Floriana Stanca

Having Sir David Attenborough narrate a story based on our findings on the dyeing poison frog was something that I never imagined, even in my wildest dreams. Now it’s happening, in the new BBC series “Parenthood” (Episode on Freshwater)! 🤩 www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zih...
📸: Screenshot from trailer

Two more presentations from our group at #ATBC2025 are done and dusted! 🐸🧪🌍Paul Kesseler presented a poster on Hg contamination in phytotelmata and their inhabitants at Nouragues (French Guiana), which he investigated during his Master’s (1/2)

Super proud of Lia Schlippe Justicia, who gave an excellent talk on her PhD work involving frog disease, skin microbiome and habitat disturbance 🐸🧬🍄🏘️🏗️
#ATBC2025
@klivvvienna.bsky.social

Five white Goffin's cockatoos sit on various branches of a small tree with large green leaves. They have cute, big eyes and quite small beaks. They are about the same size as the leaves.

Why did some birds evolve to be so clever? Mark O'Hara & Berenika Mioduszewska took on the challenge of studying wild Goffin's cockatoos on a small Indonesian island.
Their exciting findings help answer that question.

Listen: linktr.ee/wild_behavior_pod
Photo: Goffin Lab Tanimbar

Join us as an early career researcher - NCCR Evolving Language Are you interested in joining us for:

You can find the job offers here: evolvinglanguage.ch/jobs/#getapo...
Looking forward to hearing from you 😊

First #fieldwork of my PhD in French Guiana is now completed 🇬🇫🐸
I don't have the words yet to describe how amazing this place is, but I believe these few videos will do some justice ☀️🎥
#wildlife #experiments #Nouragues

Over the past 4 years, ABC has collected donations and distributed the funds as microgrants to animal behaviour students in financial need. These microgrants have helped students cover costs such as books, travel, registration fees, etc. Thank you to everyone who donated to ABC!

Over the past 4 years, ABC has collected donations and distributed the funds as microgrants to animal behaviour students in financial need. These microgrants have helped students cover costs such as books, travel, registration fees, etc. Thank you to everyone who donated to ABC!

What a great weekend at the #WienerForschungsfest! 100s of visitors learned about how the spots of fire salamanders work as fingerprints, which we can use to count them in the wild (even faster now, with the help of AI!) ⚫️🟡🦎🟡⚫️ @klivvvienna.bsky.social MASSIVE thanks to our wonderful helpers! 🙏🏼

Take me home, country toads Cane toads have remarkable navigation abilities, even when their sense of smell and magnetic-sensory systems are compromised.

Have a look at this coverage of the new paper led by Daniel Shaykevich, featuring Andrius Pasukonis, both currently at
@klivvvienna.bsky.social 😊 Link to paper in the comments 🐸
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I have already been fortunate enough to find these guys around the institute in Vienna, what will it be like in French Guiana..?
More frogs for sure ! 🐸☀️✈️

💑 Relationships can be hard work. In fact, the challenges of maintaining social relationships are often thought to have favoured the evolution of intelligence in humans and other social animals.

Photo credits: @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social and @stancaf.bsky.social

PhD position in parrot tool use Job offer: applications opening 19th of February 2025. We are looking for a PhD student (funded by the Austrian Science Fund, FWF) for a doctoral project in the field of animal behaviour and cognition Project Title: Dexterity in the tool use of the Goffin’s cockatoo https://www.fwf.ac.at/forschungsradar/10.55776/PAT2728324 Project Location: The Messerli Research Institute is located at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Its division on Comparative Cognition investigates cognitive abilities in both the social and physical domain of various, free-living as well as domesticated, animal species including Goffin’s cockatoos, keas, dogs, goats and pigs. https://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/en/messerli This PhD project will be conducted at the Goffin Lab in Lower Austria. https://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/cognition/goffin-lab Academic Supervision: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alice Auersperg (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Project Description: The Goffin’s cockatoo uses and builds tool -based technologies rivalling higher primates, both in captivity as well as in the wild. While we already understand a lot about what kinds of tools animals use in which context, we still know very little about the innovative process and fine-scaled mechanisms underlying such behaviour: how are the cockatoos able to innovate tool use in the first place? Thereby, it is important to consider behavioural as well as physical barriers that animals face when using tools. We currently predict that tool use techniques are strongly affected by the different properties of the tasks the birds are operating their tools upon. This PhD project aims to test to what extent the tool use techniques invented by aviary cockatoos in Austria manifest in a predictable manner based on specific tool and task properties. To achieve this, we plan to blend behavioural analysis and material physics. The findings of this project will help to understand the onset and mechanisms underlyi…

Deadline and project start: Please send your application before 1th of June 2025. The successful candidate can start in July at the earliest (we would like to have started the project by September of this year). Requirements • A master’s degree • A master’s thesis with a topic related to animal cognition/animal behaviour/comparative psychology or material science. • Genuine Interest in animal behaviour and cognition • At least some experience in direct interaction with animals (experience with animal testing is highly appreciated). • Comfortable with direct contact with parrots • Statistical knowledge (preferably experience in General Liner Mixed Models, PCA, Survival Analysis etcetera.) • Experience with R. • Excellent English skills written and spoken (additional German skills are highly appreciated) • Excellent teamworking and communication skills What we offer • Employment at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna via a FWF funding for a minimum of three years. • Access to institutional support (administrative support, statistician, IT manager, technician for experimental apparatuses). • Various scientific events including weekly seminars of comparative cognition researchers • Opportunity to visit international conferences. • Opportunity to visit social events for PhD students studying avian cognition in Vienna. • An international and interdisciplinary work environment at the Messerli Research Institute for Human-Animal Interaction. How to apply: Applications (email: alice.auersperg@vetmeduni.ac.at) will be considered until the 1st of June 2025 Only complete submissions will be taken into consideration. Your application should contain the following information: 1. A Cover Letter detailing your motivation for the research topic, relevant experience, and expectations for the position (max. 2 pages) 2. A Curriculum Vitae including copies of relevant university degree certificates 3. Contact details for two references (incl. email)

We have an exciting new position in our lab for a PhD on parrot tool use! See below

Save the date! We will be in the "Wiener Forschungsfest 2025" (Vienna Research Festival) with a stand that combines our beloved fire salamanders and AI. Come and find out how! 📆March 21-23, 📌Rathaus. Everybody welcome! @klivvvienna.bsky.social

forschungsfest.at

Let's celebrate all of the female scientists we know! Who is the woman in science that inspires you the most? :) Recommended reading on Women in Animal Behaviour and Welfare: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11047719/#B10-animals-14-01184

Let's celebrate all of the female scientists we know! Who is the woman in science that inspires you the most? :)

Recommended reading on Women in Animal Behaviour and Welfare: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

So proud of #KristinSzydlik, who did an excellent job in her MSc thesis defence yesterday 🥳🙌🏽 Stay tuned to learn about her findings on #firesalamanders from the Vienna woods! ⚫️🟡🦎🟡⚫️

(1/9) Our new paper "Pair-bond strength is consistent and related to partner responsiveness in a wild corvid" is now out in Proc R Soc B! Research together with Beki Hooper, @guillmcivor.bsky.social, and @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social Link: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Re:wild | Re:wild.org • Fonseca Species Conservation Fund The Fonseca Species Conservation Fund is available to young conservationists under the age of 35 in any GEF-eligible country to either start or progress their careers. The FSCF is supported by the GE...

Fonseca Species Conservation Fund $$$: early career, 35 y.o. GEF-recipient countries. $25,000 grants for: amphibians, FW fish, primates, small mammals, tortoises & FW turtles. 🐟🐸🐢🐒🐿️ action.https://www.rewild.org/the-fonseca-species-conservation-fund

Parution de l'Atlas des amphibiens de Guyane | CRBE L’atlas des amphibiens de Guyane intègre les progrès considérables réalisés au cours des vingt dernières années en termes de connaissances sur la taxonomie, la répartition, l’écologie et la conservati...

New book: “Atlas des Amphibiens de Guyane”, by Antoine Fouquet, Elodie Courtois, Maël Dewynter. A milestone in Guianan herpetology. Right now in French, and soon an English edition should be available:
crbe.cnrs.fr/en/parution-...
🐸🐸🐸
#herpetology #frogs #caecilians

So lucky to work with this fun and talented bunch! 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼
Happy holidays, everyone! 🎄
@klivvvienna.bsky.social

A warm (and belated) welcome to our new PhD student, @stancaf.bsky.social, who has joined our (with A Pašukonis, who’s not yet in 🦋) project on sensory ecology and cognition in #poisonfrogs funded by @fwf-at.bsky.social!