Check out our new paper! 🔗 nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New tool to estimate diversity error in bat acoustic surveys Sonotypes are often used in bat acoustic surveys — but how much diversity error do they introduce? We provide a free tool to estimate α- and β-diversity error. r-fornaro.github.io//SonotypeDiv... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

2nd Coller Dolittle Challenge Awards This year’s Award Ceremony takes place on 25 June 2026. I’m pleased to be serving on the judging committee and look forward to hearing directly from the finalists as they present their exciting research. 👉 Register here to join us: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Very happy to see this officially out in the world. Congratulations again, Danilo — this is a fantastic and well-deserved recognition of your work. We at the Museum für Naturkunde are delighted that this award will further strengthen our collaboration. www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/museum/se...

Really enjoyed being a guest on the Acoustic World Podcast and talking with Marco Maiolini about bat communication. Acoustic World brings together scholars across disciplines to explore how animals produce, use, and experience sound. open.spotify.com/episode/2A93...

New paper alert: >80k nacelle-height recordings and stereo-thermal 3D tracks show that bats sing in the rotor-swept zone and circle turbine nacelles. We need smarter, species-sensitive curtailment that aligns both climate and biodiversity goals. #Bats #Conservation 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Male bats have a lot to say – and every voice is unique! 🦇 A new study reveals 14 distinct call types in male greater mouse-eared bats, allowing us to distinguish individuals acoustically and helping to better protect their mating roosts. 🌍 🔗 bit.ly/fighting-and... @berlinbatlab.bsky.social

Coming soon! The Social Lives of Bats edited by Christina R. Stanley 🦇 This ground-breaking book offers unique insights into bat society and relationships, from familial bonds, to friendship, group dynamics and even altruism. Learn more and preorder your copy ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/c97wpk7e

New study alert! Female Daubenton’s bats foraging at the cold edge of their range take turns using the same feeding spots at different times of night, thus reducing competition and helping them cope with the cold. Read the full story here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New study alert! Sexually selected vocalizations of Greater Mouse-Eared Bats We recorded male Myotis myotis in mating roosts and found complex vocalizations with an individual signature and pronounced seasonal variation. Check it out! 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Had fun with this one! In which I discuss: dolphins, elephants, marmosets, teknonymy, necronymy, reciprocal names in New Guinea, nominative determinism, the Bob-Kirk effect, the face-name-matching effect, name signs, toponyms, dog names, name uniqueness, alexinomia, toponyms, name taboos, etc.

Many Minds podcast@manymindspod.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New episode!! 🎉🎙️ An audio essay from @kensycoop.bsky.social about names in the natural world. The search for "name-like" symbols in animals is intensifying. But if the enterprise is to succeed, we first need to pause and ask ourselves: What even is a name? Listen: disi.org/in-search-of...

Our new study shows that cats’ purrs are more individually distinct than their meows and suggests that domestication has made the meows of cats more variable than those of cheetah, cougar & Co. Check it out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Come and work with us in our new home @bristolbiosci.bsky.social ! This fully funded PhD opportunity is open to anyone interested in spiders/eyes/light pollution/evolution/development! 🕷️👀 ⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Funded PhD - The impacts of light pollution on plasticity and evolution in spider visual systems at University of Bristol on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Funded PhD - The impacts of light pollution on plasticity and evolution in spider visual systems at University of Bristol, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

Lauren Sumner-Rooney@laurensr.bsky.social · 8mo ago

And last - but definitely not least! - for anyone interested in spider vision / light pollution / eye development / evolutionary morphology, come and work with us @multipleye-lab.bsky.social ! This funded PhD is open globally, incl. fees+stipend! ⏰Apply by 15 Dec! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n

What enables human language? A biocultural framework

Explaining the origins of language is a key challenge in understanding ourselves as a species. We present an empirical framework that draws on synergies across fields to facilitate robust studies of l...

science.org

📢Two fully-funded #PhD opportunities to work with us: Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6 NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social #bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork

More cool rats vs. bat content from both my lab and the Yovel Lab in this National Geographic article. I'm glad to report that cosmic justice has been achieved... and the bats won :-) www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

Rats wage war on bats in stunning new footage

New videos reveal the surprising dynamics of bat-rat relationships—and suggest how human activity is fueling these interspecies conflicts.

nationalgeographic.com

Remember… Bats aren’t spooky, they’re adorable 💕Here, an Ectophylla alba pup chilling under a leaf tent gets a surprise visit… from a katydid. Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇

(Not so) Happy Halloween! 🦇🐀🎃 Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin documented brown rats catching #bats in mid-air at Segeberger Kalkberg, Northern Germany. A rare look at invasive species impacting urban wildlife. 🌍 @berlinbatlab.bsky.social 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...

Brown rats are preying on bats at urban hibernation sites – even snatching them mid-air. Conservation efforts must include non-native rodent control at key bat roosts. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our latest research highlights the importance of dry grasslands for bats 🦇🦇🦇 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This morning @dzg2025berlin.bsky.social, Mirjam Knörnschild gave a fantastic talk about social communication in Saccopteryx bilineata 🦇 including dialects, acoustically-based individual recognition. @berlinbatlab.bsky.social #dzg2025 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Bats resolve conflicting sensory information for individual recognition

Knörnschild et al. reveal that greater sac-winged bats can detect inconsistencies in sensory information for individual recognition. Playback experiments show that bats ignore distress calls from visi...

cell.com

Dan Riskin from The Bat Signal made a really cool video about our recent publication. youtube.com/@followtheba...

This Geat Big Bat Loves Hugs and Snuggles | The Bat Signal

YouTube video by Dan Riskin

youtube.com

Our recent study on cooperation in spectral bats is featured on CNN. This is the first publication of my PhD student Marisa Tietge - way to go! 💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇

World’s largest carnivorous bat loves to cuddle | CNN

A new study found the world’s largest carnivorous bat is more social than previously thought. Commonly known as greater false vampire bats, this rare species was observed hunting and playing together ...

edition.cnn.com

New publication from my lab: Vampyrum spectrum, the Neotropics' largest carnivorous bat, is very cooperative. These gentle apex predators regularly provide prey for family member – documented in the wild for the first time. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

New paper out! We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In the field in Abruzzo National Park, watching Daubenton’s bats hunt over water at night. Excited to co-supervise Chiara Belli’s PhD together with Danilo Russo from the Animal Ecology and Evolution Lab in Italy. Chiara studies altitudinal segregation in bats and how climate change affects it 🦇🦇🦇

Bats are underrated.

Danilo Russo and I have received a grant from MfN Berlin to study how climate change affects bat pup survival. As Southern Europe swelters under record-breaking temperatures, we are investigating how extreme heat turns safe roosts into death traps – and how to prevent that.

2025. Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system phys.org/news/2025-06...

Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system

In the darkness of old church attics, surprisingly romantic scenes take place as male greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis), the largest native bat species in Europe, compete for the attention of f...

phys.org

Last night, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech at the Locus awards. You can view the speech and read the full text here. stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/

Hammer Speech

Last night, I got to stand up in front of the audience at the Locus Awards ceremony. I wound up presenting the Locus Award for Best Short Story (congratulations, Isabel J. Kim!) – but first, I deliver...

stone-soup.ghost.io