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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 1h

Fear of novelty varies across species & individuals, impacting adaptability & survival. @themanybirds.bsky.social @drrmiller.bsky.social &co assess #neophobia in 1400 subjects from 136 #bird species, identifying phylogenetic influences & broad ecological drivers @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4haLEsN

Left: Examples of novel objects used. Each black/white bar is 5 cm long. The objects ranged in size from a third to half the size of the subjects: (a) Southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, (b) Moluccan eclectus, Eclectus roratus, (c) Rüppell’s vulture, Gyps rueppelli, (d) gray-winged trumpeter, Psophia crepitans, (e) common waxbill, Estrilda astrild. Right: Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) at Adlerwarte Berlebeck, Germany, interacting with a novel object. Image credit Kai Caspar.

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

manvir singh @manvir.bsky.social · 4h

Hugely honored to be the inaugural guest on the Minds Over Matters Podcast! We talked about my book and the timeless and ubiquitous echoes of shamanism. Watch our conversation, in glorious 1080p, here:

Minds Over Matters @mindsovermatters.bsky.social · 10h

We're kicking things off with evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Manvir Singh for a fascinating conversation about a phenomenon that repeatedly appears across human cultures: shamanism. But why is this the case? What is shamanism? Why does it repeatedly develop across societies? Join us to find out.

Seeing Shamanism Everywhere

YouTube video by Minds Over Matters

youtu.be

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Tsupi_WBSY カラリーマン @tsupi-wbsy.bsky.social · 11h

コチドリのヒナの速さ

Little Ringed Plover chicks are fast runners
#BirdArt

A little ringed plover chick chases after its parent bird at incredible speed.
すごい速さで親に追いつくコチドリのヒナ

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Lynn Chiu @drlynnchiu.bsky.social · 12d

Big question: why are female genetial understudied when it comes to evolutionary explanations of crazy "key and lock" structures between males & females?

Genital Evolution: Why Are Females Still Understudied?
Malin Ah-King, Andrew B. Barron, Marie E. Herberstein journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Genital Evolution: Why Are Females Still Understudied?

In many animal groups genital structures appear to have evolved extremely rapidly, prompting enduring interest in why this is so. Throughout this literature there remains a bias towards studying male ...

journals.plos.org

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Thomas MacGillavry @thomasmacgillavry.bsky.social · 1d

Bush stone-curlew for the win! (Though I am offended on behalf of all riflebirds)

Dr Nick 🦉🇦🇺 @doktrnick.bsky.social · 1d

Last round of voting (for the Emu-wren 😉). Get in before Bird of the Year closes:
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Australian bird of the year 2025: vote for your favourite #birdoftheyear in the Guardian / BirdLife Australia poll

From little penguins to (very big) cassowaries, every bird has its fans. Vote for your favourite in the 2025 Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll

www.theguardian.com

Thomas MacGillavry @thomasmacgillavry.bsky.social · 1d

Super exciting camera trap haul here! Installed a camera on a suspicious fallen tree and got several new displays for a male that’s been eluding me so far!

Just look at this dancing black hole!

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Dr Mark E Hauber @thecowbirdlab.bsky.social · 1d

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Quantitative analysis of stem-palaeognath flight capabilities sheds light on ratite dispersal and flight loss | Biology Letters

Lithornithids are an assemblage of Palaeogene fossil birds thought to represent stem-group members of Palaeognathae. Among extant palaeognaths, which include flightless ratites such as ostriches, only...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 1d

In his Review, Edgar Walters discusses how our understanding of human pain is informed by functional and mechanistic comparisons of nociception and pain-like aversive states across vertebrate and invertebrate species

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-...

A screen shot of the PDF of Edgar T. Walters' Review, From nociception in aneural animals to human suffering: toward a comparative biology of pain. The publishing information states: © 2025. Published by The Company of Biologists | Journal of Experimental Biology (2025) 228, jeb251210. doi:10.1242/jeb.251210. The first sentence of the Abstract reads, 'Pain is a core feature of human life, but systematic comparisons of this biological trait across taxa have been rare.'

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Universität Wien / University of Vienna @univie.ac.at · 2d

In Memoriam Jane Goodall
On behalf of the University of Vienna and the Konrad Lorenz Research Center, we deeply mourn the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall.
Dr. Sonia Kleindorfer, a friend & companion of Dr. Jane Goodall, reflects on her legacy in the following touching tribute. ⤵️

In Memoriam Jane Goodall

On behalf of the University of Vienna and the Konrad Lorenz Research Center, we deeply mourn the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall. She was a friend, an advocate, a supporter of community-based nature inclu...

lifesciences.univie.ac.at

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Dr. Katharine Dickson @metaomicsnerd.bsky.social · 3d

I couldn't not share this YouTube Short of this very dramatic story of the Great Japanese Mole War

youtube.com/shorts/8ap5k...

The underground battle of Japanese moles

YouTube video by Kyota Ko

youtube.com

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 4d

The real Butlerian Jihad is not againt AGI, but against AI slop? Happy weekend to all www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...

AI Slop Is Destroying The Internet

YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 4d

caaaaaaan I interest you in Denmark’s groundbreaking national agriculture, nature, and climate policy, agreed to in 2024, with a Ministry of Green Transition established to implement it?

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Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 5d

Juvenile songbirds acquire key life skills primarily from siblings and non-parent adults, with sibling influence surpassing that of parents in species with limited parental care. doi.org/g9578b

These songbirds learn more from siblings than from parents

Siblings are special. Whether a sibling serves as protector or tormentor, friend or foe, the relationship between siblings is like no other.

phys.org

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · 5d

Less than 70% of science Nobel prize winners awarded this century hail from the country in which they were awarded their prize.
“Mobility benefits everyone. Each newcomer brings fresh ideas, new techniques & different ways of looking at old problems”
🧪 #academicSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Dr Mark E Hauber @thecowbirdlab.bsky.social · 5d

What the Solar Eclipse did for the birds: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science

On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse disrupted light-dark cycles for North American birds during the lead-up to spring reproduction. Compiling more than 10,000 community observations and artificial ...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Maria Sagot @mariasagot.bsky.social · 5d

Greater noctule bats prey on and consume passerines in flight | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Greater noctule bats prey on and consume passerines in flight

Despite billions of passerines seasonally migrating during the night at high altitudes, only three bat species have been found to consistently tap into this rich prey resource. However, it remains unk...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Gregory Kohn @kohngregory.bsky.social · 11d

This is an awe-inspiring and fascinating study that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. However, the overall framing in terms of "innate versus learned” is unnecessary. The innate versus acquired dichotomy is outdated and has been for a long time. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Learned use of an innate sound-meaning association in birds - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Over 20 species of geographically and phylogenetically diverse bird species produce convergent whining vocalizations towards their respective brood parasites. Model presentation and playback experiments across multiple continents suggest that these learned calls provoke an innate response even among allopatric species.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 6d

It's #WorldOctopusDay! These beauties from our collection are both by French pharmacist and naturalist Jean Baptiste Vérany (1800-65).

Octopus vulgaris - the common octopus, which can grow to 9kg and change colour to match its surroundings.

Common octopus with brown and yellow colouring with hints of blue. It has yellow eyes and fills the image.

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Systematics Association @systassn.bsky.social · 7d

Do you like bats, phylogenetics, comparative genomics?

Then join us in-person 6 PM Friday, OCT 25 at the @linneansociety.bsky.social for our annual Founders' Lecture!

Prof @emmateeling.bsky.social will be speaking to us on all things bat! 🦇

Register here: tinyurl.com/28u2u2z8

Poster with Founders' Lecture details and QR code for registration.

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Julia Frunzke @frunzkelab.bsky.social · 7d

Please RT:
We have an opening for a junior group leader position in „Phage Biology & Biotechnology“.
www.fz-juelich.de/de/karriere/...

Interested candidates are encouraged to contact me via email for further details.

@spp2330.bsky.social; @mibinet.bsky.social

Junior Group Leader - Phage Biology & Biotechnology

As a leading research institution for microbial biotechnology the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences - Biotechnology (IBG-1, https://www.fz-juelich.de/de/ibg/ibg-1 ) at the Forschungszentrum Jülich foc...

www.fz-juelich.de

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

BOU @bou.org.uk · 7d

The origins and functions of bowers in the Bowerbirds: a review and synthesis | doi.org/10.1080/0158... | Emu | #ornithology 🪶

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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 7d

Great expectations: altricial developmental strategies are associated with more flexible evolution of limb skeleton proportions in birds #ProcB #OpenAccess #Developmental Biology #Evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

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Ecology Group Basel - Sabine Rumpf @ecologybasel.bsky.social · Sep 8

*Job alert*

We have a 5-year postdoc position on #mountain non-native species & #macroecology in our group @unibas.ch. Great opportunity to join us!

Details here: jobs.unibas.ch/offene-stellen/postdoc-position-in-mountain-macroecology/6c5a8906-354f-43c6-bc9b-1156d21725a5

Please share!

Universität Basel: Postdoc position in mountain macroecology

The research group Ecology at the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Basel in Switzerland invites applications for a postdoc position within the ERC project 'Global status, tren...

jobs.unibas.ch

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Kertu Lõhmus @kertu.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 Job Alert 🚨
3-year Postdoc position in Coastal Ecology at the University of Oldenburg! 🌊
First 2 years: Join the DFG Research Unit DynaCom – collaborate with outstanding partners across five synthesis projects.
Final year: Pursue your own research + build your academic profile.
👉 uol.de/job773en

Postdoctoral researcher in coastal ecology (DFG Research Unit DynaCom) // University of Oldenburg

uol.de

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Reposted by Thomas MacGillavry

Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 7d

Back in the land of bowers this week! Investigating how male courtship signals are affected by urbanisation #greatbowerbirds @uniexecec.bsky.social

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