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livingingroups.bsky.social
Ecology of Animal Societies
@livingingroups.bsky.social
460 followers 360 following 100 posts
Dept. for the Ecology of Animal Societies @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social & @uni-konstanz.de.

Posts do not represent the views of MPI, University of Konstanz , or lab leaders.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
animal-sounds.bsky.social
🚨STOP SCROLLING, IT’S AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST📣 This message will self-destruct in 10…9…8…7…⏰ …now that I have your attention:
🧪Our new paper on Alerting Components in animal vocalization is out in AnimBehav🎉
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#AnimalBehaviour #Bioacoustics #Communication
November 3, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
zamakany.bsky.social
Exciting news!!

Ecodylic Science, a startup project led by Jacob Davidson and myself at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, has been awarded €219,000 in Phase 2 funding from the MAX!mize incubator program @maximize-incubator.bsky.social
More details here: tinyurl.com/4v3najcw.
October 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
roesslerdaniela.bsky.social
🚨 PhD alert! IMPRS brain & behavior in Bonn just opened their calls for applications. Great PhD funding opportunities. Check it out! PS- I just joined their faculty, meaning you could do a rotation in my lab or even a PhD with me on spider sleep 🙃 Apply! 🚨
imprsbb.bsky.social IMPRS for Brain and Behavior @imprsbb.bsky.social · Aug 27
📢Apply now! Join our IMPRS for Brain&Behavior to pursue a #PhD in #neuroethology. Learn how brain circuits are linked to interesting animal behaviors!
📅 Deadline: October 31, 2025
🔗 imprs-brain-behavior.mpg.de
#neuroscience #Neuroskyence #neurojobs #sciencejobs #PhDsky #PhDOffers #FundedPhD
September 6, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
wendelvandersluis.bsky.social
📣 Honouring Frans de Waal’s spirit of curiosity & empathy 🧠🐒
The Frans de Waal PhD Dissertation Prize 2026 is now open for submissions. Celebrating #Primatology, #Ethology & the evolution of social behaviour.
🏆 Announced at #CBEN2026 (Leiden, Apr 14)
⏰ Apply by Jan 15, 2026!
@ehbea2026.bsky.social
Call for Submissions for the Frans de Waal PhD Dissertation prize 2026
October 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
imprs-qbee.bsky.social
Is a PhD right for you? How should you prepare for this big step? Hear these answers from our IMPRS PhD students! @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

Reminder that the application for IMPRS-QBEE 2026 is now open, apply now!! Deadline Oct 31
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/66685/current

youtube.com/shorts/d233A...
Doctoral tips | IMPRS
YouTube video by Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
In the Guardian, Meg Crofoot weighs in (on behalf of wild animals) on our current obsession: healthy sleep.

Piece by @sarahsloat.bsky.social

@meg-crofoot.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de

www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
My pet sleeps all day and all night. Is that normal?
Understanding pet sleep can help us support our furry family and create a more restful home for everyone
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
arispeshkin.bsky.social
⭐PhD position available!⭐
Come join us @imprs-qbee.bsky.social to study communication and collective behavior in animal groups! We're looking for someone excited to use computational approaches to tackle biological questions, using our full-group tracking datasets
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/121465/analy...
Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups
imprs-qbee.mpg.de
October 3, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Take note, repost far and wide. The Dechmann Lab are hiring ✨
cecibaldoni.bsky.social Cecilia Baldoni @cecibaldoni.bsky.social · Sep 17
PhD Alert! 😍 Our lab is hiring a PhD student to study how shrews shrink in winter and grow in spring. Yes, you read that right!
tinyurl.com/shrinkingshr...
Join us at the @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, study a super cool animal, and join the @imprs-qbee.bsky.social community!

DM me for questions!
Seasonal size change and aging in shrews
imprs-qbee.mpg.de
September 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
helephantmylne.bsky.social
3yr PDRA at @exeter.ac.uk with @york.ac.uk and Centre for Whale Research, studying how killer whale social relationships change with prey availability, partner loss and social info. A fantastic team & unique longterm dataset. Deadline 19 Oct!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT336/postdoctoral-research-associate
Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Exeter
Apply for the Postdoctoral Research Associate role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
share.google
September 24, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
cecibaldoni.bsky.social
PhD Alert! 😍 Our lab is hiring a PhD student to study how shrews shrink in winter and grow in spring. Yes, you read that right!
tinyurl.com/shrinkingshr...
Join us at the @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, study a super cool animal, and join the @imprs-qbee.bsky.social community!

DM me for questions!
Seasonal size change and aging in shrews
imprs-qbee.mpg.de
September 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Happy Birthday MaxCine 🎂
This October, MaxCine celebrates 15 years of inspiring young scientists. Join us to celebrate this achievement at the MAXCINE FESTIVAL: three days of science, art, ideas, and community. Come in person or participate online. Talks are FREE. Registrations are open👉 maxcine.de
The BeeMarie in front of MaxCine, Radofzell, Germany
September 12, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
arispeshkin.bsky.social
🚨 Junior Research Fellow position (+possible PhD conversion) studying Emergent Collective Intelligence for Ephemeral Resource Tracking. Based with Akanksha Rathore at BITS Pilani (India) and including visits to Konstanz (Germany) to collaborate with us! Apply by 12 September. More info 👇
September 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
cecibaldoni.bsky.social
The secret to shrew brain shrinkage? 🤔
Not cell loss, but water loss!
Our new paper shows that brain cells shrink by losing water, a wild feat of brain plasticity 🤯

Check the paper!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @labdavalos.bsky.social @batichica.bsky.social
Programmed seasonal brain shrinkage in the common shrew via water loss without cell death
Brain plasticity, the brain’s inherent ability to adapt its structure and function, is crucial for responding to environmental challenges but is usual…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
judithbeyer.bsky.social
JOB: Juniorprofessur ab 1.4.2026 (befristet 6 Jahre, da aus begrenzten Mitteln gestellt). Denomination: "Umweltethnologie" (Environmental Anthropology) an der @uni-konstanz.de. Bewerbungsschluss ist der 1. Oktober 2025! ✨
Alle Infos ⬇️ #Wissenschaft
www.soziologie.uni-konstanz.de/beyer/aktuel...
Juniorprofessur in Ethnologie
www.soziologie.uni-konstanz.de
September 1, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Scientists discover the secret behind the shrew’s amazing ability to shrink their brains 🧠

The clever trick sheds unwanted weight without compromising too much on cognition.

Find the 5-letter word 👇

Study by @cecibaldoni.bsky.social Dechmann Lab #shrewcrew et al

www.ab.mpg.de/743885/news_...
Rare seasonal brain shrinkage in shrews is driven by water loss, not cell death
Common shrews are one of only a handful of mammals known to flexibly shrink and regrow their brains. This rare seasonal cycle, known as Dehnel’s phenomenon, has puzzled scientists for decades. A study...
www.ab.mpg.de
September 1, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
lazaroillustration.bsky.social
Detail of two hyenas
#SciArt
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Illustration of two hyaenas
August 28, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
uni-konstanz.de
MELA — a short documentary on the Mating Ecology of Lek Breeding Antelope — takes you behind the scenes of an interdisciplinary #UniKonstanz @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social research journey. This film reveals how science is done, shared, and lived: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i4d...
August 27, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
bjjbarrett.bsky.social
New paper from my group led by Odd Jacobson, former PhD student & current postdoc @livingingroups.bsky.social : How do animal groups simultaneously balance between- and within-group competition in dynamic environments and does this impact movement and space use? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Between-group competitive advantage offsets foraging costs for bigger groups in harsher seasons
Larger animal groups are widely understood to require more space and travel farther to mitigate the foraging costs of within-group competition. Yet, between-group interactions and shifting resource di...
www.biorxiv.org
August 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
evoldir.bsky.social
Bielefeld University seeks a postdoc for a 6-year scientific assistant position in Animal Behaviour, starting March 2026. Apply by Sept 10, 2025. More info: www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/biologie/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/behaviour #job
Animal Behaviour - Bielefeld University
With a team of over 50 people, the different research groups study animal behaviour within the framework of the four questions of Tinbergen, both in the lab and in the field. Current model systems include laboratory studies on zebra finches (
www.uni-bielefeld.de
July 26, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
plosbiology.org
How can magellanic #penguins navigate tidal currents while balancing #EnergyEfficiency & foraging opportunities? This study reveals how they adaptively make S-shaped return paths to their colony, optimizing travel in complex oceanic flows @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/40nKyD4
Top left: A magellanic penguin in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Image credit: Unsplash user William Warby. Top right: The GPS-corrected dead-reckoned tracks of 27 penguins at sea, colored to distinguish between the outbound (red) and inbound (blue) phases of their foraging trips. Bottom: A ‘snapshot’ of the current conditions within the grid area, showing peak tidal strength during a single day as a function of the tidal cycle, including the outgoing (‘ebb’ – left panel) and incoming (‘flood’ – right panel) tides. Penguins are often subjected to strong cross-currents during these phases. The colony location is marked by a small black filled circle with a white outline.
July 18, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
hanjabrrr.bsky.social
New paper out 🥳
The physiological costs of leadership in collective movements. - Trying to lead the group can be stressful, so it might not always be worth it!#openaccess at @currentbiology.bsky.social @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
July 23, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Waving our hands in the air like we don’t care

#mpiab #summer #konstanz #maxplanckinstitut #love
July 21, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Another good reason to read this paper by @pminasandra.bsky.social👇

It just won the "Best Paper Award" from @uni-konstanz.de Bio Dept 👏 Congrats to Pranav + team @livingingroups.bsky.social @meg-crofoot.bsky.social @arispeshkin.bsky.social @animal-sounds.bsky.social

▶️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
July 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
rmaevatiana.bsky.social
Notably, we identified what could be begging calls associated with nursing sessions — among the first documented in any baleen whale species 🐋🤱.
December 18, 2024 at 3:37 AM
Reposted by Ecology of Animal Societies
hbronnv.bsky.social
If there is an optimal behavior, why is there so much variation in the world? We found that, for white storks, context is everything. @anflack.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

New paper! @cellpress.bsky.social doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.044
🧵1/5
July 11, 2025 at 3:03 PM