Brilliant talk from. @libbychaps.bsky.social presenting her work on sociality ontogeny, and vigilance in rabbits at @isbe2026.bsky.social in an absolutely huge room!

Our model has advanced and we've finished the Platyrrhini (spoiler alert!) Come find me at poster 151 on Tuesday 21st at #ISBE2026 to find out how long the monkeys of Central and South America live and how we calculated it! (no really, the graph took me 3.5 days to draw - please come see it 🙏😭)

ISBE2026@isbe2026.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The ISBE2026 scientific program is now available! Discover the full lineup of sessions, speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities. Whether you're presenting or attending, now is the perfect time to mark your calendar. Access the program via our website www.isbe2026.com

It’s out! We show that fecal cellular DNA methylation profiles provide accurate molecular clock for age estimation in wild capuchins; age-associated differences in DNAm are relevant to development, membrane excitability, and control of cell cycle. New opportunities for epigenetic study in the wild!

Baptiste Sadoughi@bsadoughi.bsky.social · 3w ago

🚨New Study Out🚨 In #MolecularEcology we used a new method to measure #DNAmethylation NON-INVASIVELY in wild capuchin monkeys 🐒🧬 We show that epithelial gut cells from feces encode species, age and sex, and can be used to build #aging clocks, run EWAS, and more onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I and the rest of CRAB have been really deeply touched by the response to this letter- it has helped us all through some less than cheerful times here. We think it could help do even more. Thank you to everyone who has signed. And if you haven't and feel able to there is a link in the post below.

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 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

NEW RESEARCH 🔍 #Aging and early life adversity are associated with increased mortality risk. But how similar are they at the molecular level? We investigated #epigenetic profiles across tissues in macaques and you can find the full story in our @science.org article! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Age and early life adversity shape heterogeneity of the epigenome across tissues in macaques

Age and early life adversity (ELA) are key determinants of health, but whether they affect similar physiological mechanisms across tissues is unknown. We generated DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles acro...

science.org

CRAB Summer Bash & Croquet Tournament in the beautiful Devon "sunshine"! Congratulations to Lisa, Una, @libbychaps.bsky.social and Sophie- inaugural winners of the coveted BLUE CRAB trophy.

Does it matter whether you use focal sampling or scan sampling to collect animal behaviour data? We used simulations to find out, testing how accurate and precise each method is across a range of behaviours, study systems, and observation protocols.

Lauren Brent@ljnbrent.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New paper! We use simulations to test received wisdom on the observational sampling method to use and find that Altmann 1974 was right all along (never bet against Jeanne!). Focal follows capture rare, fleeting behaviours, scans captures long, common behaviours. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New paper! We use simulations to test received wisdom on the observational sampling method to use and find that Altmann 1974 was right all along (never bet against Jeanne!). Focal follows capture rare, fleeting behaviours, scans captures long, common behaviours. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Observation methods in animal behaviour: a simulation study of performance

Most behavioural studies rely on systematic behavioural sampling, as observing and recording all behavioural events that occur is rarely feasible. Cho…

sciencedirect.com

We are recruiting 🌟2 postdoctoral researchers🌟 for a NERC Large Grant project on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of badger - bovine tuberculosis (bTB) interactions.

Primate Profile #27: Colombian Night Monkey Being nocturnal and socially monogamous makes these big-eyed monkeys odd among the primates. The male assumes most parenting responsibilities besides nursing, and the female will not do much else to help, even if he dies! Image: D Monroy (iNat.org)

🚨 PhD opportunity 🚨 Fully funded PhD at the University of Bristol (UK) on how ant colonies remodel their nests to optimise performance under pressure, combining experimental work, quantitative analysis, and field work. Detail/how to apply: stroeymeyt-lab.co.uk/open-positio... Deadline: 5 June 2026

📢Are you searching for a postdoc possition? Have a look to this very interesting opportunity to work with red wood ants in an amazing team! 🐜 @elvarobinson.bsky.social #postdoc #research #science #redwoodants

Elva Robinson@elvarobinson.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Interested in ant ecology? Have molecular and bioinformatics experience? Come and join the team! 18-month post-doc position at University of York now live: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/post...

This project (with Stacy Rosenbaum and Nick Grebe) began in the dark days of Covid, and is finally ready to share. We've built a living database of primate paternity data (52 species, 3000 paternities) and completed first wave of analyses of paternity distribution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I am currently building a database of primate age structures and I've realised how little I previously knew about primates. So I've decided to do a "Monkey of the Moment": each day I will introduce a new primate (not all monkeys!) with my favourite new fact about that species. Hope you enjoy! 🦧🦍🐒

CRAB Posters at #ASABSpring2026 from @helephantmylne.bsky.social , Bryony Jenkins, Eleanor Benson, Sophie Pettit , and Henry Moreau-Smith (Pictures taken in the very rare gaps when they didn't have customers)

Hi all. I am very excited that after 6 years I finally got my phylogenetic comparative methods book and online exercises online. Feel free to use and share. The book is here: nhcooper123.github.io/pcm-primer/. Note that it is not finished, we had to abandon it before the sunk costs fallacy broke us

Brilliant plenary from @elvarobinson.bsky.social at #ASABSpring2026 . Science! Advice! Ants! And a mention of me! In short everything you could want in a talk.

CRAB are at @asab-spring-2025.bsky.social in Bristol in strength for the next couple of days. Today @libbychaps.bsky.social presented work from her PhD on rabbit social ontogeny. More CRABers to come tomorrow!

How long do primates live? Come and find me at #ASABSpring2026 poster number 2 to find out about my model (or not if you aren't stats keen!) and how we are investigating the evolutionary causes of primate lifespan 🐒🦧

With just over a month to go until #CityNatureChallenge 2026, great to see evidence that it does actually help! We are entering Exeter for the first time so anyone who would like to help with either species recording over the weekend or IDs across the following 2 weeks would be much appreciated! 🎉

bioRxiv Ecology@biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The City Nature Challenge increases urban biodiversity knowledge and public engagement with blue spaces https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.19.712856v1

Join us in Copenhagen in June for our summer course on programming in R! - Aimed at PhD students in behavioural ecology, others also welcome - No prior programming knowledge needed Deadline for sign-up: May 1 More info here: programmingintrocph.weebly.com

Aging may feel gradual… but what if it’s not? In our recent paper, we tracked fish continuously from puberty until death. This gave us a unique view of how aging unfolds across the adult lifespan. 🧵

New paper on age-related reproductive tactics & success in humpback whales, published in Current Biology.🐳🧬 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #marmam @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social @clairenea.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social 1/7

New (competition funded) PhD opportunity with me, @iaciac.bsky.social and @dralgernon.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Higher-order networks and animal communication. Suited to someone keen on network science theory/computational modeling and keen to adapt this to ecology & evolution.

A new paper in @plos.org Complex Systems from my time at @nimbios.bsky.social with Nina Fefferman. We set out some ways of classifying rules for social learning and knowledge exchange in higher-order networks. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

A typology of rules for knowledge exchange in higher-order interactions

Author summary Learning from each other is important to humans and other animals as it provides safe or quick ways to gather information about the world around you. Because of this ‘social learning’, ...

doi.org

Our new review of beluga sociality and culture just dropped at Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology! Some of our key conclusions summarized 🧵 doi.org/10.1007/s002... @marine-valeria.bsky.social @dmennill.bsky.social @raincoast.org

Charli Grimes discusses the social ontogeny of resident killer whales, exploring how lifelong social bonds form and change from early life through maturity. 🐋🤝 #UKIRSC26

We are hiring – postdoc position exploring how kinship shapes social ageing in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social and Prof Rufus Johnstone (Cambridge) starts 1st April 2026 and ends 31st March 2029. Apps close 2nd Feb. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPZ788/p...

Fully funded #PhD studentships, start Sept 2026: 1. Weaponry and aggression in wild fiddler crabs, with me, Safi Darden, Martin How tinyurl.com/weaponsPhD 2. The emotional basis of behaviour, with me, Danny Williamson, Andy Higginson tinyurl.com/emotionsPhD #AnimalBehaviour @crab-exeter.bsky.social