Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · 27d

Our latest research highlights the importance of dry grasslands for bats 🦇🦇🦇
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

International Society for Neuroethology @neuroethology.org · 27d

This morning @dzg2025berlin.bsky.social, Mirjam Knörnschild gave a fantastic talk about social communication in Saccopteryx bilineata 🦇 including dialects, acoustically-based individual recognition.

@berlinbatlab.bsky.social
#dzg2025

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Bats resolve conflicting sensory information for individual recognition

Knörnschild et al. reveal that greater sac-winged bats can detect inconsistencies in sensory information for individual recognition. Playback experiments show that bats ignore distress calls from visi...

www.cell.com

3 17

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Aug 26

Dan Riskin from The Bat Signal made a really cool video about our recent publication.

youtube.com/@followtheba...

This Geat Big Bat Loves Hugs and Snuggles | The Bat Signal

YouTube video by Dan Riskin

youtube.com

1 2 7

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Aug 22

Our recent study on cooperation in spectral bats is featured on CNN.

This is the first publication of my PhD student Marisa Tietge - way to go!

💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇

World’s largest carnivorous bat loves to cuddle | CNN

A new study found the world’s largest carnivorous bat is more social than previously thought. Commonly known as greater false vampire bats, this rare species was observed hunting and playing together ...

edition.cnn.com

2 11

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Aug 20

New publication from my lab: Vampyrum spectrum, the Neotropics' largest carnivorous bat, is very cooperative. These gentle apex predators regularly provide prey for family member – documented in the wild for the first time.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...

1 17 59

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Aug 10

New paper out!
We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

15 26

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jul 28

In the field in Abruzzo National Park, watching Daubenton’s bats hunt over water at night. Excited to co-supervise Chiara Belli’s PhD together with Danilo Russo from the Animal Ecology and Evolution Lab in Italy. Chiara studies altitudinal segregation in bats and how climate change affects it 🦇🦇🦇

2

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jul 4

It’s exactly the same here in Germany… and in the future, heat may be as dangerous to bat pups as cold. Or more. I’ll keep you posted!

1

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jul 4

Awesome 🦇♥️🦇

1

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

Alex Falcone @alexfalcone.bsky.social · Jul 3

Bats are underrated.

8 27 120

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jul 4

This is awesome 💕🦇💕

2

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jul 4

Danilo Russo and I have received a grant from MfN Berlin to study how climate change affects bat pup survival.

As Southern Europe swelters under record-breaking temperatures, we are investigating how extreme heat turns safe roosts into death traps – and how to prevent that.

1 5

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

Alan McElligott @amcell.bsky.social · Jun 24

2025. Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system phys.org/news/2025-06...

Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system

In the darkness of old church attics, surprisingly romantic scenes take place as male greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis), the largest native bat species in Europe, compete for the attention of f...

phys.org

6 18

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

Gailey 🍉 @sarahgailey.bsky.social · Jun 22

Last night, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech at the Locus awards. You can view the speech and read the full text here.

stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/

Hammer Speech

Last night, I got to stand up in front of the audience at the Locus Awards ceremony. I wound up presenting the Locus Award for Best Short Story (congratulations, Isabel J. Kim!) – but first, I deliver...

stone-soup.ghost.io

19 160 380

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jun 22

Thank you for this

2

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · Jun 18

Behavioral ecology can inform conservation – and male bats must be part of the picture!

Mating roosts are vital for reproduction, so they should receive the same protection as nursery roosts. Plus, males yodel there...😅

nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

2 9

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · May 21

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Can AI help us talk to dolphins? The race is now on

Lucrative prizes are offered for an AI-powered breakthrough in communications between humans and other species.

www.nature.com

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · May 21

www.science.org/content/arti...

‘About as close to aliens as we’ll ever get.’ Can AI crack animal language?

Dolittle Prize recognizes breakthroughs in translating “speech” of dolphins, cuttlefish, and other creatures

www.science.org

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

simeonqs.bsky.social @simeonqs.bsky.social · May 7

Our latest paper just came out. We found that more social parrots have a better vocabulary and females produce more variable call types than males. You can read more here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos.... (PS: the bird in the picture is not a parrot but the cover of RSOS.)

The effect of social structure on vocal flexibility in monk parakeets | Royal Society Open Science

The social complexity hypothesis argues that communicative complexity arises as a result of social complexity, with this occurring through mechanisms including plasticity and selection. Most research to date has focused on ultimate drivers of repertoire ...

doi.org

1 6 18

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

Luke Rendell @lrendell.bsky.social · May 17

Folks, Sara Niksic / Inner Child is fundraising for the next iteration of her phenomenal whale song/music science communication project - please consider a small donation to help make this happen 🎶🦑🐋 whydonate.com/en/fundraisi...

Fundraiser by Sara Niksic | Whale Song Revolution

Sara Niksic Needs Your Help | Do you want to be part of the Whale Song Revolution ??? My name is Sara Niksic , also known...

whydonate.com

1 8 19

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · May 16

The book features the PhD research of @ahanaaurora.bsky.social who will soon start her own Emmy Noether research group.

2

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · May 16

Check out the beautiful book Smithsonian Kids published about our research on babbling baby bats! Illustrated by Gavin Scott and written by Paige Towler together with the Smithsonian Bat Lab.

Although it was published last year, I only received my copy a few days ago — and I’m completely smitten! ♥️

1 2 11

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

Cedric Boeckx @cedricboeckx.bsky.social · May 15

“[This]finding challenges the notion of a strictly human-specific Arcuate Fasciculus morphology and suggests that language-related neural specialisation in humans likely evolved through gradual evolutionary strengthening of a pre-existing connection, rather than arising de novo” 🧪🧠 👇

1 7 14

Mirjam Knörnschild @berlinbatlab.bsky.social · May 16

The inaugural Coller-Dolittle Prize was awarded to the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, scientists Laela Sayigh, Vincent Janik, Frants Jensen, and Peter Tyack, for their long-term field research on dolphin whistle communication. Kudos to the whole team!
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Dolphin whistle decoders win $100,000 interspecies communication prize

Coller-Dolittle award won by US team for discovering call that triggers avoidance and could be used as alarm signal

www.theguardian.com

1 4 7

Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild

Ahana Aurora Fernandez @ahanaaurora.bsky.social · May 13

Ever wondered how baby bats learn to sing? 🦇🎶
Turns out, their moms support their practice! Our study shows that maternal feedback leads to:
More vocal practice
Higher song syllable versatility
More mature song syllables
🔗https://elifesciences.org/articles/99474
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...

Mother-pup pair of the Greater sac-winged bat in their day roost.

2 12 28