iulia bădescu
@iuliabadescu.bsky.social
primatologist | associate prof at université de montréal | chimpanzees, colobus | still figuring out what I’m doing here 🌍🏳️🌈🖤
Pinned
iulia bădescu
@iuliabadescu.bsky.social
· Oct 21
Young chimps play weird with tools and other objects & this can lead to innovation! Moss sponging, doll play, leaf clipping to ask for carrying. If copied and retained, rare kid innovations can contribute to cultural complexity 🧪🔬🐵
My fav article I've ever worked on: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
My fav article I've ever worked on: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵
Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials - Nature Human Behaviour
Howard-Spink et al. develop an empirically based model of orangutan diet development, which suggests that social learning is vital for orangutans to acquire varied diets.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵
Awesome quote: “I have observed decades of blowback to functional and feminine centered interpretations of breasts, clitorises, orgasms, and even grandmothering among the anthropological patriarchy. Given anthropology’s history of removing women from the hero-myths of human evolution…” 1/2
November 24, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Awesome quote: “I have observed decades of blowback to functional and feminine centered interpretations of breasts, clitorises, orgasms, and even grandmothering among the anthropological patriarchy. Given anthropology’s history of removing women from the hero-myths of human evolution…” 1/2
A special kind of hell = Having your period while doing primate fieldwork in remote forests at macho, male-centric sites (as they all are) & changing your tampon “discreetly” behind a shrub so your colleagues don’t see, while knee deep in swamp water, elephant dung & covered in chimpanzee urine 🤣
This book about periods is excellent. Recommend!
I might be biased as an anthropologist, but as an intersex woman with ever-changing relationship with my uterus & as mom to a young son who has questions about my period, this book has been fascinating & eye-opening. open.spotify.com/show/1WlF97s...
I might be biased as an anthropologist, but as an intersex woman with ever-changing relationship with my uterus & as mom to a young son who has questions about my period, this book has been fascinating & eye-opening. open.spotify.com/show/1WlF97s...
Period
open.spotify.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:10 AM
A special kind of hell = Having your period while doing primate fieldwork in remote forests at macho, male-centric sites (as they all are) & changing your tampon “discreetly” behind a shrub so your colleagues don’t see, while knee deep in swamp water, elephant dung & covered in chimpanzee urine 🤣
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Nice article quoting the right voices on low fertility: "we should be asking questions to certain organisations about why some of them are making it harder to raise children....we shouldn’t be blaming women for not having children and instead focus on what kind of society we want to live in"
The motherhood recession — Artefact
Why some women don't want to have kids in their 20s, or ever.
www.artefactmagazine.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Nice article quoting the right voices on low fertility: "we should be asking questions to certain organisations about why some of them are making it harder to raise children....we shouldn’t be blaming women for not having children and instead focus on what kind of society we want to live in"
This book about periods is excellent. Recommend!
I might be biased as an anthropologist, but as an intersex woman with ever-changing relationship with my uterus & as mom to a young son who has questions about my period, this book has been fascinating & eye-opening. open.spotify.com/show/1WlF97s...
I might be biased as an anthropologist, but as an intersex woman with ever-changing relationship with my uterus & as mom to a young son who has questions about my period, this book has been fascinating & eye-opening. open.spotify.com/show/1WlF97s...
Period
open.spotify.com
November 23, 2025 at 9:59 PM
This book about periods is excellent. Recommend!
I might be biased as an anthropologist, but as an intersex woman with ever-changing relationship with my uterus & as mom to a young son who has questions about my period, this book has been fascinating & eye-opening. open.spotify.com/show/1WlF97s...
I might be biased as an anthropologist, but as an intersex woman with ever-changing relationship with my uterus & as mom to a young son who has questions about my period, this book has been fascinating & eye-opening. open.spotify.com/show/1WlF97s...
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Perhaps the most influential table in hunter-gatherer studies, published in Lee's chapter in the famous 1968 edited volume by Lee and DeVore titled, ironically, Man the Hunter 🧪 #BioAnth
November 21, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Perhaps the most influential table in hunter-gatherer studies, published in Lee's chapter in the famous 1968 edited volume by Lee and DeVore titled, ironically, Man the Hunter 🧪 #BioAnth
Reposted by iulia bădescu
New #OpenAccess paper building on studies of
#TraceElements in #Primate #Teeth just out in @archaeometry.bsky.social:
Tace Element Patterns in Juvenile Wild #Chimpanzee Dentitions
#TLDR version: metals are highly variable in wild chimpanzees and dietary sources appear to obscure nursing records
#TraceElements in #Primate #Teeth just out in @archaeometry.bsky.social:
Tace Element Patterns in Juvenile Wild #Chimpanzee Dentitions
#TLDR version: metals are highly variable in wild chimpanzees and dietary sources appear to obscure nursing records
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:45 AM
New #OpenAccess paper building on studies of
#TraceElements in #Primate #Teeth just out in @archaeometry.bsky.social:
Tace Element Patterns in Juvenile Wild #Chimpanzee Dentitions
#TLDR version: metals are highly variable in wild chimpanzees and dietary sources appear to obscure nursing records
#TraceElements in #Primate #Teeth just out in @archaeometry.bsky.social:
Tace Element Patterns in Juvenile Wild #Chimpanzee Dentitions
#TLDR version: metals are highly variable in wild chimpanzees and dietary sources appear to obscure nursing records
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Fascinating longitudinal study in @currentbiology.bsky.social by @alicebaniel.bsky.social @jbeehner.bsky.social and colleagues, providing evidence for deceptive fertility in a wild primate (gelada) 🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Evidence for deceptive fertility in a wild primate
Baniel et al. show that female geladas deceptively signal fertility when a new dominant
male arrives. Across 14 years of data, lactating females displayed fertility signals
and mated without conceivin...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Fascinating longitudinal study in @currentbiology.bsky.social by @alicebaniel.bsky.social @jbeehner.bsky.social and colleagues, providing evidence for deceptive fertility in a wild primate (gelada) 🧪
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
I think romantic kissing is a leftover / co-opted behaviour from kiss feeding by hominid mothers with their infants… but I’m biased, as an infancy researchers. Also not sure how ubiquitous romantic kissing is cross-culturally… but cool to see studies on this.
Kissing is ubiquitous among many animals, especially primates, suggesting deep evolutionary roots of the behavior.
Scientists Discover the Origin of Kissing — And It’s Not Human
Kissing is ubiquitous among many animals, especially primates, suggesting deep evolutionary roots of the behavior.
www.404media.co
November 19, 2025 at 2:42 AM
I think romantic kissing is a leftover / co-opted behaviour from kiss feeding by hominid mothers with their infants… but I’m biased, as an infancy researchers. Also not sure how ubiquitous romantic kissing is cross-culturally… but cool to see studies on this.
I’m so looking forward to learning about how these measures changed post intra-community split at Ngogo, between East and West. On edge of my seat.
A long-term study of the Ngogo chimpanzees shows that lethal territorial aggression led to a 22 percent range expansion, doubled birth rates, and dramatically improved infant survival. Territorial gains shaped their evolutionary success. #Chimpanzees #Evolution #Primatology #PNAS
The Territory Paradox: How Violence Shapes Life and Death Among Ngogo Chimpanzees
A decades-long study of wild chimpanzees in Uganda reveals that lethal conflict, territorial expansion, and reproductive success are more tightly linked than many scientists once believed.
www.primatology.net
November 19, 2025 at 2:32 AM
I’m so looking forward to learning about how these measures changed post intra-community split at Ngogo, between East and West. On edge of my seat.
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Reposted by iulia bădescu
AI slop gracing the cover of Royal Society B. Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on. I'm certain human photographs and artworks were ignored to platform ... this.
November 18, 2025 at 10:49 AM
AI slop gracing the cover of Royal Society B. Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on. I'm certain human photographs and artworks were ignored to platform ... this.
Reposted by iulia bădescu
It’s baby octopus season 🐙🦑
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
November 15, 2025 at 9:32 PM
It’s baby octopus season 🐙🦑
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
The time has come... It's Sexual Selection teaching day!! Can't wait to show oh so many videos of horny animals doing outrageous things to attract each other, in the name of science.
Every year, when I'm about to teach the most important foundational topic of my undergrad courses, which is Evolution by Natural Selection, I catch myself thinking: "I wish natural selection was more like sexual selection"... in that I wish it were more fun and sexy.
November 14, 2025 at 11:47 AM
The time has come... It's Sexual Selection teaching day!! Can't wait to show oh so many videos of horny animals doing outrageous things to attract each other, in the name of science.
We call this the alien ghosty phase of natal coat development in b&w colobus.
November 13, 2025 at 3:27 AM
We call this the alien ghosty phase of natal coat development in b&w colobus.
Reposted by iulia bădescu
if you see this post your bird art
(scissor-tailed flycatcher)
(scissor-tailed flycatcher)
November 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM
if you see this post your bird art
(scissor-tailed flycatcher)
(scissor-tailed flycatcher)
Saw my old friend, Shelob, in Aarhus 🕷️🖤
November 9, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Saw my old friend, Shelob, in Aarhus 🕷️🖤
Reposted by iulia bădescu
1/2 Lethal violence in bonobos
On February 18, five females fatally beat a male at the LuiKotale Bonobo Project (Congo). The authors believe this may have been due to a minor attack on a baby two days earlier. The details are horrific.
(paper) www.cell.com/current-biol...
On February 18, five females fatally beat a male at the LuiKotale Bonobo Project (Congo). The authors believe this may have been due to a minor attack on a baby two days earlier. The details are horrific.
(paper) www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 8, 2025 at 7:53 PM
1/2 Lethal violence in bonobos
On February 18, five females fatally beat a male at the LuiKotale Bonobo Project (Congo). The authors believe this may have been due to a minor attack on a baby two days earlier. The details are horrific.
(paper) www.cell.com/current-biol...
On February 18, five females fatally beat a male at the LuiKotale Bonobo Project (Congo). The authors believe this may have been due to a minor attack on a baby two days earlier. The details are horrific.
(paper) www.cell.com/current-biol...
"A pair of Macrauchenia, four guanacos and a patagonian mara are seen among the grass. A Megatherium walks by further away and a crested caracara flies over the scene."
I had to look all these up. What perfect talent for someone to have, at intersection of Art and Evolutionary Biology.
I had to look all these up. What perfect talent for someone to have, at intersection of Art and Evolutionary Biology.
November 8, 2025 at 10:41 PM
"A pair of Macrauchenia, four guanacos and a patagonian mara are seen among the grass. A Megatherium walks by further away and a crested caracara flies over the scene."
I had to look all these up. What perfect talent for someone to have, at intersection of Art and Evolutionary Biology.
I had to look all these up. What perfect talent for someone to have, at intersection of Art and Evolutionary Biology.
Reposted by iulia bădescu
New paper! We found that intensifying market integration in Rep. Congo does not uniformly shape BaYaka and Bantu adolescent behaviour and consumption, and that adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money.
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
BaYaka forager and Bantu fisher‐farmer adolescent engagement with intensifying market integration in the Republic of the Congo
A substantial body of anthropological research has investigated how subsistence communities engage with market-based economies. In this study, we contribute to this body of work by examining adolesce...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:21 AM
New paper! We found that intensifying market integration in Rep. Congo does not uniformly shape BaYaka and Bantu adolescent behaviour and consumption, and that adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money.
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by iulia bădescu
Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!
November 7, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!
Reposted by iulia bădescu
The Nausicaä print that kicked off my monthly riso print thing, before I had the foresight to add a border. Maybe I’ll have to revisit it for a future month, but in the mean time I’ve got something else more fall-themed in the works for this month instead
November 3, 2025 at 3:37 PM
The Nausicaä print that kicked off my monthly riso print thing, before I had the foresight to add a border. Maybe I’ll have to revisit it for a future month, but in the mean time I’ve got something else more fall-themed in the works for this month instead
Happy to be back at AIAS in Aarhus, Denmark to discuss, write and innovate new ideas about Object Play, Tool Use and Innovation with awesome researchers from very different fields. Feeling inspired!!
November 5, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Happy to be back at AIAS in Aarhus, Denmark to discuss, write and innovate new ideas about Object Play, Tool Use and Innovation with awesome researchers from very different fields. Feeling inspired!!