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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · 1d

In the Guardian, Meg Crofoot weighs in (on behalf of wild animals) on our current obsession: healthy sleep.

Piece by @sarahsloat.bsky.social

@meg-crofoot.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de

www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...

My pet sleeps all day and all night. Is that normal?

Understanding pet sleep can help us support our furry family and create a more restful home for everyone

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Ari Strandburg-Peshkin @arispeshkin.bsky.social · 5d

⭐PhD position available!⭐
Come join us @imprs-qbee.bsky.social to study communication and collective behavior in animal groups! We're looking for someone excited to use computational approaches to tackle biological questions, using our full-group tracking datasets
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/121465/analy...

Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups

imprs-qbee.mpg.de

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · 9d

Take note, repost far and wide. The Dechmann Lab are hiring ✨

Cecilia Baldoni @cecibaldoni.bsky.social · 21d

PhD Alert! 😍 Our lab is hiring a PhD student to study how shrews shrink in winter and grow in spring. Yes, you read that right!
tinyurl.com/shrinkingshr...
Join us at the @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, study a super cool animal, and join the @imprs-qbee.bsky.social community!

DM me for questions!

Seasonal size change and aging in shrews

imprs-qbee.mpg.de

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Helen Mylne @helephantmylne.bsky.social · 14d

3yr PDRA at @exeter.ac.uk with @york.ac.uk and Centre for Whale Research, studying how killer whale social relationships change with prey availability, partner loss and social info. A fantastic team & unique longterm dataset. Deadline 19 Oct!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT336/postdoctoral-research-associate

Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Exeter

Apply for the Postdoctoral Research Associate role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

share.google

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Cecilia Baldoni @cecibaldoni.bsky.social · 21d

PhD Alert! 😍 Our lab is hiring a PhD student to study how shrews shrink in winter and grow in spring. Yes, you read that right!
tinyurl.com/shrinkingshr...
Join us at the @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, study a super cool animal, and join the @imprs-qbee.bsky.social community!

DM me for questions!

Seasonal size change and aging in shrews

imprs-qbee.mpg.de

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · 26d

Happy Birthday MaxCine 🎂
This October, MaxCine celebrates 15 years of inspiring young scientists. Join us to celebrate this achievement at the MAXCINE FESTIVAL: three days of science, art, ideas, and community. Come in person or participate online. Talks are FREE. Registrations are open👉 maxcine.de

The BeeMarie in front of MaxCine, Radofzell, Germany

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Ari Strandburg-Peshkin @arispeshkin.bsky.social · Sep 7

🚨 Junior Research Fellow position (+possible PhD conversion) studying Emergent Collective Intelligence for Ephemeral Resource Tracking. Based with Akanksha Rathore at BITS Pilani (India) and including visits to Konstanz (Germany) to collaborate with us! Apply by 12 September. More info 👇

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Cecilia Baldoni @cecibaldoni.bsky.social · Sep 1

The secret to shrew brain shrinkage? 🤔
Not cell loss, but water loss!
Our new paper shows that brain cells shrink by losing water, a wild feat of brain plasticity 🤯

Check the paper!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @labdavalos.bsky.social @batichica.bsky.social

Programmed seasonal brain shrinkage in the common shrew via water loss without cell death

Brain plasticity, the brain’s inherent ability to adapt its structure and function, is crucial for responding to environmental challenges but is usual…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Judith Beyer @judithbeyer.bsky.social · Sep 1

JOB: Juniorprofessur ab 1.4.2026 (befristet 6 Jahre, da aus begrenzten Mitteln gestellt). Denomination: "Umweltethnologie" (Environmental Anthropology) an der @uni-konstanz.de. Bewerbungsschluss ist der 1. Oktober 2025! ✨
Alle Infos ⬇️ #Wissenschaft
www.soziologie.uni-konstanz.de/beyer/aktuel...

Juniorprofessur in Ethnologie

www.soziologie.uni-konstanz.de

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · Sep 1

Scientists discover the secret behind the shrew’s amazing ability to shrink their brains 🧠

The clever trick sheds unwanted weight without compromising too much on cognition.

Find the 5-letter word 👇

Study by @cecibaldoni.bsky.social Dechmann Lab #shrewcrew et al

www.ab.mpg.de/743885/news_...

Rare seasonal brain shrinkage in shrews is driven by water loss, not cell death

Common shrews are one of only a handful of mammals known to flexibly shrink and regrow their brains. This rare seasonal cycle, known as Dehnel’s phenomenon, has puzzled scientists for decades. A study...

www.ab.mpg.de

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Javier Lazaro - illustration @lazaroillustration.bsky.social · Aug 28

Detail of two hyenas
#SciArt
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Universität Konstanz @uni-konstanz.de · Aug 27

MELA — a short documentary on the Mating Ecology of Lek Breeding Antelope — takes you behind the scenes of an interdisciplinary #UniKonstanz @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social research journey. This film reveals how science is done, shared, and lived: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i4d...

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · Aug 20

New paper from my group led by Odd Jacobson, former PhD student & current postdoc @livingingroups.bsky.social : How do animal groups simultaneously balance between- and within-group competition in dynamic environments and does this impact movement and space use? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Between-group competitive advantage offsets foraging costs for bigger groups in harsher seasons

Larger animal groups are widely understood to require more space and travel farther to mitigate the foraging costs of within-group competition. Yet, between-group interactions and shifting resource di...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Jul 26

Bielefeld University seeks a postdoc for a 6-year scientific assistant position in Animal Behaviour, starting March 2026. Apply by Sept 10, 2025. More info: www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/biologie/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/behaviour #job

Animal Behaviour - Bielefeld University

With a team of over 50 people, the different research groups study animal behaviour within the framework of the four questions of Tinbergen, both in the lab and in the field. Current model systems include laboratory studies on zebra finches (

www.uni-bielefeld.de

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Jul 18

How can magellanic #penguins navigate tidal currents while balancing #EnergyEfficiency & foraging opportunities? This study reveals how they adaptively make S-shaped return paths to their colony, optimizing travel in complex oceanic flows @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/40nKyD4

Top left: A magellanic penguin in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Image credit: Unsplash user William Warby. Top right: The GPS-corrected dead-reckoned tracks of 27 penguins at sea, colored to distinguish between the outbound (red) and inbound (blue) phases of their foraging trips. Bottom: A ‘snapshot’ of the current conditions within the grid area, showing peak tidal strength during a single day as a function of the tidal cycle, including the outgoing (‘ebb’ – left panel) and incoming (‘flood’ – right panel) tides. Penguins are often subjected to strong cross-currents during these phases. The colony location is marked by a small black filled circle with a white outline.

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Hanja Brandl @hanjabrrr.bsky.social · Jul 23

New paper out 🥳
The physiological costs of leadership in collective movements. - Trying to lead the group can be stressful, so it might not always be worth it!#openaccess at @currentbiology.bsky.social @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

James Klarevas @jamesklarevas.bsky.social · Jul 23

Led by @hanjabrrr.bsky.social, @damienfarine.bsky.social, and I, we combined ECG and GPS tracking from a whole group of vulturine guineafowl to show that collective movements, and especially attempting to lead under disagreement greatly increased Heart Rates.

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

The physiological cost of leadership in collective movements

Individuals can gain substantial benefits from collective actions.1,2,3,4,5,6,7 However, collective behaviors introduce new challenges, like coordinat…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · Jul 21

Waving our hands in the air like we don’t care

#mpiab #summer #konstanz #maxplanckinstitut #love

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · Jul 21

Another good reason to read this paper by @pminasandra.bsky.social👇

It just won the "Best Paper Award" from @uni-konstanz.de Bio Dept 👏 Congrats to Pranav + team @livingingroups.bsky.social @meg-crofoot.bsky.social @arispeshkin.bsky.social @animal-sounds.bsky.social

▶️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Maevatiana N. Ratsimbazafindranahaka @rmaevatiana.bsky.social · Dec 18

Notably, we identified what could be begging calls associated with nursing sessions — among the first documented in any baleen whale species 🐋🤱.

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Hester Bronnvik @hbronnv.bsky.social · Jul 11

If there is an optimal behavior, why is there so much variation in the world? We found that, for white storks, context is everything. @anflack.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

New paper! @cellpress.bsky.social doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.044
🧵1/5

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Ecology of Animal Societies @livingingroups.bsky.social · Jul 10

We get chills looking at the illustrations @lazaroillustration.bsky.social created! The dynamism and true feel of the way he captures these animals' movement is amazing.

Javier Lazaro - illustration @lazaroillustration.bsky.social · May 16

The orangutans and bonobos are the first two illustrations of a series on behavior and movement of animals in their environment. #SciArt
More coming soon! :)
For @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

Illustration of orangutans climbing on trees

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · Jul 8

Hey Camera Trappers 📸🐺🐗🦌🦅Snapshot Europe is back for 2025!
Join us in deploying cameras this Sept-Oct. Help build a crucial snapshot of European biodiversity. Learn more & express interest here ▶️ app.wildlifeinsights.org/initiatives/...
Spread the word and help expand our community across Europe🙏

Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) captured in Stelvio National Park, Italy

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Ecology of Animal Societies @livingingroups.bsky.social · Jul 2

Live Updates: Sean Combs Acquitted of Sex Trafficking but Found Guilty on Lesser Charges www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07... z you on oi a o go zioohj,zuosohuO

Live Updates: Sean Combs Acquitted of Sex Trafficking but Found Guilty on Lesser Charges

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Nature @nature.com · Jul 1

The greater the number of orangutans within 50 metres of an animal, the less time it spent sleeping at night or napping in the day

https://go.nature.com/3Gnly7Y

Natural nappers: monitoring the sleeping patterns of wild orangutans

How being near to other orangutans affects the duration of sleep.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies

Cell Press @cellpress.bsky.social · Jun 25

Great thread of the study, and you can see view the article in @currentbiology.bsky.social

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

Ecology of Animal Societies @livingingroups.bsky.social · Jun 25

We know some animals nap. But do they do it to make up for lost sleep?

Our joint study with Caroline Schuppli and the Suaq team dives deep into the sleep patterns of wild orangutans to find out their strategy for sleep homeostasis 🦧 💤

Paper @cellpress.bsky.social ▶️ doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

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