Blair Costelloe
@blaircostelloe.bsky.social
Behavioral ecologist using drones to study collective behavior of African ungulates. Leader of HerdHover project and co-PI of WildDrone project. Project Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, currently on TT job market. She/her.
Pinned
The AI for Conservation community on BlueSky is growing quick! Here's a starter pack of folks working in this area - please share and nominate more folks (yourself or others) to be added. And if you are on the list but wish to be removed, please let me know! #AI4E 🧪
go.bsky.app/UNUCejU
go.bsky.app/UNUCejU
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!
preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵
Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1/9
preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵
Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1/9
December 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!
preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵
Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1/9
preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵
Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
1/9
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Interested in a multidisciplinary PhD that integrates robotics, computer vision, ecology and conservation?
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
WildBotics - Recruitment
We are looking for you!
www.wildbotics.eu
December 3, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Interested in a multidisciplinary PhD that integrates robotics, computer vision, ecology and conservation?
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
New from us. 2025. Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semiurban feral ungulate. (Water buffalo) Led by @debottam1991.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 2, 2025 at 11:17 PM
New from us. 2025. Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semiurban feral ungulate. (Water buffalo) Led by @debottam1991.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
🚨 New Publication on Feral Water Buffalo 🐃 🐃 in Animal Behaviour [Also my 1st publication in AB 😊]
@asab.org @asabeducation.bsky.social
Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semiurban feral ungulate
W/ @amcell.bsky.social Kate Flay & Hannah Mumby
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
@asab.org @asabeducation.bsky.social
Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semiurban feral ungulate
W/ @amcell.bsky.social Kate Flay & Hannah Mumby
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
December 4, 2025 at 7:22 AM
🚨 New Publication on Feral Water Buffalo 🐃 🐃 in Animal Behaviour [Also my 1st publication in AB 😊]
@asab.org @asabeducation.bsky.social
Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semiurban feral ungulate
W/ @amcell.bsky.social Kate Flay & Hannah Mumby
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
@asab.org @asabeducation.bsky.social
Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semiurban feral ungulate
W/ @amcell.bsky.social Kate Flay & Hannah Mumby
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
Interested in a multidisciplinary PhD that integrates robotics, computer vision, ecology and conservation?
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
WildBotics - Recruitment
We are looking for you!
www.wildbotics.eu
December 3, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Interested in a multidisciplinary PhD that integrates robotics, computer vision, ecology and conservation?
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
We are looking for 12 Doctoral Candidates to join the WildBotics MSCA Doctoral Network!
Positions are fully funded for 36 months!
More info & apply @ www.wildbotics.eu/recruitment
🧪👩🔬🌍
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
@asab.org Spring, aimed at ECRs, is coming to Bristol!
Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December.
www.asab.org/conference-g...
Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓
Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December.
www.asab.org/conference-g...
Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓
November 24, 2025 at 9:14 PM
@asab.org Spring, aimed at ECRs, is coming to Bristol!
Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December.
www.asab.org/conference-g...
Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓
Conference grant DEADLINE for Developing Country Applicants (<£2500) or anyone needing an early decision for visas (<£750) is in ONE WEEK, 1st December.
www.asab.org/conference-g...
Referee statement also needed by then! 🐝🐜🦟🦂🐠🐟🐬🦎🐸🦆🐿️🦓
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
FERAL goes wild:
🦓 Drone footage of Grevy’s zebras (with @blaircostelloe.bsky.social, Ben Koger and @icouzin.bsky.social)
Pose-estimation pipelines struggled to detect vigilance behavior from overhead drone videos.
FERAL identifies vigilance bouts directly from video.
🦓 Drone footage of Grevy’s zebras (with @blaircostelloe.bsky.social, Ben Koger and @icouzin.bsky.social)
Pose-estimation pipelines struggled to detect vigilance behavior from overhead drone videos.
FERAL identifies vigilance bouts directly from video.
November 19, 2025 at 6:30 PM
FERAL goes wild:
🦓 Drone footage of Grevy’s zebras (with @blaircostelloe.bsky.social, Ben Koger and @icouzin.bsky.social)
Pose-estimation pipelines struggled to detect vigilance behavior from overhead drone videos.
FERAL identifies vigilance bouts directly from video.
🦓 Drone footage of Grevy’s zebras (with @blaircostelloe.bsky.social, Ben Koger and @icouzin.bsky.social)
Pose-estimation pipelines struggled to detect vigilance behavior from overhead drone videos.
FERAL identifies vigilance bouts directly from video.
So impressed with this software! Check it out!
FERAL goes wild:
🦓 Drone footage of Grevy’s zebras (with @blaircostelloe.bsky.social, Ben Koger and @icouzin.bsky.social)
Pose-estimation pipelines struggled to detect vigilance behavior from overhead drone videos.
FERAL identifies vigilance bouts directly from video.
🦓 Drone footage of Grevy’s zebras (with @blaircostelloe.bsky.social, Ben Koger and @icouzin.bsky.social)
Pose-estimation pipelines struggled to detect vigilance behavior from overhead drone videos.
FERAL identifies vigilance bouts directly from video.
November 19, 2025 at 8:32 PM
So impressed with this software! Check it out!
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Give FERAL:
1. videos
2. behavioral annotations
FERAL fine-tunes a video foundation model on your data.
FERAL outputs:
- segmented ethograms
- model weights you can reuse
All in few lines of code (no ML or coding expertise needed). It runs easily on Google Colab.
Try it yourself: www.getferal.ai
1. videos
2. behavioral annotations
FERAL fine-tunes a video foundation model on your data.
FERAL outputs:
- segmented ethograms
- model weights you can reuse
All in few lines of code (no ML or coding expertise needed). It runs easily on Google Colab.
Try it yourself: www.getferal.ai
FERAL Documentation
www.getferal.ai
November 19, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Give FERAL:
1. videos
2. behavioral annotations
FERAL fine-tunes a video foundation model on your data.
FERAL outputs:
- segmented ethograms
- model weights you can reuse
All in few lines of code (no ML or coding expertise needed). It runs easily on Google Colab.
Try it yourself: www.getferal.ai
1. videos
2. behavioral annotations
FERAL fine-tunes a video foundation model on your data.
FERAL outputs:
- segmented ethograms
- model weights you can reuse
All in few lines of code (no ML or coding expertise needed). It runs easily on Google Colab.
Try it yourself: www.getferal.ai
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Our preprint is out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Peter Skovorodnikov and I are excited to present FERAL: a new video-understanding toolkit that maps raw video directly to behavior, no pose estimation required.
It works across species, from lab to field, and even in collective systems. (🧵1/n)
Peter Skovorodnikov and I are excited to present FERAL: a new video-understanding toolkit that maps raw video directly to behavior, no pose estimation required.
It works across species, from lab to field, and even in collective systems. (🧵1/n)
FERAL: A Video-Understanding System for Direct Video-to-Behavior Mapping
Animal behavior unfolds continuously in time, yet quantitative analyses often require segmenting it into discrete, interpretable states. Although manual annotation can achieve this, it remains slow, s...
www.biorxiv.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Our preprint is out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Peter Skovorodnikov and I are excited to present FERAL: a new video-understanding toolkit that maps raw video directly to behavior, no pose estimation required.
It works across species, from lab to field, and even in collective systems. (🧵1/n)
Peter Skovorodnikov and I are excited to present FERAL: a new video-understanding toolkit that maps raw video directly to behavior, no pose estimation required.
It works across species, from lab to field, and even in collective systems. (🧵1/n)
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.
October 31, 2025 at 3:09 AM
The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Opportunity to join our team. Open to African students at Masters or PhD level.
October 14, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Opportunity to join our team. Open to African students at Masters or PhD level.
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.
September 19, 2025 at 12:30 PM
I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.
August 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
August 29, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
🍂 Applications are now open for our ML-for-Behavior 5-day course at Jackson Labs in Bar Harbor, ME.
Talks and hands-on workshops cover pose estimation, supervised/unsupervised behavior quantification, and downstream behavior analyses. Financial aid is available!
www.jax.org/education-an...
Talks and hands-on workshops cover pose estimation, supervised/unsupervised behavior quantification, and downstream behavior analyses. Financial aid is available!
www.jax.org/education-an...
August 18, 2025 at 10:13 PM
🍂 Applications are now open for our ML-for-Behavior 5-day course at Jackson Labs in Bar Harbor, ME.
Talks and hands-on workshops cover pose estimation, supervised/unsupervised behavior quantification, and downstream behavior analyses. Financial aid is available!
www.jax.org/education-an...
Talks and hands-on workshops cover pose estimation, supervised/unsupervised behavior quantification, and downstream behavior analyses. Financial aid is available!
www.jax.org/education-an...
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
I am currently advertising a new 3-year research position in my TerraLuma team: Research Associate in Drone Field Operations (Academic Level A)
The position will support the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network’s (@TERN_Aus) Dronescape project.
careers.utas.edu.au/cw/en/job/50...
The position will support the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network’s (@TERN_Aus) Dronescape project.
careers.utas.edu.au/cw/en/job/50...
Current Vacancies
careers.utas.edu.au
July 29, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I am currently advertising a new 3-year research position in my TerraLuma team: Research Associate in Drone Field Operations (Academic Level A)
The position will support the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network’s (@TERN_Aus) Dronescape project.
careers.utas.edu.au/cw/en/job/50...
The position will support the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network’s (@TERN_Aus) Dronescape project.
careers.utas.edu.au/cw/en/job/50...
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Announcing the WildDrone Summer School Sept 22-26. Registration open at wilddrone.eu/summer-school/
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Summer School – WildDrone
wilddrone.eu
June 16, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Announcing the WildDrone Summer School Sept 22-26. Registration open at wilddrone.eu/summer-school/
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Announcing the WildDrone Summer School Sept 22-26. Registration open at wilddrone.eu/summer-school/
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Summer School – WildDrone
wilddrone.eu
June 16, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Announcing the WildDrone Summer School Sept 22-26. Registration open at wilddrone.eu/summer-school/
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Join us in Konstanz for a week of drones, computer vision and conservation ecology! 🧪🌍
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Hot off the press 📣: one of the most surprising and unsettling findings of my PhD. A novel social tradition emerged in the tool-using white-faced capuchins of Jicarón island… abducting and carrying the infants of another species. Thread with gifs, videos, and all the bizarre details 👇
Humans have many unusual traditions. But did you know animals’ strange behaviors can become culture too? Out now in Current Biology (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...) we show the rise and spread of a surprising tradition: interspecies infant abduction. Interactive timeline (www.ab.mpg.de/671374) 🧵 (1/12)
May 19, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Hot off the press 📣: one of the most surprising and unsettling findings of my PhD. A novel social tradition emerged in the tool-using white-faced capuchins of Jicarón island… abducting and carrying the infants of another species. Thread with gifs, videos, and all the bizarre details 👇
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Humans have many unusual traditions. But did you know animals’ strange behaviors can become culture too? Out now in Current Biology (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...) we show the rise and spread of a surprising tradition: interspecies infant abduction. Interactive timeline (www.ab.mpg.de/671374) 🧵 (1/12)
May 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Humans have many unusual traditions. But did you know animals’ strange behaviors can become culture too? Out now in Current Biology (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...) we show the rise and spread of a surprising tradition: interspecies infant abduction. Interactive timeline (www.ab.mpg.de/671374) 🧵 (1/12)
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
This is an absolute disaster. If we don't stop this, they will turn NSF into a pawn of the Trump administration. There will be no research on climate, biodiversity, or anything that isn't eugenics or AI or how to more efficiently destroy the planet for profit.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions
Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund
www.science.org
May 9, 2025 at 3:42 AM
This is an absolute disaster. If we don't stop this, they will turn NSF into a pawn of the Trump administration. There will be no research on climate, biodiversity, or anything that isn't eugenics or AI or how to more efficiently destroy the planet for profit.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Choose Science. Choose Europe.
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
May 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Choose Science. Choose Europe.
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.
With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.
Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
Postdoc job alert! I'm hiring a 3-yr postdoc to work on our Social Modifiers of Primate Lifespans grant. Job info and how to apply below. Deadline June 1. Pls share! jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Powered by MHR
jobs.exeter.ac.uk
May 2, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Postdoc job alert! I'm hiring a 3-yr postdoc to work on our Social Modifiers of Primate Lifespans grant. Job info and how to apply below. Deadline June 1. Pls share! jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Reposted by Blair Costelloe
🚨 Cool new project alert 🚨
WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people.
4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic.
Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com
WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people.
4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic.
Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com
May 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
🚨 Cool new project alert 🚨
WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people.
4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic.
Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com
WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people.
4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic.
Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com