Andrew King

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...

MSc internship / Field Assistant position available in our group!
Impact of urbanisation on avian reproduction 🐦🏙️ 🌳
Deadline: 7 Nov 2025
All details 👉 www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/...
Please share it around!

A white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) decides whether to consume a warningly colored white-barred acraea butterfly (Telchinia encedon). Photo (c) Mike Rowe

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org

We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Abstract submissions now open too. Registration details won't be long! www.psgb.org/pages/14-mee...

Wahoo, Cécile!!! Can't wait for all the exciting science in the coming years👍

Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) Meeting
National Museum Cardiff, 27-28 November

www.psgb.org/pages/14-mee...
Registration and abstract submission coming soon! Please share!

@mckinneymonkey.bsky.social @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @willallennz.bsky.social @primatesocietygb.bsky.social

🧠 What?! A meeting just on disgust?! Yes!!
📍 @iast.fr, France | 🗓 Dec 4–5, 2025
💥 Keynotes by Paul Rozin @upenn.edu, @cr-amo.bsky.social, Philip Powell @sheffielduni.bsky.social & Cindy Kam
🌍 From Psychology to Politics, Biology & beyond
🎓 Abstract submissions until Aug 31: forms.gle/QBmkUB3aLDjY...

Attention #Behaviour2025 ! Can’t wait for the next conference? Good news, the deadline for abstracts for #ASABWinter2025 has been extended !

swaRmverse: An R package for the comparative analysis of collective motion Collective motion, that is the coordinated spatial and temporal organisation of individuals, is a core element in the study of collective animal behaviour. The self-organised properties of how a g...

with @shoalgroup.bsky.social and @lostintheswarm.bsky.social ✨
Link to the paper here: doi.org/10.1111/2041...

Made possible by an @asab.org Conference Attendance Grant 🥰🙏

Frontiers' Research Integrity team uncovers peer review manipulation network Frontiers Research Integrity Auditing team has uncovered a network of authors and editors who conducted peer review with undisclosed conflicts of interest and w

Fox finds raccoons in henhouse.

www.frontiersin.org/news/2025/07...

Tweet from 2023 saying: 'I resigned as an Associate Editor for a Frontiers journal because of the way their automated system took away much of my editorial autonomy. some details that might also explain odd reviewer/author experiences:' (1/7)

Originally posted on Twitter in 2023—reposting after a chat with a colleague about possibly publishing in an MDPI journal (whose review practices are similar to Frontiers). Not sure if either has since addressed the issues raised, but I feel process should be public knowledge.

In our new paper we discuss the coevolution of cognition and sociality (link: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...). It was a pleasure to work on this project with Andoni Sergiou, @josharbon.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, @shoalgroup.bsky.social, and @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social!

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1929 Can't sign in? Forgot your password?

Part of the Phil Trans special issue "Selection Shapes Diverse Animal Minds", edited with @ellileadbeater.bsky.social.

Thanks to co-authors Andoni Sergiou, @josharbon.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social & @shoalgroup.bsky.social and all the special issue contributors.

tinyurl.com/35mn84ty

Deadline tomorrow!!!

I ll talk about the project that brought me to Italy for a year, join us for some RobotFalcon and 🕊flocks updates 😁
#heterogeneity #collectives

Next Collective Behaviour Online Seminar #CollBehavSeminar

Marina Papadopoulou: "Dynamics of collective motion and escape in heterogeneous flocks of homing pigeons"

17th June 2025, @2pm UK time

Subscribe to lnkd.in/eCWT2dvF to keep up to date and for information on how to access our seminars!

Why can’t we stop feeding monkeys? Experts explain the reasons behind a dangerous habit Recent research explores what drives this human behaviour.

If you haven't had time to read our recently published article yet then here's a quick read about the issue in The Conversation. theconversation.com/why-cant-we-...

A really excellent article about our study introducing "social spandrels" 👏🏻

todayheadline.co/baboons-walk...

An article by the IUCN Primate Specialist Group I'm part of (working on primate-human interactions) is now out -

"How and Why People Provision Primates"

open access 👇
static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/120...

Not "RT", "repost" or whatever, not that sh*tty bird thing :-)

3/3

All with a wonderful team of expert supervisors from all over!

- Swansea (me, @wlallen.bsky.social)
- Oxford (@rjpheathcote.bsky.social)
- Berlin @marinapapa.bsky.social)
- Konstanz (@joefresna.bsky.social)

Please reach out with any questions!

2/3

Exciting PhD opportunity. Potential for involving animal behaviour field/lab work, data-crunching (e.g. methodsblog.com/2025/02/10/i...), theoretical modelling, swarm robotics.

AI generated image showing flock of sheep, shoal of fish, flock of birds and swarm robots

1/3

www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate...

PhD studentship! Comparative Analysis and Modelling of Collective Behaviour in Natural and Artificial Systems.

**this scholarship for UK residents only, as defined by UKCISA regulations**

Details below! Please RT

(AI-generated image)

Also baboon "progressions" are known and studied since the 1960s. Previous studies offered conflicting (functional) explanations for the consistent order of baboons in these progressions. Some proposed order was random, others argued vulnerable individuals positioned themselves to reduce their risk.

Authors: @marcofele.bsky.social, @inesfuertbauer.bsky.social, Miguel Lurgi, @marinapapa.bsky.social, @c-christensen.bsky.social, Anna Bracken, Justin O’Riain

This concept is not new - and been modelled before by Charlotte Hemelrijk, but it hasn't been described in this way. And so we are now working on a paper to discuss and recognise when and where these “spandrels” occur in collective animal behaviour (NB: first baboon image by Vittoria Roatti)

In our case, consistent travel patterns emerge from baboon social bonds and not as an evolved strategy for safety or success. And because dominant individuals have more/stronger bonds they end up in the middle, with subordinates at the front/rear... a "social spandrel"

The spandrels in St Mark's Basilica

So the space between the arches has to be there (or the arch would collapse), rather than being designed for the artistic purposes for which they were often employed. See the beautiful mosaic design on the spandrels in St. Mark's Basilica (Wikipedia image):

The famous Gould & Lewontin (1979) paper used ‘spandrel’ to refer to traits that are incidental by-products of the evolution of other features. The term is borrowed from architecture... triangular spaces that are by-products when a dome is constructed on rounded arches.

Baboons walk in line for friendship, not survival, new study finds Researchers at Swansea University have discovered that baboons walk in lines, not for safety or strategy, but simply to stay close to their friends.

New paper in @behavecol.bsky.social (link: academic.oup.com/beheco/advan...)
led by PhD student @marcofele.bsky.social using hard-won data from our amazing baboon team. Our @swanseauni.bsky.social press release:
www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office...
We introduce the idea of a "social spandrel".....