Cornish Jackdaw Project

A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia Neophobia (the aversive response to novelty) varies considerably across species and individuals, and can impact adaptability and survival. This study assesses neophobia in 1400 subjects from 136 bird ...

🐦 Exciting news! Our new paper is out in PLOS Biology:
“A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.”
Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@themanybirds.bsky.social

The Adaptive Relationships Framework illustrating how broad socioecological pressures shape the social solutions animals use to meet these challenges, and how these lead to social strategies and emergent structures that help them gain access to those solutions.

Social relationships are powerful predictors of fitness across social animals. But *why*?

In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts.

tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7

One of the risks of bowerbirds sharing space with a university - sometimes scientific equipment (and samples) get pinched! Soy sauce containers also seem to be popular

Out today in @plosbiology.org (1/5)

Siblings and non-parental adults provide alternative pathways to cultural inheritance in juvenile great tits 🐦🧩

Link to study:
10.0.5.91/journal.pbio...

Co-authors:
@lucymaplin.bsky.social
@galarconnieto.bsky.social

Back in the land of bowers this week! Investigating how male courtship signals are affected by urbanisation #greatbowerbirds @uniexecec.bsky.social

RA job description

postdoc job description

Our local beach - blue waters and white sand

Elephant hawk moth

Research assistant + postdoc position on a NERC funded project working w @darrenobbard.bsky.social and collaborating with @savebutterflies.bsky.social on the ecological and evolutionary drivers of the virome of UK moths @uniexecec.bsky.social. Descriptions below and links here benlongdon.com/join/

Sad news. We know Jane Goodall was an inspiration to many of our members. She brought real change not only to animal behaviour, but to the world 🌍

“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”

Goodnight Jane, thanks for caring. ✊🏻

Conservation concepts for undergraduates and postgraduates - YouTube Key concepts underpinning undergraduate ecology and conservation courses

Are you a student studying ecology or conservation? Do you lecture ecology or conservation? I created this playlist for you and hope it is useful. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Great postdoc opportunity to work with a fantastic team!

YouTube video by Selection shapes diverse animal minds Mutational origins and selection dynamics of cognitive traits in animals

Selection Shapes Animal Minds: next up in our highlighted talks from last year's Royal Society Discussion Meeting is Michael Sheehan (Cornell) talking about pop gen approaches to the evolution of cognition youtu.be/VIlSj5lwSMQ @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org

Incredible animal system, awesome science and the nicest group of people to work with - what’s not to like? ⬇️

Grants — Wild Animal Initiative

📢 #CFP: We are now accepting #grant applications for research projects in wild animal welfare science.

To learn more about the grants we offer, what we're looking for, and how to apply, visit our grants page: www.wildanimalinitiative.org/grants

Submit your EOI by November 14.

YouTube video by Selection shapes diverse animal minds The fish challenge to vertebrate cognitive evolution

Selection Shapes Animal Minds: More completely free videos of talks from our Royal Society Discussion meeting last year. Today's highlighted talk: Dr Zegni Triki (Neuchatel) @zegnitriki.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social youtu.be/WQLjnfhSyD4?...

Great new paper led by @laurenvane.bsky.social from her masters work on the dwarf mongooses. Despite early mornings and late nights, the increasing temperatures we’re seeing are stopping the mongooses maintaining body mass. @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @andyradford.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

New research from #BiologyLetters: Wild jackdaws learn to tolerate juveniles to exploit new foraging opportunities buff.ly/CXm7rPe | #AnimalBehaviour #Cognition #Ecology

Full audience listening to Luca's talk on the interplay between social networks and social information in jackdaws

@lucahahn.bsky.social gave a very interesting talk on his research investigating feedback effects between social relationships and social information in jackdaws @behaviour2025.bsky.social @asab.org

Study tracks UK’s journey from seafood self-sufficiency to dependence on imports More than a century of data reveals how the UK has gone from supplying domestic seafood needs from productive home waters to importing seafood from almost 90 countries. University of Exeter researcher...

More than a century of data reveals how the UK has gone from supplying domestic seafood needs from productive home waters to importing seafood from almost 90 countries

Read more here 👇 @exeter.ac.uk @exetermarine.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social @profcallum.bsky.social @ruththurstan.bsky.social

Screenshot of article with abstract, article reference is: Enquist, M., Ghirlanda, S., Hattiangadi, A., Lind, J., & Gredebäck, G. (2024). A joint future for cultural evolution and developmental psychology. Developmental Review, 73, 101147.

A bit late on this, but here we explore how cultural information
can guide development of behavior & cognitive skills just like genes. Can cultural evolution result in teaching trajectories that promote incremental acquisition of complex tasks?
#culturalevolution #developmentalpsychology #modelling

Are you a current student with us and want a part-time job running our social media platforms?

Our social media manager position is up for grabs!

If you’re interested, contact Chris Laing (C.G.Laing@exeter.ac.uk) for all enquiries and applications!

#ExeterCEC #StudentJobs #SocialMedia

YouTube video by European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association Christine Caldwell - EHBEA 2025

Last but not least! today we share the talk of Christine Caldwell as plenary speaker at @ehbea2025.bsky.social

Here she talks about the cognitive challenges for cumulative cultural evolution and how these abilities were selected 🧠

Don’t miss it! 👇

youtu.be/UvVNfyiYOGc?...

Lovely to receive this hefty tome in the post! Featuring our chapter with @josharbon.bsky.social on mammalian social learning among many other juicy nuggets of culture. Big thanks to editors Jamie Tehrani @rachkendal.bsky.social and @jeremykendal.bsky.social. Get your copy now!

Fantastic new job, advert now live - Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour, Dept Biology, Oxford. Closing date 8th Oct. Come and join us!
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Our article "Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience" (with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social, @kztwyman.bsky.social & Marc Feldman) is now published online.

We describe five factors that contribute to the spread of racism and suggest strategies for countering them.

doi.org/10.1017/ehs....

📢Congratulations!

🎖️Prof Andrew Balmford FRS has won the
@royalsociety.org's new Environment Medal and Lecture!

Awarded for groundbreaking contributions to #conservationscience & redefining conservation education.

Read more: bit.ly/41oPGr1

@conservation.cam.ac.uk

Twenty years of tuberculosis-driven selection shaped the evolution of the meerkat major histocompatibility complex - Nature Ecology & Evolution Immune genetic and disease surveillance of a wild meerkat population over 20 years shows that tuberculosis imposes strong pathogen-mediated balancing selection on the meerkats’ major histocompatibilit...

Immune genetic and disease surveillance of a wild meerkat population over 20 years shows that tuberculosis imposes strong pathogen-mediated balancing selection on major histocompatibility complex and identifies underlying mechanisms

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We're tabling all week at #Behaviour2025. Come chat about wild animal welfare, learn about the grants we offer, and pick up some free resources.

@tanyapayne.bsky.social
@janirecas.bsky.social
@behaviour2025.bsky.social

Deadline for submitting an abstract to give a talk or poster is this Friday!

Thanks! It would be great to hear about the crows. Do drop me an email. Alex Thornton

New paper led by @josharbon.bsky.social. Adults jackdaws often bully youngsters, but we show they can learn to be tolerant and attend to juveniles as sources of information. @uniexecec.bsky.social. Funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk & @swbiodtp.bsky.social

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...