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Andrea Sommese

@asommese.bsky.social

240 followers 79 following 21 posts

Domestic pets cognition researcher and baker 🐕🧁 Postdoc @VetmeduniVienna 🐈‍ Featured in media for the Gifted Dog Project 📰🎥

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · Jul 14

Data collection is underway!

We're using mobile eye tracking to study action comprehension in dogs. Django is helping us understand how dogs see and interpret our actions — more coming soon! 🐶👁️ #Science #DogResearch #CognitiveScience

Thanks @asab.org for funding this project!

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Reposted by Andrea Sommese

Elham Nourani @enourani.bsky.social · 3d

🦅PhD position 🦅 in my new group at @fbm-unil.bsky.social in Switzerland, studying how the social and resource landscapes shape the learning process for soaring flight. Deadline: Oct 30. Pls repost! career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...

Golden eagle on the nest in Finland (by O. Karlin)

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Valentine Comin @valentine-comin.bsky.social · 15d

I am looking for an intern to work with captive crows this winter semester. Please feel free to share, or contact me if interested !

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Animal Behavior Society @animbehsociety.bsky.social · 14d

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 · 15d

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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Elizabeth Hobson @elizabethhobson.bsky.social · 15d

**PhD POSITIONS** I am recruiting 1-2 PhD students to work on sociality and cognition in Monk Parakeets, starting Fall 2026. Full ad is here: hobsonresearch.com/index.php/20... (please help spread the word!)

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · 15d

And to learn more about that:

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

A glimpse into the dog’s mind: A new study reveals how dogs think of their toys

Many dog lovers want to know what goes on in their furry friends’ minds. Now scientists are finally getting closer to the answer. In a new study just published in the journal of Animal Cognition, rese...

www.eurekalert.org

Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · 15d

"This shows that dogs can form mental representations of objects based on their function rather than physical features, highlighting the depth of canine cognition."

neurosciencenews.com/dog-cognitio...

Dogs Can Classify Objects by Function, Not Just Appearance - Neuroscience News

A new study demonstrates that some highly gifted dogs can categorize objects not just by appearance, but by how they are used.

neurosciencenews.com

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COST Action - Positive animal welfare (LIFT) @liftcostaction.bsky.social · 15d

We’d love your input on translating “Positive animal welfare” into local languages — esp. Spanish, Portuguese & Mandarin 🌍

Share your translation here: ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run...

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Alan McElligott @amcell.bsky.social · 17d

2025. Smart dogs have a humanlike knack for naming new objects | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Smart dogs have a humanlike knack for naming new objects

In games with toys, “gifted” dogs can extend names to new objects with the same purpose as known ones

www.science.org

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Behavioral Ecology and Endocrinology Lab @behavecol-lab.bsky.social · 19d

Please share!🙏
🚨 PhD Oportunity in Avian Behavioural Ecology in Spain
The BirdBond Project (MNCN & IREC) studies how pair bonds form, change & affect reproduction/survival in the spotless starling 🐦

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · 18d

Just watched "Camping" the yesterday. Just do yourself a favour and catch up with Bluey already!

Caroline Bowen, Speech-Language Pathologist 🇦🇺🇳🇿🌻 @carolinebowen.bsky.social · Aug 9

🐾 @howlingdingo.bsky.social writes about #Bluey and fostering resilience in children in @aunz.theconversation.com and researchers applying the 1995 Grotberg Resilience Framework (bibalex.org/baifa/Attach...). theconversation.com/researchers-... @pamelasnow.bsky.social

Researchers watched 150 episodes of Bluey – they found it can teach kids about resilience for real life

She’s six years old, lives in Brisbane and might just be one of the best resilience coaches on television.

theconversation.com

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Chris Simms @chrisnsimms.bsky.social · 20d

The Ig Nobel awards for science that makes you laugh then think are back. Highlights this year include the preferred pizza of rainbow lizards at a seaside resort, the physics of perfect pasta dish and a man who documented the growth of a fingernail for 35 years! 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Tipsy bats and perfect pasta: Ig Nobels celebrate ‘improbable’ research

The annual awards are a celebration of weird but thought-provoking science.

www.nature.com

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · 20d

🔹 Gifted dogs extend labels to new objects that work the same way, even without perceptual similarity.

🔹 This happened during natural, play-based interactions with their owners.

🔹 It’s the first evidence of vocabulary-based functional classification in a non-linguistic species.

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · 20d

Excited to share the latest (but still not the last!) study I had the chance to work on with the Family Dog Project 🐶🇭🇺

We found that Gifted Word Learner dogs' talent goes beyond what we expected; they can generalise words based on function, not just looks.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dogs extend verbal labels for functional classification of objects

The relationship between language and human thought is an ongoing debate,1 and it has been proposed that language shapes object categorization.2 Words…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Oxford Biology @biology.ox.ac.uk · 23d

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

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Christina Hansen Wheat @chansenwheat.bsky.social · Sep 3

🚨 PhD position in behavioural evolution 🚨

Come do your PhD with me in Linköping, Sweden, using the domestic dog (and some wolves) to answer fun questions on how complex behaviours develop and evolve.

Application deadline September 24 2025 🧪 🌍 🦊 #AcademicSky #ScienceJobs

liu.se/en/work-at-l...

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Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · Sep 3

Interested in animal welfare, education policy & social research? Fully funded PhD (UK home) on dog welfare in schools. Get in touch & apply: www.cam-dtp.ac.uk/students/cur...
(Dog photo purely for attention and moral support)
#PhDopportunity #AnimalWelfare #DogsInSchools #CamDTP #SocialResearch

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · Aug 24

Last year I had the chance to work with Caroline and her student and it was fantastic! I loved it!

They were both so incredibly prepared and enthusiastic that really inspired me as well to continue my work!

Caroline Hu @hudrewthis.bsky.social · Aug 20

Seeking scientist volunteers for this fall! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? I need collaborators for the next cohort of SciComm & Comics art and design students. All countries and scientific fields eligible.

An anole extends its dewlap, which says "call for scientists!"

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ASAB Winter 2025 @asab-meetings.bsky.social · Aug 18

Can’t make it to Edinburgh for #ASABWinter2025 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ? Did you know you can also register to attend online for free as well? 💻

Or even better, consider attending remotely with a group of colleagues by setting up a “hublet”!

More info here:
www.asab.org/conference-h...

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ASAB Winter 2025 @asab-meetings.bsky.social · Aug 15

Only two weeks to get your abstracts in for #ASABWinter2025 ⏰

Come join us in Edinburgh this December! 🏰 ❄️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

More info here:

asabwinter.github.io/2025/

Winter ASAB 2025
December 15th-16th
Edinburgh
How sensory information affects behaviour

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Dr Juliane Kaminski @comparativeminds.bsky.social · Aug 15

Our PhD student, Anna Sydänheimo, is conducting a study into how dog owners perceive routine husbandry procedures (e.g. nail clipping) on their 🐶 .
If you are a dog owner from the 🇬🇧 or 🇫🇮, please consider contributing by filling out this questionnaire. Thank you!

lnkd.in/edHgUPap

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

lnkd.in

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Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · Aug 9

Huge thanks to the organisers and all the colleagues who shared thoughtful questions and feedback. Looking forward to the next steps, including expanding this work internationally to explore cross-cultural perspectives on cat wellbeing 🌍 #animalwelfare #humananimalbond #cats

Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · Aug 9

The aim? To better understand feline welfare by integrating caretaker impressions with more systematic evaluation tools 🔎

Andrea Sommese @asommese.bsky.social · Aug 9

Using a comprehensive questionnaire developed with an interdisciplinary team, we looked at how caretakers assess their cats’ wellbeing and what behavioural, environmental, and health-related factors shape these perceptions.