Marco Maiolini
@marcomaiolini.bsky.social
PhD candidate at @Universiteit Leiden inspecting the acoustic biases in birds and primates
Bioacoustics / Ethology / Rhythm and musicality across species
Bioacoustics / Ethology / Rhythm and musicality across species
🦜You may have heard a parrot talk or a songbird singing a beautiful song. Are you curious to know how they can do that?
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of @unileiden.bsky.social is ready to help us understand the vocal learning world, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of @unileiden.bsky.social is ready to help us understand the vocal learning world, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
February 9, 2026 at 10:56 AM
🦜You may have heard a parrot talk or a songbird singing a beautiful song. Are you curious to know how they can do that?
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of @unileiden.bsky.social is ready to help us understand the vocal learning world, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of @unileiden.bsky.social is ready to help us understand the vocal learning world, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
🦜You may have heard a parrot talk or a songbird singing a beautiful song. Are you curious to know how they can do that?
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of Leiden University is ready to help us understand the world of vocal learning, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of Leiden University is ready to help us understand the world of vocal learning, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
February 9, 2026 at 10:53 AM
🦜You may have heard a parrot talk or a songbird singing a beautiful song. Are you curious to know how they can do that?
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of Leiden University is ready to help us understand the world of vocal learning, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
🎤 Professor Emeritus Carel Ten Cate of Leiden University is ready to help us understand the world of vocal learning, uncovering an incredible story of a particular animal.
[...]
❓ Have you ever wondered if a baby’s cry means something? And do great apes have something similar?
🎤 Join us as Professor Florence Levrero of the University of Saint-Etienne casts a light on babies’ cries and great apes’ vocalization.
[...]
🎤 Join us as Professor Florence Levrero of the University of Saint-Etienne casts a light on babies’ cries and great apes’ vocalization.
[...]
January 28, 2026 at 8:47 AM
❓ Have you ever wondered if a baby’s cry means something? And do great apes have something similar?
🎤 Join us as Professor Florence Levrero of the University of Saint-Etienne casts a light on babies’ cries and great apes’ vocalization.
[...]
🎤 Join us as Professor Florence Levrero of the University of Saint-Etienne casts a light on babies’ cries and great apes’ vocalization.
[...]
📣What is rhythm? Is it the missing link between human music and animal calls?
🎤 Join us as Professor @andrearavignani.bsky.social of the Sapienza University of Rome explores the rhythmic world of humans and animals.
open.spotify.com/episode/77rq...
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast #rhythm
🎤 Join us as Professor @andrearavignani.bsky.social of the Sapienza University of Rome explores the rhythmic world of humans and animals.
open.spotify.com/episode/77rq...
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast #rhythm
January 12, 2026 at 8:13 AM
📣What is rhythm? Is it the missing link between human music and animal calls?
🎤 Join us as Professor @andrearavignani.bsky.social of the Sapienza University of Rome explores the rhythmic world of humans and animals.
open.spotify.com/episode/77rq...
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast #rhythm
🎤 Join us as Professor @andrearavignani.bsky.social of the Sapienza University of Rome explores the rhythmic world of humans and animals.
open.spotify.com/episode/77rq...
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast #rhythm
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
[Please share] Call for Fellowship Applications for Early Career Researchers from the Global South — to attend an international workshop on ‘spectral percepts’ and the Origins of Musicality in The Netherlands.
Deadline : 19 December 2025 (23:59, AoE).
See www.lorentzcenter.nl/index.php?pn...
Deadline : 19 December 2025 (23:59, AoE).
See www.lorentzcenter.nl/index.php?pn...
December 12, 2025 at 7:19 AM
[Please share] Call for Fellowship Applications for Early Career Researchers from the Global South — to attend an international workshop on ‘spectral percepts’ and the Origins of Musicality in The Netherlands.
Deadline : 19 December 2025 (23:59, AoE).
See www.lorentzcenter.nl/index.php?pn...
Deadline : 19 December 2025 (23:59, AoE).
See www.lorentzcenter.nl/index.php?pn...
📣 What are ultrasonic sounds? Which animals use them? And how can we study and understand sounds that we cannot even hear?
🎤 Let’s ask Dr. Marina Scheumann, team leader of the Communication and Cognition group at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover!
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/3VaX...
🎤 Let’s ask Dr. Marina Scheumann, team leader of the Communication and Cognition group at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover!
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/3VaX...
December 15, 2025 at 8:05 AM
📣 What are ultrasonic sounds? Which animals use them? And how can we study and understand sounds that we cannot even hear?
🎤 Let’s ask Dr. Marina Scheumann, team leader of the Communication and Cognition group at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover!
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/3VaX...
🎤 Let’s ask Dr. Marina Scheumann, team leader of the Communication and Cognition group at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover!
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/3VaX...
🍃Imagine you are in a forest, you hear a powerful sound, too harmonious to be an insect and too loud to be a bird…
🎶Meet those fascinating animals, the singing primates, with Pr. @marcogamba.bsky.social of the Università degli Studi di Torino!
🎶Meet those fascinating animals, the singing primates, with Pr. @marcogamba.bsky.social of the Università degli Studi di Torino!
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
December 1, 2025 at 11:33 AM
🍃Imagine you are in a forest, you hear a powerful sound, too harmonious to be an insect and too loud to be a bird…
🎶Meet those fascinating animals, the singing primates, with Pr. @marcogamba.bsky.social of the Università degli Studi di Torino!
🎶Meet those fascinating animals, the singing primates, with Pr. @marcogamba.bsky.social of the Università degli Studi di Torino!
✈ Aeroplanes taking off, cars honking, people chattering… How do animals communicate in urban environments?
📣Turn up the volume for the 3rd episode of Acoustic World with Prof. Hans Slabbekoorn of @unileiden.bsky.social!
🎧Listen on Spotify lnkd.in/dqp7Jrqa
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast
📣Turn up the volume for the 3rd episode of Acoustic World with Prof. Hans Slabbekoorn of @unileiden.bsky.social!
🎧Listen on Spotify lnkd.in/dqp7Jrqa
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast
November 17, 2025 at 8:20 AM
✈ Aeroplanes taking off, cars honking, people chattering… How do animals communicate in urban environments?
📣Turn up the volume for the 3rd episode of Acoustic World with Prof. Hans Slabbekoorn of @unileiden.bsky.social!
🎧Listen on Spotify lnkd.in/dqp7Jrqa
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast
📣Turn up the volume for the 3rd episode of Acoustic World with Prof. Hans Slabbekoorn of @unileiden.bsky.social!
🎧Listen on Spotify lnkd.in/dqp7Jrqa
#acousticworld #bioacoustics #podcast
🎼What is octave equivalence?
🎶Do animals use notes and octaves?
In the second episode of Acoustic World, we talk about it with @mhoeschele.bsky.social from ARI Vienna’s "Musicality and Bioacoustics" group.
Free now on Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/7m6Y...
#acousticworld #bioacoustic #podcast
🎶Do animals use notes and octaves?
In the second episode of Acoustic World, we talk about it with @mhoeschele.bsky.social from ARI Vienna’s "Musicality and Bioacoustics" group.
Free now on Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/7m6Y...
#acousticworld #bioacoustic #podcast
A choir which sounds different
open.spotify.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:45 AM
🎼What is octave equivalence?
🎶Do animals use notes and octaves?
In the second episode of Acoustic World, we talk about it with @mhoeschele.bsky.social from ARI Vienna’s "Musicality and Bioacoustics" group.
Free now on Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/7m6Y...
#acousticworld #bioacoustic #podcast
🎶Do animals use notes and octaves?
In the second episode of Acoustic World, we talk about it with @mhoeschele.bsky.social from ARI Vienna’s "Musicality and Bioacoustics" group.
Free now on Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/7m6Y...
#acousticworld #bioacoustic #podcast
This year marks the 100th birthday of #bioacoustics, established by Ivan Regen in 1925, which studies how animals hear, produce and propagate sound.
Let’s discover this discipline with @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social, Professor of Saint Etienne University, in the first episode of Acoustic World.
Let’s discover this discipline with @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social, Professor of Saint Etienne University, in the first episode of Acoustic World.
October 20, 2025 at 6:33 AM
This year marks the 100th birthday of #bioacoustics, established by Ivan Regen in 1925, which studies how animals hear, produce and propagate sound.
Let’s discover this discipline with @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social, Professor of Saint Etienne University, in the first episode of Acoustic World.
Let’s discover this discipline with @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social, Professor of Saint Etienne University, in the first episode of Acoustic World.
🗣️What makes music and language exclusively human?
🐾How do other animals communicate?
🎶Do they perceive melodies and rhythms as we do?
🎧ACOUSTIC WORLD is a podcast to explore bioacoustics and find answers to these and more questions.
Because the world has always spoken, you just need to listen!
🐾How do other animals communicate?
🎶Do they perceive melodies and rhythms as we do?
🎧ACOUSTIC WORLD is a podcast to explore bioacoustics and find answers to these and more questions.
Because the world has always spoken, you just need to listen!
October 17, 2025 at 9:55 AM
🗣️What makes music and language exclusively human?
🐾How do other animals communicate?
🎶Do they perceive melodies and rhythms as we do?
🎧ACOUSTIC WORLD is a podcast to explore bioacoustics and find answers to these and more questions.
Because the world has always spoken, you just need to listen!
🐾How do other animals communicate?
🎶Do they perceive melodies and rhythms as we do?
🎧ACOUSTIC WORLD is a podcast to explore bioacoustics and find answers to these and more questions.
Because the world has always spoken, you just need to listen!
It was a great pleasure to present at the ICMPC18 my poster on perceptual biases in zebra finches! 🐦
I came out from the conference with new friends, cool insights and a lot of questions about our and other species music perception!
Finding that collaboration between fields is the key! 💪
I came out from the conference with new friends, cool insights and a lot of questions about our and other species music perception!
Finding that collaboration between fields is the key! 💪
August 7, 2025 at 4:46 PM
It was a great pleasure to present at the ICMPC18 my poster on perceptual biases in zebra finches! 🐦
I came out from the conference with new friends, cool insights and a lot of questions about our and other species music perception!
Finding that collaboration between fields is the key! 💪
I came out from the conference with new friends, cool insights and a lot of questions about our and other species music perception!
Finding that collaboration between fields is the key! 💪
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Do other animals have "rhythm"? It turns out that answering this question is no simple task. Animals produce rhythms for a variety of mechanical reasons (e.g., walking speed, heart beats) without it necessarily implying an understanding of rhythmicity. See our new preprint: osf.io/preprints/os...
March 7, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Do other animals have "rhythm"? It turns out that answering this question is no simple task. Animals produce rhythms for a variety of mechanical reasons (e.g., walking speed, heart beats) without it necessarily implying an understanding of rhythmicity. See our new preprint: osf.io/preprints/os...
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Can humans discriminate individual birds of the spotted bowerbird from photographs?🪶
Students from the @fusanilab.bsky.social @univie.ac.at need you to answer that question! You can test your visual discrimination skills with their online experiment (~15 min long): sosci.univie.ac.at/bowerbird_di...
Students from the @fusanilab.bsky.social @univie.ac.at need you to answer that question! You can test your visual discrimination skills with their online experiment (~15 min long): sosci.univie.ac.at/bowerbird_di...
February 24, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Can humans discriminate individual birds of the spotted bowerbird from photographs?🪶
Students from the @fusanilab.bsky.social @univie.ac.at need you to answer that question! You can test your visual discrimination skills with their online experiment (~15 min long): sosci.univie.ac.at/bowerbird_di...
Students from the @fusanilab.bsky.social @univie.ac.at need you to answer that question! You can test your visual discrimination skills with their online experiment (~15 min long): sosci.univie.ac.at/bowerbird_di...
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Published today! Here we show how social life shapes musical timing in a duetting monkey... and how hard is singing while parenting! 🙈 🎶 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
@marcogamba.bsky.social
@marcogamba.bsky.social
February 19, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Published today! Here we show how social life shapes musical timing in a duetting monkey... and how hard is singing while parenting! 🙈 🎶 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
@marcogamba.bsky.social
@marcogamba.bsky.social
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
"Methods based on infant speech segmentation, applied to 8 years of humpback recordings, uncovered in whale song the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language." Cool new paper by @inbalarnon.bsky.social, @simonkirby.bsky.social, @ellengarland.bsky.social out in @science.org. 🧪
Whale song shows language-like statistical structure
Humpback whale song is a culturally transmitted behavior. Human language, which is also culturally transmitted, has statistically coherent parts whose frequency distribution follows a power law. These...
www.science.org
February 6, 2025 at 7:09 PM
"Methods based on infant speech segmentation, applied to 8 years of humpback recordings, uncovered in whale song the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language." Cool new paper by @inbalarnon.bsky.social, @simonkirby.bsky.social, @ellengarland.bsky.social out in @science.org. 🧪
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Do you know a parrot that talks or sings? We are always looking for more recordings of pet parrots to help us understand language, musicality, and interaction of various information types in vocal signals. #manyparrots #bioacoustics www.manyparrots.org
The Many Parrots Project
The Many Parrots group is a team of scientists studying parrot vocal learning and musicality. We invite the public to contribute to research by filling out surveys about their talking and singing parr...
www.manyparrots.org
January 27, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Do you know a parrot that talks or sings? We are always looking for more recordings of pet parrots to help us understand language, musicality, and interaction of various information types in vocal signals. #manyparrots #bioacoustics www.manyparrots.org
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Vocal communication in corvids: a systematic review. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... In our new paper we review 130 papers and summarise empirical evidence for socioecological factors affecting vocal communication, as well as evidence for vocal learning in different corvid species.
Vocal communication in corvids: a systematic review
Vocal communication is broadly distributed in a wide range of nonhuman animal species and is hypothesized to play an important role in mate attraction…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 22, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Vocal communication in corvids: a systematic review. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... In our new paper we review 130 papers and summarise empirical evidence for socioecological factors affecting vocal communication, as well as evidence for vocal learning in different corvid species.
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Direct link to our chapter's preprint: www.researchgate.net/publication/.... We point out the advantages of a comparative approach between human and non-human animals as a road to a better understanding of the origin of rhythms in (animal) communication & language evolution.
(PDF) A road to a better understanding of rhythms in speech using a comparative approach
PDF | The aim of the paper is to once again point out the advantages of a comparative approach between human and non-human animals as a road to a better... | Find, read and cite all the research you n...
www.researchgate.net
December 10, 2024 at 8:55 AM
Direct link to our chapter's preprint: www.researchgate.net/publication/.... We point out the advantages of a comparative approach between human and non-human animals as a road to a better understanding of the origin of rhythms in (animal) communication & language evolution.
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
3nd Post of recent publications in #bioacoustics 🔊 proposing a standardized approach to #rhythm studies in #fish sounds.
we looked at rhythmic properties of 3 species 🐟 Some are rhythmic, others...not so much.
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
With Marta Bolga, Marta Picciulin & Eric Parmentier
we looked at rhythmic properties of 3 species 🐟 Some are rhythmic, others...not so much.
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
With Marta Bolga, Marta Picciulin & Eric Parmentier
doi.org
December 4, 2024 at 9:14 AM
3nd Post of recent publications in #bioacoustics 🔊 proposing a standardized approach to #rhythm studies in #fish sounds.
we looked at rhythmic properties of 3 species 🐟 Some are rhythmic, others...not so much.
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
With Marta Bolga, Marta Picciulin & Eric Parmentier
we looked at rhythmic properties of 3 species 🐟 Some are rhythmic, others...not so much.
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
With Marta Bolga, Marta Picciulin & Eric Parmentier
Cool study in chimpanzee from the Leiden group is finally out!
Are you ready for the rhythm? Chimps are too! In this paper, Bas van der Vleuten, Veerle Hovenkamp, and Judith M. Varkevisser led by Michelle J. Spierings find out that chimpanzees have rhythmical displays with differences between individuals and contexts! Check it out!
doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
Context-dependent rhythmicity in chimpanzee displays | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Rhythm is an important component of human language and music production. Rhythms such as isochrony (intervals spaced equally in time) are also present in vocalizations of certain non-human species, including several birds and mammals. This study aimed to ...
doi.org
December 4, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Cool study in chimpanzee from the Leiden group is finally out!
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
iNatSounds: new dataset from folks @inaturalist.bsky.social & co-authors; looks to be one of the largest public datasets of animal sounds
openreview.net/forum?id=QCY...
github.com/visipedia/in...
#prattle 💬
#bioacoustics
openreview.net/forum?id=QCY...
github.com/visipedia/in...
#prattle 💬
#bioacoustics
November 29, 2024 at 3:30 AM
iNatSounds: new dataset from folks @inaturalist.bsky.social & co-authors; looks to be one of the largest public datasets of animal sounds
openreview.net/forum?id=QCY...
github.com/visipedia/in...
#prattle 💬
#bioacoustics
openreview.net/forum?id=QCY...
github.com/visipedia/in...
#prattle 💬
#bioacoustics
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
To get the ball rolling about #bioacoustics
on Bluesky, I propose to share (and re-post) our publications of the last 4 years. This is my 10th post, and it's about ELEPHANT SEAL! The other 9 were about 🐶,🌿,👶,🐧,🦛 ,🐊,🐒, 🐦; see
@nicolasmathevon.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
on Bluesky, I propose to share (and re-post) our publications of the last 4 years. This is my 10th post, and it's about ELEPHANT SEAL! The other 9 were about 🐶,🌿,👶,🐧,🦛 ,🐊,🐒, 🐦; see
@nicolasmathevon.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Maternal responses to pup calls in a high-cost lactation species | Biology Letters
Bonding between mothers and their young is fundamental to mammalian reproductive behaviour and individual fitness. In social systems where the risk of confusing filial and non-filial offspring is high, mothers should demonstrate early, strong and ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 26, 2024 at 10:16 PM
To get the ball rolling about #bioacoustics
on Bluesky, I propose to share (and re-post) our publications of the last 4 years. This is my 10th post, and it's about ELEPHANT SEAL! The other 9 were about 🐶,🌿,👶,🐧,🦛 ,🐊,🐒, 🐦; see
@nicolasmathevon.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
on Bluesky, I propose to share (and re-post) our publications of the last 4 years. This is my 10th post, and it's about ELEPHANT SEAL! The other 9 were about 🐶,🌿,👶,🐧,🦛 ,🐊,🐒, 🐦; see
@nicolasmathevon.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Marco Maiolini
Following @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social suggestion to get the ball rolling on #bioacoustics on Bluesky: my 1st repost. Actually already 5 years old...we found general isochronous #rhythms in 3 vocalization types of the greater sac winged bat 🦇
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
As (almost) always #openaccess
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
As (almost) always #openaccess
General isochronous rhythm in echolocation calls and social vocalizations of the bat Saccopteryx bilineata | Royal Society Open Science
Rhythm is an essential component of human speech and music but very little is known
about its evolutionary origin and its distribution in animal vocalizations. We found
a regular rhythm in three multi...
doi.org
November 22, 2024 at 5:16 PM
Following @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social suggestion to get the ball rolling on #bioacoustics on Bluesky: my 1st repost. Actually already 5 years old...we found general isochronous #rhythms in 3 vocalization types of the greater sac winged bat 🦇
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
As (almost) always #openaccess
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
As (almost) always #openaccess
Following the great suggestion of @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social to repost to get the ball rolling on #bioacoustics on Bluesky, here is the work made with @chiaradg.bsky.social, @andrearavignani.bsky.social, Marco Gamba and his team on rhythm pattern on indris' vocalizations.
doi.org/10.1111/nyas...
doi.org/10.1111/nyas...
NYAS Publications
Rhythmic patterns of small integer ratios are common in the world's musical repertoire, while human speech is rarely isochronous. These patterns have been found in non-human species songs but never i...
doi.org
November 26, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Following the great suggestion of @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social to repost to get the ball rolling on #bioacoustics on Bluesky, here is the work made with @chiaradg.bsky.social, @andrearavignani.bsky.social, Marco Gamba and his team on rhythm pattern on indris' vocalizations.
doi.org/10.1111/nyas...
doi.org/10.1111/nyas...