bsky.app/profile/crab...

Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB)@crab-exeter.bsky.social · 3w ago

Thanks to our colleagues from around the world who signed the Open Letter against redundancies in CRAB. The letter surpassed 700 signatures in just over 1 wk. We hope execs will now see the harm they are doing to the University of Exeter's global reputation. sites.google.com/view/save-cr...

The University of Exeter have announced a programme of academic staff cuts, including all of www.exeter.ac.uk/research/gro... Sign the open letter of support at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... @crab-exeter.bsky.social

Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) | Research Groups | University of Exeter

exeter.ac.uk

The University of Exeter is not in budget deficit. Yet are proposing to cut 150 academic jobs. This include my job. Please sign and share the petition, write our Vice Chancellor, to your MP, and get the word out about the act of self harm this university is about to commit. c.org/yKcx6Zr29H

This campaign needs you now

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

c.org

The new OrthoFinder paper is out now! In this new work, we introduce major advances in accuracy and scalability, allowing analysis on much larger datasets www.nature.com/articles/s41... github.com/OrthoFinder/...

OrthoFinder: improved phylogenetic orthology inference with enhanced accuracy and scalability - Nature Methods

The updated OrthoFinder v3 software boosts accuracy and scalability in phylogenetic orthology inference with massive and diverse datasets.

nature.com

Our shiny new study shows birds love wing-shandy as much as the next animal – even more so in the wild than in captivity! 💦🦜🦆🐦‍⬛🦃💦 Yet another nail in the coffin for the tired idea that animals only have sex to procreate. Our piece for The Conversation here: theconversation.com/birds-mastur...

Birds masturbate, and that’s perfectly normal

Some bird keepers have tried to drug their animals to stop them engaging in solo sex.

theconversation.com

Masturbation in pet birds is natural and shouldn't be punished. A new study led by @unilancashire.bsky.social and coauthored by Oxford's  @matildabrindle.bsky.social  say vets and owners should be reassured that it is not the consequence of captivity, but common.  Read more:

Masturbation in pet birds is natural and should not be punished

bit.ly

🪶 Birds masturbate. 🦜 This is normal, and not (as often is believed) a maladaptive behaviour only found in captivity. 🍑 Pet bird owners - chill, and let your budgie have some fun. 🧪 Study of masturbation in 120 bird species, by @matildabrindle.bsky.social: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Social insects tackle pathogens with behaviours like grooming and the removal of infected individuals. These behaviours facilitate the evolution of larger more complex societies. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @mingpapilio.bsky.social @georgeshillcock.bsky.social @tomwscott.bsky.social

Social immunity can be a consequence and cause of social evolution | PNAS

Many social insects respond to pathogens in ways that reduce pathogen transmission within their social groups, with behaviors such as grooming or r...

pnas.org

Congratulations to @timcoulson.bsky.social, @stuwest.bsky.social, and Kathy Willis, who have been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society! 👇

Professors Tim Coulson, Stuart West, and Kathy Willis elected as Fellows of the Royal Society

bit.ly

Meanwhile in Croydon 🫶

Inside Croydon@insidecroydon.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Latest update: Reform candidate 'looked like he was going to deck me' #LocalElections2026: Live coverage from the Croydon count insidecroydon.com/2026/05/08/l... #Croydon #Essex @reformexposed.bsky.social @direthoughts.com

'Male masturbation may have an adaptive benefit: it flushes out damaged, stored sperm.' New Oxford research suggests that the longer sperm are stored before ejaculation, the lower their quality, with implications for men trying to conceive and IVF treatment. Find out more ⬇️

Ejaculating more frequently may improve sperm quality – new study

New research suggests that the longer sperm are stored before ejaculation, the lower their quality – with implications for men trying to conceive and IVF treatment.

theconversation.com

Sperm can “age” independently of the male, when stored in male or female reproductive tracts. Our meta-analysis finds widespread evidence across animals (including abstinence in men). Important consequences for fertility, sexual selection, haploid selection! doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Fascinating new research led by Rebecca Dean and @krishsanghvi11.bsky.social at @biology.ox.ac.uk! In humans & other animals, sperm stored for longer perform less well 👨‍🦳⌛🍆💦. This has super important implications for fertility!

The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 4mo ago

New research suggests that the longer sperm are stored before ejaculation, the lower their quality – with implications for men trying to conceive and IVF treatment.

More reasons to kiss! 💋🦠😘

The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 5mo ago

Research also shows that couples share around 38% of the same microbes in their mouth.

Always such a pleasure chatting with the marvellous @dansavage.bsky.social – check out the Savage Lovecast tomorrow for our conversation on all things kissing, kinks and much, much more! 💋

Dan Savage @dansavage.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The burning question on everyone's mind: did we make out with Neanderthals? Evolutionary biologist Dr. Matilda Brindle returns to the Lovecast this week to chat about her research into the evolutionary function of kissing. This and more on the next Savage.Love/Lovecast out tomorrow!

We’re interested in folks applying from all manner of disciplinary backgrounds. Biology, zoology of course. But also computer science, remote sensing, architecture. If you’re keen to work with LiDAR and point clouds, we’d like to hear from you!

Robyn Grant@robyngrant.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We are advertising a Sensory Ecology, Zoo Biology funded PhD opportunity, led by @cbrassey.bsky.social in partnership with Chester Zoo. Using some super-cool 3D scanning techniques and thinking about visual fields and enclosure design. Send round all your friends! www.mmu.ac.uk/study/postgr...

The "premastication" of food for babies—also called "kiss feeding"—is widespread in apes and humans. Could it have been an evolutionary stepping stone to the romantic kiss? Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @matildabrindle.bsky.social! Listen: disi.org/origins-of-t...

My interview with @manymindspod.bsky.social! Come for a deep dive into the evolution of kissing 💋, stay for the earth-shattering insights 🤯 "fish don't run" 🐠🏃 "monkeys tend to loll around quite a lot" 🙈 "chimps have moved on to grass-in-bumhole behaviour" 🍑🌱 disi.org/origins-of-t...

Origins of the kiss - DISI

Exploring our world's diverse forms of mind—human, animal, machine—from diverse perspectives.

disi.org

Does haplodiploidy - a method of sex determination seen in bees and ants among other animals - promote eusociality? New research from @rbonifacii.bsky.social and @stuwest.bsky.social enters evidence into this long debate that - despite popular belief - this is not the case 👇 bit.ly/4qEoEWm

How insects’ sex is determined is unlikely to be what makes them so social

bit.ly

We understand a great deal about how and why cooperation evolves, but what about its long-term consequences? Great to see our new review on this out now in @asn-amnat.bsky.social!

Stu West@stuwest.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Huge thanks to @asn-amnat.bsky.social for inviting our review on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation. @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Comparative analysis across 5,678 insect species shows that, when you control for phylogenetic bias, eusociality has not evolved at a faster rate in haplodiploid species. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Delighted to have been a part of this. It's a very exciting area in the field of social evolution and beyond!

Stu West@stuwest.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Huge thanks to @asn-amnat.bsky.social for inviting our review on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation. @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

This is a *great* opportunity for early career researchers to get their work out into the public domain! I had a fab time talking to Laura about my research on the evolution of masturbation 🐒👋🍆💦🦧🌮👈: open.spotify.com/episode/3Xy9...

Episode 25: Masturbation: An Evolutionary Perspective

open.spotify.com

Animal Behavior Society@animbehsociety.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Are you an early career ABS member with diverse lived experiences that also studies sex &/or reproduction? Do you want to be interviewed for the "I Came For Science" podcast by fellow ABS member Laura Sirot? I bet you do! (Contact info on their webpage) www.icameforscience.org

Strange discovery that an email about inclusive fitness was forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein, with the emailer quoting Jerusalem and comparing themself to Einstein. Are you one of the >100 evolutionary biologists now in the Epstein files? www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

Calling all OrthoFinder users! We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny. GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... github.com/lauriebelch/... (1/10)

How do temperature regimes shape trait diversity in communities? Does variability promote more specialists or more generalists? Our new Nature Communications paper tackles this with eco-evo simulations + 653 moth species across latitudinal and elevational gradients. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Warmer environments harbor greater thermal trait diversity in moth assemblages - Nature Communications

Climate limits where insects can live and which species can coexist. Using thermal tolerances of 653 moths on Asian mountains, this study shows warmer temperatures broaden thermal tolerance traits div...

nature.com

The marvellous @kitopie.bsky.social explaining how both monogamy and 'promiscuous' mating can help females avoid infanticide, "both early humans and chimpanzees are trying to solve the same problem"!

Bristol Anthro & Archaeo@bristolantharch.bsky.social · 8mo ago

How monogamous are humans compared to other animals? Check out this BBC interview with @kitopie.bsky.social to learn more!

"we ... employ Bayesian phylogenetic methods to reconstruct the evolutionary history of kissing." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A comparative approach to the evolution of kissing

Kissing can be observed across the animal kingdom. This presents an evolutionary puzzle, since the fitness benefits of kissing are unclear. We use a n…

sciencedirect.com

Superstar researcher @averymaune.bsky.social on her awesome new paper! 🤩

Royal Society Publishing@royalsocietypublishing.org · 10mo ago

Watch #BiologyLetters author Avery Maune talk about new research revealing that urbanization can reshape social behaviour in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis): cassyni.com/events/3Hp2U... #AnimalBehaviour #ethology