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Nelle Kulick

@nellekulick.bsky.social

800 followers 900 following 71 posts

Hormones, behavior & ecophysiology 🐒 • Studying capuchin responses to extreme ecological challenge ⛈️🌡️🥭 • she/her • Enjoyer of art & climbing pretty rocks 🧗🏻‍♀️🥾🏃‍♀️ PhD candidate @Tulane, visiting researcher @UCalgary (Nelle rhymes with bell)

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 31

All worth it!

Reposted by Nelle Kulick

Megan Petersdorf @meganpetersdorf.bsky.social · Aug 29

When I say you need a sense of humor in #fieldwork, I don’t mean you can do impressions or be the group clown.

What I mean is you can laugh at yourself when the following things happen (all of which have happened to me + my travel buds in the last 5 weeks): (1/x) 🐒 🧪 🪨 🏺

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Reposted by Nelle Kulick

Evolution Letters @evolletters.bsky.social · Aug 18

The evolution of reversible plasticity in stable environments
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Nicole Walasek et al.

The evolution of reversible plasticity in stable environments

Abstract. Reversible plasticity, i.e., the ability to deconstruct phenotypic specializations based on environmental conditions, is widespread in nature. De

doi.org

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Reposted by Nelle Kulick

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Aug 13

🐦 Tropical bird numbers falling due to extreme heat

A new study finds human-driven heat extremes, not average warming, have cut tropical bird abundance by 25–38% since 1950, even in undisturbed habitats.

🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

#SciComm 🧪 #ClimateCrisis

Large reductions in tropical bird abundance attributable to heat extreme intensification - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Climate change poses a growing threat to biodiversity, but disentangling its overall impact from other anthropogenic stressors is challenging. Here the authors use a data-driven climate attribution fr...

doi.org

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 7

Sometimes I don’t feel like an anthropologist, but then I find myself spending hours trying to remember the nickname of an archaic Homo cranium found in the town I’m driving through and it all makes sense

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 6

They are associated with fate and are viewed as omens symbolizing change, mystery, and missed opportunity 5/5

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 6

In many Bantu cultures, they are important actors in creation myths, sent as a messenger from god to deliver eternal life to the people, though beat out by faster lizards which brought death to humanity 4/5

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 6

There are a few ideas on why this historically/linguistically could be but my favorite is that their stealthy movement and changing colors distinguished them as being unique and mystical 3/5

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 6

While most animals fall into the m/wa noun class, they’re separated into another (ki/vi) which is used as a diminutive and for inanimate objects or entities associated with change (e.g., languages, tools, body parts) 2/5

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 6

Fun fact - chameleons are little rule breakers in Kiswahili 🧵1/5

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 6

Ranomafana appreciation post ~

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 5

Peep its little toes!

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 5

Invisibility cloak activated

🔍 mossy leaf-tailed gecko

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 4

#kindaKindasummer

Reposted by Nelle Kulick

Megan Petersdorf @meganpetersdorf.bsky.social · Aug 4

I saw god in these ring tailed lemurs

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 4

A spiritual experience

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 4

“I was moved by their ringed tails”

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 4

A spiritual experience

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 4

Truly major respect, makes studying primates in a tropical dry forest feel like a walk in the park

Megan Petersdorf @meganpetersdorf.bsky.social · Aug 4

Humbled by the Ranamafana rainforest

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 3

Someone should study the lexicon of car honking in Madagascar

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Reposted by Nelle Kulick

Margaret Evans @mekevans.bsky.social · Jul 31

New paper out on the dangers of using patterns across spatial climate gradients to predict what will happen with changing climate. That includes species distribution modeling. Space-for-time substitution can be misleading in sign, not just the magnitude of effects.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reconsidering space-for-time substitution in climate change ecology - Nature Climate Change

Ecologists often leverage patterns observed across spatial climate gradients to predict the impacts of climate change (space-for-time substitution). We highlight evidence that this can be misleading n...

www.nature.com

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Aug 2

Honored and profoundly thankful to have received funding from the NSF DDRIG to support my research.

I’ll be assessing how wild capuchins respond to extreme ecological challenges behaviorally and physiologically, with a focus on identifying adaptive qualities of prolonged adrenocortical responses.

Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Jul 29

Had a wonderful time at #IPS2025!

More to come soon on how hormone profiles in male white-faced capuchins change during alpha male replacements (co-led w/ @meganpetersdorf.bsky.social)

Presenter standing beside a poster entitled “Assessing the challenge hypothesis in male white-faced capuchins during alpha male replacements”

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Jul 29

One of our first papers in a series that investigates the potential for olfactory communication in wild capuchins is now out! Stay tuned for the next pieces of the story 🧪 🐒 👃

Amanda Melin @amelinlab.bsky.social · Jul 16

Our paper on how capuchin pee smells, and why monkeys might rub it all over their bodies is now out in @royalsociety.org RSOS. Led by Alice Poirier, @nellekulick.bsky.social, & a great team of collaborators, this was a complicated but fascinating project.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Urine washing and urinary odour profiles in relation to dominance rank status in wild male capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator) | Royal Society Open Science

Urine plays an essential role in mammalian olfactory communication, although its potential role in primates has long been overlooked owing to focus on their visual adaptations for communication. Here,...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Nelle Kulick

Tay (Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró) @biotay.bsky.social · Jun 29

Social anxiety in macaques

Tibetan macaques show self-directed behaviors before facing difficult social situations. For example, when females plan to approach higher-ranking females, or when low-ranking males are plan to approach receptive females.

(paper) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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Nelle Kulick @nellekulick.bsky.social · Jul 1

Awesome field management position open to study Kinda baboons in Zambia!👇🐒

Looking for an August start date so applications will have a quick turnaround – apply now! 🧪

Megan Petersdorf @meganpetersdorf.bsky.social · Jul 1

Do you have field work experience? Do you want more? Our team wants YOU to manage our field site studying Kinda baboons in Kasanka National Park, Zambia!

Start date is this August 2025 so apply ASAP!

Job ad here: tinyurl.com/KindaBaboon