Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

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

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...

Interested in a PhD in quantitative animal behavior? Applications are open through October for PhD projects starting in 2026: imprs-qbee.mpg.de/32524/apply

For an inside look at the projects, let our doctoral students be your guide 👇

Videos by @alexhhchan.bsky.social

Nobel prize in medicine awarded to scientists for immune system research Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi worked on how the immune system can be prevented from harming the body

Huge congratulations to this year's winners of the #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine: Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell & Shimon Sakaguchi! 🏆The trio's groundbreaking work on peripheral immune tolerance is paving the way for crucial new treatments for cancer & autoimmunity. 🧬

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

Join in the excitement this week 🤩The #NobelPrizes in Physiology or #Medicine, #Physics, and #Chemistry will be announced on Monday (11:30 a.m.), Tuesday (11:45 a.m.), and Wednesday (11:45 a.m. CEST). Live -> www.nobelprize.org

Take a look at these videos from #IMPRS-QBEE doctoral students.

They take you behind the scenes into PhD research @uni-konstanz.de and #MPI-AB.

Paragliding! VR! Spelunking! And more adventures in quantitative behavior.

New episodes every Monday.

Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups

⭐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...

Inkspo 👇

The MaxCine Festival kicks off!

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

black and white illustration of flying bats and moths

Working on the next piece of the "animals in the move" series for @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
#art #sciart #bats 🦇

MaxCine Festival | 3.-5.10. | Möggingen-Radolfzell: MaxCine, das Zentrum für Kommunikation und Austausch am
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
in Radolfzell, feiert sein 15-jähriges Bestehen. Es bietet spannende Veranstaltungen mit Wissenschaftler:innen des MPI: t1p.de/e8gw1 @cbehav.bsky.social

The BeeMarie in front of MaxCine, Radofzell, Germany

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

New blog post alert!🚨 Citizen scientist coders for wildlife conservation – a MoveApps story

Find out more about the collaboration between the MoveApps team, academic ecologists and volunteer coders 👇

#move_apps #mpiab @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @moveapps.bsky.social

buff.ly/56Wuiuc

Group photo of postdocs conducting research at a Max Planck Institute

The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...

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...

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_...

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

Also many thanks to @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, @imprs-qbee.bsky.social and @daadworldwide.bsky.social who make my research, travels and said Gala dinners possible!

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…

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

Introducing: the ICARUS birds project The Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior is launching a new project — ICARUS Birds — to investigate why we are losing birds that were once common in our gardens and forests.

Initiatives such as the Icarus Initiative from @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @animaltracking.bsky.social are pioneering future efforts to understand where, when and how animals struggle and die in particular areas and context: www.ab.mpg.de/669445/icaru...

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...

Superefficient teamwork in weaver ants / Curr. Biol., Aug. 12, 2025 (Vol. 35, Issue 17) Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

In humans, bigger teams often mean less effort per person — the #Ringelmann effect. Weaver #ants 🐜 flip the script: #teamwork makes them superefficient!

Video + paper out now in Current Biology!
@cellpress.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/44yrvp6m
tinyurl.com/3jnnevfn

New work led by Martina Scacco @safilab.bsky.social and Tom Carrard @ethz.ch in collaboration with the Swiss Ornithological Institute and the Konrad Lorenz Institute ⬇️

YouTube video by MitWissen Welche Gemeinsamkeit haben Hyänen, Erdmännchen und Nasenbären?

Unser Studie zu Verhaltenssequenzen wurde auf YT Channel MitWissen vorgestellt: youtu.be/5fT-lwwfmZE

MitWissen (auf Deutsch) wird von meiner Kollegin @cinig.bsky.social betrieben.
Schaut euch das Video an und abonniert gerne ihren Channel!

Thanks for your interest. This website has more information and the email to contact the organizers app.wildlifeinsights.org/initiatives/....

🫶🙌😍

Thrilled to share our new article in @pnas.org highlighting global gaps in where we study animal movement—and outlining the next generation of smart bio-loggers.

👉 Read the full study in PNAS: lnkd.in/exP8NCeZ
1/

From biologging to conservation: Tracking individual performance in changing environments | PNAS Under an accelerating biodiversity crisis, increased urbanization, habitat fragmentation, and climate change require new approaches to assess conse...

From bio-logging to conservation 🔽

New paper by an @animaltracking.bsky.social dream team

@diegoellissoto.bsky.social @anflack.bsky.social @arispeshkin.bsky.social Timm Wild, Hannah Williams, @teagueo.bsky.social

@cbehav.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Quarks: Tiere der Nacht: Das verborgene Leben vor unserer Haustür - hier anschauen Wenn wir nachts schlafen, erwacht eine andere Welt – geheimnisvoll und faszinierend. Füchse, Waschbären, selbst Wildschweine streifen durch unsere Vorgärten und hinterlassen beträchtliche Schäden. D...

Our bat team's work on noctules was featured by the science show Quarks. It starts at 30 minutes in 🦇

@dechman.bsky.social @edwardhurme.bsky.social

www.ardmediathek.de/video/quarks...

We have a full house . Konstanz School of Collective Behavior is off to a great start with Iain Couzin as our opening keynote speaker @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @cbehav.bsky.social

@meg-crofoot.bsky.social @icouzin.bsky.social @animaltracking.bsky.social