Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 2d

Want to know more about monkeys kidnapping other monkeys?🐒 I had an amazing chat together with @bjjbarrett.bsky.social on @sidedoorpod.bsky.social about the Coiban capuchins and their wild antics. Science really is stranger than fiction! Listen 👂 here: www.si.edu/sidedoor/mon...

3 4

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Ben Kawam @benkawam.bsky.social · 8d

Are you studying animal sociality?

My (now published) first PhD chapter proposes a Bayesian + causal framework to infer the factors shaping the social relationships that animals form with one another.

journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

A causal framework for the drivers of animal social network structure

Author summary Behavioural ecologists ask mechanistic questions about behaviour—causal questions. When studying animal societies, these questions often concern the drivers of social network structure....

journals.plos.org

1 16 37

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Elham Nourani @enourani.bsky.social · 2d

🦅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)

1 73 100

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Christine Webb @christinewebb.bsky.social · Aug 11

I am humbled to have received much praise for THE ARROGANT APE (Avery / Penguin Random House) out September 2.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717436/the-arrogant-ape-by-christine-webb

2 8 24

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Ashley Lynch ✂️🎞️ @ashleylynch.bsky.social · Jul 14

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for.

Stop using WeTransfer.

130 5.3K 7.6K

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Ludger Woessmann @woessmann.bsky.social · Jul 7

❓Why do the Nordics & Dutch speak English so much better than the Germans, Italians & French?

➡️ New Working Paper:

Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills
w/ F. Baumeister & E. Hanushek

www.nber.org/papers/w33984

A 🧵 1/12

10 70 230

Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · Jul 2

~5 years, 5 chapters, and one real human baby later, my "academic" baby is finally done. After a defense in near-boiling conditions, where even the beamer quit halfway through, I am now officially Dr. Zoë 🎓🐒 I am so grateful for this experience, and all my friends and family lifting me up! #PhDone

4 32

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

michael chimento @mchimento.bsky.social · Jun 12

been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...

2 30 57

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · May 29

In a recent correspondence, @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social and colleagues report the origin and spread of a cultural tradition of interspecies abduction of infant howler monkeys by male white-faced capuchin monkeys in the wild. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Rise and spread of a social tradition of interspecies abduction

Goldsborough and colleagues report the origin and spread of a cultural tradition of interspecies abduction of infant howler monkeys by male white-faced capuchin monkeys in the wild.

www.cell.com

4 11

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Dagny Lüdemann @dagny.bsky.social · May 25

🐒🚨„Affen kidnappen Babys anderer Affenart“. Habt ihr diese unglaubliche News gelesen - von #Kapuzineräffchen und #Brüllaffen in #Panama? Bio-Doktorandin @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social hat‘s entdeckt. Mir hat sie erzählt, was hinter dem traurigen Kidnapping steckt: www.zeit.de/wissen/umwel... @zeit.de

Kidnapping im Tierreich: "Man hört die Brüllaffen nach ihren entführten Babys schreien"

Auf einer unbewohnten Insel vor Panama entdeckt die Doktorandin Zoë Goldsborough Unglaubliches: Kapuzineraffen kidnappen Jungtiere anderer Affen. Bleibt die Frage, warum.

www.zeit.de

1 4

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Liz Landau @lizlandau.bsky.social · May 19

Monkeys kidnap the babies of other monkeys, and then wear them around for days on end... it's a grim tale I've written for the @nytimes.com!

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/s...

This Was Odd: These Monkeys Kidnapped Babies From Another Species.

www.nytimes.com

2 8

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Javier Lazaro - illustration @lazaroillustration.bsky.social · May 20

Some sketches for this surprising publication by ‪ @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @bjjbarrett.bsky.social @meg-crofoot.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social
Capuchin monkeys abducting howler monkey infants and carrying them around! 😐

1 6 43

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · May 20

🧪🏺 Capuchins kidnapping howler infants: fascinated by many aspects of this- rapidity of 'fashion' spread, individual variation but also sex bias, and relevance in helping us imagine multiplicity of inter-species hominin interactions, inc. #Neanderthals & early H. sapiens
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Rise and spread of a social tradition of interspecies abduction

Goldsborough and colleagues report the origin and spread of a cultural tradition of interspecies abduction of infant howler monkeys by male white-faced capuchin monkeys in the wild.

www.cell.com

2 7 28

Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · May 20

Thank you!

Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · May 20

Thank you!!

1

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Ecology of Animal Societies @livingingroups.bsky.social · May 20

The capuchins on Jicaron are intriguing everyone, from scientists to the general public 🙈 Stories from our latest paper by @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social @bjjbarrett.bsky.social and team!

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

🧵

@lizlandau.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/s...

This Was Odd: These Monkeys Kidnapped Babies From Another Species.

www.nytimes.com

1 1 7

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · May 20

#Capuchins are abducting baby howlers. But why?
Zoë Goldsborough, Brendan Barrett, and Meg Crofoot
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social discuss what’s behind this novel animal tradition. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mooQ... @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social

Capuchin monkeys are abducting baby howlers. But why?

YouTube video by Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

www.youtube.com

1 12 21

Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · May 20

Thank you, Sofia! :)

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

NPR @npr.org · May 19

Young, male capuchin monkeys have started kidnapping the babies of nearby howler monkeys. Why? Maybe boredom.

Researchers puzzle over rash of baby monkey kidnappings

Young, male capuchin monkeys have started kidnapping the babies of nearby howler monkeys. Why? Maybe boredom.

www.npr.org

50 59 350

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · May 19

Cross-species teamwork from @livingingroups.bsky.social reveals unexpected similarities in three social mammals 🤔

By lead author @pminasandra.bsky.social with Emily Grout, Katrina Brock, Meg Crofoot, Vlad Demartsev, Amlan Nayak, Eli
Strauss, Ari Strandburg-Peshkin🧵1/2

www.ab.mpg.de/679000/news_...

Very different mammals follow the same rules of behavior

Research hints at an underlying architecture that orders the movements of animals

www.ab.mpg.de

1 13 30

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Popular Science @popsci.com · May 19

Therapist: The kidnapping capuchin monkeys aren't real and can't hurt you.

Nature:

www.popsci.com/environment/...

Capuchin monkeys kidnap baby howler monkeys, shocking scientists

The disturbing fad could be the result of boredom.

www.popsci.com

2 4 18

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

CNN @cnn.com · May 19

Scientists studying footage from Jicarón Island spotted something unusual: a capuchin monkey carrying an infant howler on his back. Now, they’re trying to learn what it means. cnn.it/3H1dtWA

10 14 78

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Tim Vernimmen @timvernimmen.bsky.social · May 19

Capuchins surprising us again, this time rather unpleasantly... featuring @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social and @bjjbarrett.bsky.social! www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

These capuchins are abducting babies from howler monkeys—for fun?

A young male nicknamed Joker was probably the first to start carrying a howler monkey baby on his back for days on end. Then a group of other young males started to copy him.

www.nationalgeographic.com

2 4

Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · May 19

Hot off the press 📣: one of the most surprising and unsettling findings of my PhD. A novel social tradition emerged in the tool-using white-faced capuchins of Jicarón island… abducting and carrying the infants of another species. Thread with gifs, videos, and all the bizarre details 👇

Ecology of Animal Societies @livingingroups.bsky.social · May 19

Humans have many unusual traditions. But did you know animals’ strange behaviors can become culture too? Out now in Current Biology (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...) we show the rise and spread of a surprising tradition: interspecies infant abduction. Interactive timeline (www.ab.mpg.de/671374) 🧵 (1/12)

An illustration of a white-faced capuchin monkey carrying a howler infant on their back while cracking nuts with a stone

7 48 94

Reposted by Zoë Goldsborough

Pranav Minasandra @pminasandra.bsky.social · May 16

🚨 Out this week in @pnas.org 🚨
The flagship paper from my PhD @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social - We show surprising statistical similarities in animal behaviour across states, individuals, and even species.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
(🧵 1/10)

1 21 70