs, the topic of ManyDogs 2! 🐶
@manydogsproject.bsky.social

We are collecting data now in dog labs across the world! Email [email protected] / check out our website below to join!

manydogsproject.github.io/manydogs2.html

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MPI-EVA Leipzig @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social · Aug 8

It's not all about size. New research on female #gorillas challenges the male power narrative. Study by @nikos.ecoevo.social.ap.brid.gy & Martha Robbins now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social. #primates @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social @utu.fi More: tinyurl.com/y778faw2 & www.cell.com/current-biol...

It's not all about size

Female gorillas challenge the male power narrative

tinyurl.com

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Tracie McKinney @mckinneymonkey.bsky.social · Aug 15

Do the words we choose influence our relationships with other animals? 🧪 #academicsky

news.mongabay.com/2025/08/its-...

It’s time to update the language of human-wildlife interactions (commentary)

Language shapes the way we view our world. In the field of wildlife conservation, even very subtle word choices drive peoples’ perceptions around individual species or situations. These word choices c...

news.mongabay.com

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Wild Behavior Podcast @wildbehaviorpod.bsky.social · Aug 12

🐘 HAPPY WORLD ELEPHANT DAY! 🐘

If you're curious about these hugely intelligent gentle giants check out our ele ep:
open.spotify.com/episode/7kJT...

And our 'meet the hosts' ep:
open.spotify.com/episode/4piX...

Spotify or wherever you get your pods!
Photo: Rachel Dale
#elephant #SciComm

A photo of a male African elephant walking.

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Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · Aug 11

The scientists who convinced someone to pay them to study cockatoo dance moves are the true winners

"...it's possible the birds just didn’t like Avicii, the researchers suggest." 😂🧪

Video reveals cockatoos have 30 unique dance moves—including headbanging

Researchers now know why the caged bird dances: a form of mentally enriching play

www.science.org

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Aug 5

Happy to share this article on @theconversation.com covering our study on elephant gestures 🐘👋 @angelastoeger.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social Lucy Bates, Josh Plotnik

theconversation.com/do-elephants...

Do elephants make deliberate gestures to ask for things? Our study says yes

Elephants were found to gesture intentionally when they wanted humans to give them apples. This trait was thought to exist mainly in primates.

theconversation.com

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Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄 @limorraviv.bsky.social · Jul 14

I am advertising 2 positions in language evolution with my group at ‪‪@dondersinst.bsky.social:
📢 Fully-funded PhD position (Robotics/AI 🤖) www.ru.nl/en/working-a...
📢 Postdoc position (Virtual Reality 🎮)
www.ru.nl/en/working-a...
Deadline for applications is August 14th. Please RT! :)

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Alper Yelimlieş @alperyelimlies.bsky.social · Jul 10

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Exploration Behavior Is Consistent and Associated With Foraging Behavior in Island Songbirds

We tested the neophobia threshold hypothesis in six landbird species, including four Darwin's finches. Exploration behavior was consistent over time and contexts, with species exhibiting greater fora...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Angela Stoeger @angelastoeger.bsky.social · Jul 10

🐘 New Paper on Elephant Gestures Featured in The New York Times

📰 NYT article:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/s...

The study is part of Vesta Eleuteri’s PhD research, supervised by me and Catherine Hobaiter, in collaboration with Josh Plotnik and Lucy Bates.

How Elephants Say They Like Them Apples

www.nytimes.com

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 10

Check out our study on elephant intentional gestures covered by @science.org @angelastoeger.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social 🐘!

Science Magazine @science.org · Jul 9

Elephants gesture to signal what they want—just like us.

Learn more: scim.ag/3IyDRrq

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Angela Stoeger @angelastoeger.bsky.social · Jul 9

🆕 Just published our latest study !!!
"Investigating intentionality in elephant gestural communication" 🐘🖐️
Do elephants gesture on purpose? Our new study explores the cognitive underpinnings of their gestures.

📄 doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
Royal Society Open

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

Massive thanks to my main supervisor @angelastoeger.bsky.social, my co-supervisor
@nakedprimate.bsky.social, Dr Josh Plotnik, Dr Lucy Bates for all their help and input on this. Huge thanks to Anna Letrari and the awesome experimenters Yvonne and Ruben for their help in the field! 16/16

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

Our study highlights that these abilities may have repeatedly evolved in distant species sharing similarly complex cognition and social lives. 15/16

a man with a mustache has the words it 's evolution above him

ALT: a man with a mustache has the words it 's evolution above him

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

Our findings show that elephants use many different gestures to communicate intentionally to humans, and that they do so by assessing how effective their gestures are at achieving their goal. 14/16

a baby elephant is walking through a grassy field with birds

ALT: a baby elephant is walking through a grassy field with birds

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

They gestured more when the experimenter gave them only half the food (persistence), while used novel gestures when the experimenter gave them the empty tray (elaboration). 13/16

Stewie Repetition GIF

ALT: Stewie Repetition GIF

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

Elephants met all the criteria for intentionality using 38 different gestures! They gestured almost exclusively when there was an (attentive) experimenter (audience directedness). 12/16

a little girl is holding a toy gun and making a funny face while saying `` pay attention to me '' .

ALT: a little girl is holding a toy gun and making a funny face while saying `` pay attention to me '' .

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

We presented semi-captive elephants with two trays, one with food and one empty, and recorded whether and how they gestured to a human experimenter to ask for the food (their goal). 11/16

purple purple right into my mouth yum yum written on a purple background

ALT: purple purple right into my mouth yum yum written on a purple background

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Vesta Eleuteri @vestaeleuteri.bsky.social · Jul 9

To answer this question, we built on the seminal experimental design first showing intentionality in captive chimps by @daveleavens.bsky.social
So what did we do? 10/16

back to the future movie scene with the words welcome to my latest experiment at the bottom

ALT: back to the future movie scene with the words welcome to my latest experiment at the bottom

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