Interested in animal urbanization and human wildlife co-existence, join our team this fall 👇🏼

Urban Vervet Project@urbanvervetproject.bsky.social · 2w ago

🚨🐒Join the Urban Vervet Project! We are currently looking for a research assistant to strengthen our on-site team at the beautiful Simbithi Eco Estate in South Africa. More info below 👇 @sofiaforss.bsky.social

The annual Kalahari Research Centre conference in Zurich 2026. Always amazed by how many diverse research topics we cover at this truly unique site 🫶 @arispeshkin.bsky.social @animal-sounds.bsky.social @paniw.bsky.social @domcram.bsky.social @mathildemartin.bsky.social and all involved 🫶

🚨*New Paper Alert*🚨 Excited to share our latest paper, published today in @asab.org, showing that #exploration and #problem-solving behaviours in #wild red #foxes are explained by length, not rate, of #urbanisation 🦊🧠🧩🌃 #CoexistProject Link to paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

Alongside our colleagues working on capuchins, macaques and baboons, the UVP was holding a Symposium on Human-Primate Co-Existence at the European Federation of Primatology conference 2026 in Montpellier. 🐒 @efp2026.bsky.social

🚨New primate urbanization paper🚨We looked at weather anthropogenic experiences link to within population innovativeness. Our new results from @urbanvervetproject.bsky.social can be found here 👇🏼 Behavioral flexibility and its drivers in semi-urban vervet monkeys academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

Behavioral flexibility and its drivers in semi-urban vervet monkeys

Monkeys bring their own skills to the city. Urban animals are often seen as especially flexible or innovative—but do urban environments make them that way?

academic.oup.com

Very much impressed by the beautiful Princeton University and thankful for the invitation to Diverse Intelligence Summit 2026 hosted by the Natural and Artificial Minds center @divintelligence.bsky.social

Just because a study is non‑invasive doesn't mean it's harmless. Observation, camera traps, etc – all can stress, habituate, or disturb wildlife. Rowe 2026 argues: No non‑invasive activity should be precluded from ethical review. #ResearchEthics link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Why Non-invasive Animal Studies Should Seek Ethical Review - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics

Internationally, there are inconsistencies between national, state and territory Codes, Acts and Regulations on the definition of animal and animal use for scientific purposes, particularly for non-in...

link.springer.com

Postdoc Opportunity! 4-year @royalsociety.org funded post @uniexecec.bsky.social: “Understanding the role of individual cognitive variation in reintroduction biology”. Closes: 5 June 2026. More info & to apply: careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/78... Wt: @paradiseparkhayle.bsky.social & Wildwood Trust

PhD Opportunity! 4-year funded PhD @uniexecec.bsky.social: “From cognition to conservation: using cognitive and behavioural research to enhance animal reintroductions”. Closes: 5 June 2026. Funding: @royalsociety.org (UK/Home students only). More info & to apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin... 1/

Isn’t Fieldwork the Best when you can share it with loved ones! This week, I had the privilege to show my family the Simbithi site of the @urbanvervetproject.bsky.social

We have an open MSc Project Position at the Urban Vervet Project, and are currently looking for a motivated teammate to discover species interactions in a human altered environment 👇🏼 For more INFO👇🏼

Just have had the best “Kick-Off” to Field Season 2026 at the Kalahari Research Centre with an incredible talented team of Girl power 💪🏻 🙏🏻 Mijke, Nicole & Laura

We are offering two 4-year PhD positions in our new SNF project "The Evolutionary Roots of Altercentrism"

Congratulations @krisanathema.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy ✨ I am looking forward to work with you on individuals and societies 🙌🏼

Christophe Bousquet@krisanathema.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 4mo ago

Proud to have received a grant from the @ZuKo Institute for Advanced Study of the @unikonstanz. With this #Interdisciplinary #Collaborative #Project 2026, I will work with Cristian Pasquaretta, Adrian Jaeggi (@jaeggiadrian.bsky.social) and Sofia Forss (@sofiaforss.bsky.social) on "Individual […]

I fully second @katelaskowski.bsky.social on this aspect, science writing is defining our relationship to our work and I also think creative writing is a valuable skill for students to learn (and enjoy!). Don’t get lazy - thrive in your creativity 🤟🏼🙌🏼

Kate Laskowski@katelaskowski.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I do not use AI for writing. I like writing. Why would I farm out my favorite part of my job to a gdamn robot who takes no joy from it? I only use AI for my wow-I'm-a-professional-scientist-and-I-still-don't-know-how-a-science-thing questions like "What are magnets and how do they work?"

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us ❓Quantifying animal #movement patterns & behavioural #interactions in a changing world 👥Joint position in @bristolbiosci.bsky.social & #MacquarieUniversity 📆19th April deadline tinyurl.com/343acaev #maths #modelling #data #fieldwork #Australia 🙏PLEASE SHARE

Our latest newsletter from the field is out — projects & troops updates 💡 Enjoy the read! urbanvervetproject.weebly.com/newsmonthly-...

This is THE Summer school you want to do: expand your knowledge and your view on intelligence whilst getting to network across disciplines and inspiring people ⭐️🤟🏼👇🏼

Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI@divintelligence.bsky.social · 5mo ago

📣📣📣 Applications for the 2026 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!! Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply! More info: disi.org

🚨New Paper on Bonobo and Chimpanzee tool flexibility. As so often performance is leveraged by the captivity effect yet the two species differ in explorative behavior and how readily they switch between tool types. For more 👇🏼 royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article... @rachelaharrison.bsky.social

urban impacts on primate diet in areas of human co-existence - find out more in our latest paper 🐒🏡@urbanvervetproject.bsky.social Anthropogenic and Social Influences on Diet of Semi‐Urban Vervet Monkeys Using DNA Metabarcoding - Ecology and Evolution - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Investigating Anthropogenic and Social Influences on Diet of Semi‐Urban Vervet Monkeys Using DNA Metabarcoding

We used eDNA metabarcoding of faecal samples to quantify the dietary composition of two vervet monkey populations in a semi-urban environment in South Africa over a 4-month period, and compared these...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

sometimes you have to pause and just be grateful ✨for having such kind and awesome colleagues - who knows exactly what you need 🫶🏼

So proud and happy to have such an amazing field team, wishing you all a very joyful festive season with our latest Newsletter ✨👇🏼

Urban Vervet Project@urbanvervetproject.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Wrapping up the year with our latest UVP newsletter—fresh field updates, interviews, and more! 🎄🐒 Best holiday wishes from the whole team! urbanvervetproject.weebly.com/news/last-20...

Excellent piece from Kelsey Piper at The Argument. How getting richer made teenagers less free . I really like The Argument, in general, worth checking out. open.substack.com/pub/theargum...

How getting richer made teenagers less free

We value children more than ever. But we're suffocating them.

open.substack.com

Lovely piece on how meerkats deal with climate change by @chameauleon.bsky.social in National Geographic: www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti... I had the pleasure to chat with Camille about the importance of understanding how extreme heat changes food availability 🐛 for meerkats

Why matriarchs reign supreme in the meerkat world

As a corner of Africa heats up, new research shows how the future of the species rests with powerful matriarchs making tough choices for survival.

nationalgeographic.com

Can’t imagine a better PhD topic 😉👇🏼 Cognitive development i. ecologically relevant settings 💪🏻

Rachael Shaw@wild-minds.bsky.social · 9mo ago

PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪 www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...

Exciting PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Fully funded by EPSRC DLA. Based at @uniexecec.bsky.social; co-supervised by Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social and collaborators. Apply: tinyurl.com/5fr73snt

#PhD position! Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

From preferences to pollination: do hummingbirds and bees differ in how they choose flowers?

iapetus.ac.uk

3 year postdoc funded by @ukri.org NERC on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins is now live - please share widely 🙏 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

🚨Who wants to work with Kalahari meerkats? A MSc project with @mathildemartin.bsky.social at the University of Zurich. #bioacoustics 🧪

Interested in early life learning and cognitive development ? In our new pre-print we present data on developmental trajectories of three cognitive traits spanning wild meerkat pups critical life transitions 👇🏼 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Developmental trajectories of cognitive traits in meerkats match socio-ecological demands

Understanding cognitive development is fundamental to contextualize adult cognitive phenotypes, and thus the operational pathways for cognitive evolution. The ontogeny of specific cognitive traits is ...

biorxiv.org