In Germany? Got a TV? Home tonight? Watch a beautiful feature about the wonders of animal migration and the ICARUS scientists revealing the paths of some species for the first time. 📺 20:15 on ARD (or stream it via link 👇) @uni-konstanz.de @cbehav.bsky.social www.ardmediathek.de/tv-programm/...

Vorschau: Das Geheimnis der Tierwanderungen mit Dirk Steffens

Das Erste am 28.09.2026: Jeden Tag sind Billionen Tiere auf der ganzen Welt unterwegs – von winzigen Insekten bis zu den größten Walen der Erde. Dirk Steffens folgt den erstaunlichsten Tierwanderungen...

ardmediathek.de

!! New in @science.org !! How do animals learn broad skills necessary for survival in the wild? Our latest study on wild Sumatran orangutans at Suaq provides answers. 1/11 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

How 8 years of social and individual learning interact to shape ecological competence in orangutans

Cultural learning permeates human skill and knowledge acquisition. To understand its importance for nonhuman apes, we analyzed just under 7000 records of behavioral bouts of social and individual lear...

science.org

How do orangutans build their huge diet profiles before adulthood? @revathe.bsky.social and colleagues show, for the first time, how multiple forms of learning interact over many years to build broad, survival-relevant ecological skills in a wild great ape. Paper: doi.org/10.1126/scie...

GREAT opportunity for anybody interested in a PhD in animal behavior.

Zoë Goldsborough@zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 4d ago

📣🎓 Open #PhD Position (3.5 years) 🎓📣 Want to come work with me on culture and social bonds in apes? 🐵 Apply to join my new group in the @livingingroups.bsky.social at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social. Full job posting: imprs-qbee.mpg.de/131133/cultu... Deadline 📅 23 October 2026 Please share widely!

So happy to see this work by Emily Grout and team! Their results indicate that white-nosed coatis likely have individually recognisable calls. Team from @livingingroups.bsky.social = @pminasandra.bsky.social + Ali Ashbury @meg-crofoot.bsky.social @arispeshkin.bsky.social

Emily Grout@emilygrout.bsky.social · 4w ago

Excited to share our new publication in Bioacoustics today, describing the vocal repertoire of white-nosed coatis! 🐾 We combined traditional acoustic analyses with an unsupervised approach to characterise the complexity and diversity of their vocal behaviour. doi.org/10.1080/0952...

Sometimes the question isn’t “Can I survive on my own?" It’s “Is leaving worth it?” Delaying independence lets juveniles make a choice: to leave based on external conditions, not just developmental milestones. @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

Decoupling of emigration timing and skill acquisition in a saturated population of golden eagles

Abstract. Many animals must gain independence from parental care by acquiring skills necessary for survival. Thus, the rate of skill acquisition can predic

doi.org

Will Oestreich will be working with us!

Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung@carlzeissstiftung.bsky.social · last mo.

#CZSNexus ermöglicht ihm den Aufbau einer eigenen Forschungsgruppe am @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social ▶️ www.carl-zeiss-stiftung.de/uebersicht-p...

Beautiful story by @edyong209.bsky.social about our collaborator Peter Palatitz and team who put tags on red falcons to discover “Falcopolis”. Coming soon, many more tags will be attached to falcons in Angola to learn more about this mysterious metropolis. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

A Million Falcons Went Missing From Eastern Europe. Here’s How They Were Found

For years, the secret winter home of rare red-footed falcons remained a mystery. Then an ornithologist discovered the hidden world of “Falcopolis.”

nationalgeographic.com

How did cognition evolve? 🧠 On the sandy bottom of Lake Tanganyika, scientists asked wild fish how they make decisions, revealing how two closely related species diverge in surprising ways. Paper ▶️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Story ▶️ www.ab.mpg.de/1452608/news...

Oilbird movement strategies and differences in flight effort. Happy to share the first publication on the oilbird project: link.springer.com/article/10.1... @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @kamransafi.bsky.social @animaltracking.bsky.social

Oilbirds performing non-seasonal intra-tropical migrations reduce flight effort compared to individuals that frequently return to the colony roost - Movement Ecology

Individual behavioural variation is a driver of population dynamics and key for the adaptation and persistence of species. In colonial species, individuals share the same ecological niche and aggregat...

link.springer.com

Imagine you are a white-faced capuchin monkey on Jicarón island learning how to use stone tools 🔨 Your mother does not use tools, so who do you turn to as a model? Our new manuscript answering this question is out now in Animal Behaviour @asab.org. doi.org/10.1016/j.an.... A 🧵 of our findings (1/10)

Such great news from our IMPRS-QBEE student! @imprs-qbee.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de

Visual Insect Neuroethology Group@insect-vision.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Congratulations to Anupama @manel-a-pama.bsky.social, who won the Poster Prize at the annual biology Poster Session! She will also bring her poster to #ICN26 in Vancouver, so stay tuned 🦋🌸 @neuroethology.org

Would chimpanzees or bonobos huddle before a penalty shootout in the World Cup? 🐵⚽ In both species, reassuring body contact promotes social tolerance, read more in our new study led by Jake Brooker out now in @royalsociety.org Proc B. (doi.org/10.1098/rspb...) A thread of the main findings 🧵 (1/10)

... And this is how she might look in captivity 🤣 👇 #isbe2026 @isbe2026.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

Cecilia Baldoni@cecibaldoni.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Ehi @isbe2026.bsky.social! Did you miss my #shrew talk on Monday? NP! You're still in time to catch shrews! Head to the poster session on Tuesday and look for a shrew named Marina! 👇 This is how she may appear in the wild!

No better way to deal with this heat wave than to have our yearly IMPRS summer meeting next to the lake ☀ @uni-konstanz.de

🩰 🐾 Step into the space between animal movement and contemporary dance. Join us in #Konstanz for PULSE, a performance by choreographer and dancer Mounir Saeed. 📅 17 July 2026
 🕖 7:00 pm (doors open 6:30 pm)
 📍 KULA 
 🎟️ Free entry ▶️ www.ab.mpg.de/events/45934...

Congratulations Zoë! We are proud to be hosting your Minerva Fast Track Fellowship and research group!

Zoë Goldsborough@zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I’m beyond excited to share I’ve been awarded a Minerva Fast Track Fellowship by @maxplanck.de to start my research group “Culture and Social Behavior” at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social! Keep your eyes peeled for a PhD position advertisement coming later this year 🐒 www.ab.mpg.de/1442914/zoe-...

Stunning success of MaxCine alumnus!

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft@maxplanck.de · 4mo ago

What a picture!😍 This image, taken by student Gunnar Hartmann @uni-konstanz.de, is the overall winner of this year’s #ScientistAtWork photo competition. www.nature.com/immersive/d4... @nature.com

An internal compass: #pigeons use magnetically responsive immune cells in their livers to sense Earth’s magnetic field, helping them navigate without visual cues like the sun. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8i... @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @science.org

Pigeons navigate using magnetic sensors in their livers

YouTube video by Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

youtube.com

New mechanism for magnetic sensing in pigeons 🧭 Homing pigeons use magnetically responsive immune cells in their livers to sense Earth’s magnetic field, helping them navigate without visual cues like the sun. Published in Science: doi.org/10.1126/scie... @unibonn.bsky.social @unidue.bsky.social

A new satellite for #wildlife monitoring – a research project by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior – aims to combat #poaching in Africa. www.bbc.com/future/artic... @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

We can now track animal panic from space. Here's why it matters

The new Icarus satellite is tracking signals hidden in animal behaviour – which could save the lives of cheetahs, rhinos and elephants.

bbc.com

tik tok tik tok......only 18 more days to sign up for #Animove26 ! 🤗 @animaltracking.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social #animalmovement #remotesensing

AniMove@animove-course.bsky.social · 5mo ago

#Animove26 is going to Kenya. Come and join us! Applications are now open until 31st of May 🦁🦏🐘🦛🦇🦂🦗 animove.org/next-animove...

Out now in @ecol-evol.bsky.social. Vector use in sympatric #Caenorhabditis nematodes. We document associations between three Caen. species and their dispersal vectors, finally name C. sp. 8 -> C. apta, and infer that C. apta may have spread with the invasive #beetle, Stelidota geminata doi.org/q5tq

Differential Phoretic Vector Use Among Sympatric Caenorhabditis Nematodes and an Association With Invasive Nitidulid Beetles in Southwestern Germany

We show evidence for differential host use among the three sympatric Caenorhabditis, and a novel association with nitidulid beetles for C. apta sp. n. This information adds to our understanding of ho....

doi.org

It takes decades to see how climatic cycles interact with the social dynamics of animal societies. Now a 33-year dataset of 12 capuchin groups + satellite environmental data has an answer. @livingingroups.bsky.social @oddjacobson.bsky.social @bjjbarrett.bsky.social www.ab.mpg.de/857503/news_...

How do climate extremes alter animal societies?

As climate change intensifies, scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about how animals will cope with a more unpredictable world. One way to gain insight is by studying how animals have alrea...

ab.mpg.de

Is bigger always better? For social animals, group size is a dilemma: big groups face more internal competition, yet hold an edge over smaller neighbors. 33 years of data on 12 wild capuchin groups reveals how these forces shape behavior. Out today in *Nat Eco & Evo*: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our second ICARUS system is in space 🚀🛰️ At 9am PT, a Falcon 9 rocket left Earth from California, taking an ICARUS payload with it. This is the beginning of ICARUS 2.0—independent, robust, real-time—with more ICARUS satellites to come. Read more▶️https://tinyurl.com/mw48c398 📸 Space X, EnduroSat

Wild meat is central to Central African communities. It's food, income, status. It's also unsustainable. How can conservation be balanced with food security? In Nature, Mattia Bessone @cbehav.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de et al. offer solutions for sustainable management youtube.com/shorts/V0-jW...

Why do we care about wild meat?

YouTube video by Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

youtube.com

So proud of our PhD graduate Zoe! Her groundbreaking thesis shows us how tool use in animals shapes survival and evolution 🐒 🔨 👏

Zoë Goldsborough@zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I'm so honored to have received this award in memory of Frans de Waal for my PhD thesis! His work (and briefly working with him) truly shaped my scientific thinking and research. @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

PLS RT📣 Two Postdoc jobs at #mpaib with Serena Ding on collective behavior of worms (Never seen a "wormuration"? That's them in green) 🪱 social dynamics of collective dispersal: bewerbermanagement.net/jobposting/2... 🪱 sensory ecology of worm towers: bewerbermanagement.net/jobposting/7...

Fantastic news! Hector Foundation grant will support Uni Konstanz for the next seven years. This includes continuing support for @cbehav.bsky.social and its mission of interdisciplinary, quantitative collective behaviour research.

Universität Konstanz@uni-konstanz.de · 6mo ago

Hans-Werner Hector + Rector Katharina Holzinger signed a new funding agreement for #UniKonstanz. The Hector Stiftung fosters cutting-edge research and enables the university to implement new developments regarding teaching, internationalization and transfer. https://t1p.de/sse8i @cbehav.bsky.social​