Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology

How Elephants Say They Like Them Apples

🐘 New Paper on Elephant Gestures Featured in The New York Times

📰 NYT article:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/s...

The study is part of Vesta Eleuteri’s PhD research, supervised by me and Catherine Hobaiter, in collaboration with Josh Plotnik and Lucy Bates.

10.07.2025 09:50 — 👍 10    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

Excellent talks, nice chats, great city! #CSF2025 #Hamburg

24.06.2025 16:24 — 👍 8    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Horses have a complex repertoire of facial expressions, just like primates The study has created a catalogue of horse facial expressions to help people understand how to read these incredible animals.

Check out my article in The Conversation, all about our latest paper, which created an extensive catalogue of horse facial expressions 🐴 Thank you so much for inviting me to contribute! #TheConversation #equineresearch #facialexpressions

theconversation.com/horses-have-...

10.06.2025 20:50 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

An ethogram of facial behaviour in domestic horses: evolutionary perspectives on form and function Understanding cause and function of animal facial behaviour can provide key insights into the animal’s cognitive and emotional state. The Equine Facial Action Coding System (EquiFACS) has characterise...

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨

We have created the first anatomically based ethogram of horse facial behaviour, covering a broad range of distinct behaviours from aggression through to play 🐴

Check it out here: peerj.com/articles/193...

@leanneproops.bsky.social
@uop-ccep.bsky.social

28.05.2025 09:44 — 👍 7    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 2

Chimpanzees and children are curious about social interactions | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Curiosity is adaptive, enhances learning, and reduces uncertainty. Social curiosity is defined as the motivation to gain information about the actions, relationships, and psychology of others. Little ...

New paper just dropped🎉 With novel "Curiosity Boxes", we find that chimps & children are very curious about social interactions, & some even give up a reward to gain info! Fun collaboration with @alisongopnik.bsky.social, @janengelmann.bsky.social & others royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

06.06.2025 16:44 — 👍 68    🔁 31    💬 1    📌 0

Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology Researchers in the Centre for Comparative & Evolutionary Psychology explore evolutionary processes & developments shaping animal behaviour. Find out more

🌍 You can find us here: www.port.ac.uk/research/res...

13.05.2025 12:44 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Postdoctoral Fellowships call: 6 steps to prepare your application These tips and tricks will help you find the best host organisation and prepare a successful proposal.

📢 The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship call is now open!
Join our international expert team to explore minds across species.

We study:
🐒 Primates
🐕 Dogs
🐘 Elephants
🐴 Donkeys and horses

🔗 contact one of us to discuss your application: marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...
#MSCA

13.05.2025 12:41 — 👍 8    🔁 7    💬 1    📌 1

Very grateful for my Jana Robyest Trust Fund grant and Portsmouth Psychology grant for getting me on a plane to Botswana - and to the Elephants for Africa research camp! 🐘🩶 Here to scope out the national park for my PhD field season next year; what a beautiful place 🌍🇧🇼 #SCDTP @scdtp.bsky.social

06.05.2025 08:46 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Today at 1pm UK time the GMP will be featured in the Journal Club of the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology from the University of Portsmouth!

06.05.2025 11:29 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Congrats to our PhD student @vascom.bsky.social who recently won Best Photo at the University of Portsmouth Revolution Plastics PhD Conference! 🥳 🥇 check out his thought-provoking picture of a Moor Macaque in South Sulawesi, Indonesia:🐒🥤📦🛍️
#plasticpollution #primate #phd

02.04.2025 08:30 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Humans are bad at reading dogs’ emotions – but we can do learn to do better Even experts get dog body language wrong at times.

theconversation.com/humans-are-b...

26.03.2025 20:26 — 👍 17    🔁 11    💬 0    📌 0

Dr Teresa Romero, Dr Jerome Micheletta, Dr Marine Joly and Dr Francesca De Petrillo in front of their booth „Smart monkeys: how primates think and why they need your help!“

A paper cup with a face of a macaque

Pledge wall with post-it notes left by children who visited the booth

Dr Francesca De Petrillo and Dr Marine Joly present their cognitive tasks using hands-on activities to children

We had a fantastic time showcasing our research at the Science is Wonderful! fair organised by the European Commission in Brussels. Thanks to #MSCA for the invitation and to all children who visited our booth 😃 🐒 @francescadp.bsky.social @jmicheletta.bsky.social @teresa-romero.bsky.social

15.03.2025 09:30 — 👍 14    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 1

MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration We present MacaqueNet, a global community of macaque researchers who developed the first publicly searchable, standardised database on affiliative and agonistic behaviour. This cross-species database...

So exciting to see MacaqueNet out into the world! 🤩

Learn about our global community & database centralizing standardized affiliative & agonistic data from 61 populations across 14 macaque species: doi/10.1111/1365...

Explore >600 networks & request data: macaquenet.github.io/database/

12.02.2025 10:09 — 👍 132    🔁 72    💬 1    📌 12

Science is Wonderful!

Excited to showcase our 🐒 research at the #scienceiswonderful 2025 science fair organised by the #EuropeanCommission #MSCA.
See you in March in Brussels 😃 with @jmicheletta.bsky.social, @teresa-romero.bsky.social, @francescadp.bsky.social

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/science-is-w...

29.01.2025 18:21 — 👍 8    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 1

Powered by MHR

You can now apply for our 3 year postdoc looking at the role of culture and group size in social coordination and collaboration in the UK, Uganda and Republic of Korea!

Any questions please don’t hesitate to drop me a dm or email (sophie.milward@port.ac.uk)

mss.port.ac.uk/ce0732li_web...

16.01.2025 12:23 — 👍 3    🔁 14    💬 0    📌 2

Congratulations to @louiseloyant.bsky.social, winner of the @primatesocietygb.bsky.social 2024 Napier Medal for her PhD work on inhibitory control across macaque species. What an achievement 🥳💪🥇

13.12.2024 14:10 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Luke Collins, Louise Loyant, Sarah Salphati, Amanda Bartlett and Marine Joly

Thanks to the Bristol Zoological Society for hosting such a great @primatesocietygb.bsky.social meeting! It was nice to catch up with our @uop-ccep.bsky.social PhD students: Luke Collins, @louiseloyant.bsky.social, @sarahsalphati.bsky.social and Amanda Bartlett.

13.12.2024 13:05 — 👍 10    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0

Congrats again Louise!! #proudsupervisor @uop-ccep.bsky.social

13.12.2024 10:30 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Using human behaviour change theory to develop educational programmes promoting the conservation of critically endangered crested macaques (Macaca nigra) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Together with @leanneproops.bsky.social and Cressida Bowyer, we are looking for PhD applicants for a project using human behaviour change theory to develop educational programmes promoting the conservation of crested macaques. More information here: www.port.ac.uk/study/postgr...

10.12.2024 22:04 — 👍 15    🔁 21    💬 1    📌 1

Validating quantitative measures of uncertainty in communicative interaction as indicators of affective valence in wild animals at University of Portsmouth on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Validating quantitative measures of uncertainty in communicative interaction as indicators of affective valence in wild animals at University of Portsmouth, listed on FindAPhD.com

Looking for a PhD candidate for our project on uncertainty in communicative interactions as indicators of affective valence. Supervised by Dr Jérôme Micheletta (@jmicheletta.bsky.social), Prof Bridget Waller and me. Get in touch if interested. See details here:

10.12.2024 11:00 — 👍 22    🔁 21    💬 0    📌 0

Researcher awarded £270k to unpack how people interact in groups At a time when countries across the world need to work together to address pressing global issues, a new study will look at how people from diverse backgrounds come together and interact.

More information about my upcoming Leverhulme project here. Postdoc adverts coming soon!
www.port.ac.uk/news-events-...

09.12.2024 15:54 — 👍 4    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

Advertising for 2 fully funded PhD projects on cooperation in children, apes and across cultures. Co-supervised by Juliane Kaminski @comparativeminds.bsky.social and Esther Herrmann. See below for links. Message me if interested!

05.12.2024 12:16 — 👍 23    🔁 25    💬 2    📌 0

We are now on Bluesky 🥳

We are passionate about understanding what makes us and other animals tick. 🐒🐕🫏🐘🕷️

Follow us for research highlights, collaborations, and a peek into the fascinating world of comparative psychology, welfare and conservation!

03.12.2024 20:03 — 👍 10    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0