Ollie Wearn
@olliewearn.bsky.social
Conservationist & scientist w/ Snow Leopard Trust. Wildlife monitoring | Data analytics | Camera traps | Conservation tech | Cats | Carnivores | Primates | Tropical forests | Asia
Pinned
Ollie Wearn
@olliewearn.bsky.social
· Nov 8
Cool new #dronescience coming out of Vietnam, led by my colleague Hoang Trinh-Dinh.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1k2%7Ej1R%... (#OA for 50 days / DM for pdf)
Hoang used a drone to robustly survey the Critically Endangered Delacour’s langur in its extreme limestone home for the 1st time. (1/n)
authors.elsevier.com/a/1k2%7Ej1R%... (#OA for 50 days / DM for pdf)
Hoang used a drone to robustly survey the Critically Endangered Delacour’s langur in its extreme limestone home for the 1st time. (1/n)
🧪 Finally found where all the kool kidz ran off to 👋
Hi, I’m a conservationist that does science whenever I get the chance! Great to be here!
Current work is on snow leopards. I also post about primates, conservation tech, camera traps, AI & other stuff.
Here’s a paper we just published below 👇
Hi, I’m a conservationist that does science whenever I get the chance! Great to be here!
Current work is on snow leopards. I also post about primates, conservation tech, camera traps, AI & other stuff.
Here’s a paper we just published below 👇
And, bonus fact, it actually spells pretty good (unlike, say, cat pee!). A musky, sweet and sour smell.
In the dry climate of the Gobi (where our long-term study is), the smell doesn’t last as long as in the wet Himalayas, so it’s extra special when you find a strong scent mark - it must be fresh!
In the dry climate of the Gobi (where our long-term study is), the smell doesn’t last as long as in the wet Himalayas, so it’s extra special when you find a strong scent mark - it must be fresh!
A thing I learned is that snow leopards communicate by scent marking, particularly peeing and rubbing on rocks.
And they do it so well that a fresh mark can be smelled, very well, by humans....for MORE THAN A MONTH.
Cat pee x 5000
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
And they do it so well that a fresh mark can be smelled, very well, by humans....for MORE THAN A MONTH.
Cat pee x 5000
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
The secrets of snow leopard mating season
For a few fleeting weeks each winter, the famously elusive cats emerge from solitude, calling across the mountains in search of a mate.
www.nationalgeographic.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:23 PM
And, bonus fact, it actually spells pretty good (unlike, say, cat pee!). A musky, sweet and sour smell.
In the dry climate of the Gobi (where our long-term study is), the smell doesn’t last as long as in the wet Himalayas, so it’s extra special when you find a strong scent mark - it must be fresh!
In the dry climate of the Gobi (where our long-term study is), the smell doesn’t last as long as in the wet Himalayas, so it’s extra special when you find a strong scent mark - it must be fresh!
Ok, I will keep an eye out for future courses (in-person if possible)! And may I salute you for providing your physical book as an open online version, too 🫡 Everyone is able to learn more about these models, without needing to jump over a paywall oliviergimenez.github.io/banana-book/
Welcome | Bayesian analysis of capture-recapture data with hidden Markov models
This is a textbook on the analysis of capture-recapture data with hidden Markov models (HMM) implemented in the Bayesian framework with R and NIMBLE.
oliviergimenez.github.io
February 2, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Ok, I will keep an eye out for future courses (in-person if possible)! And may I salute you for providing your physical book as an open online version, too 🫡 Everyone is able to learn more about these models, without needing to jump over a paywall oliviergimenez.github.io/banana-book/
Hi Olivier, looks very useful; will there be any training courses/workshops on the topics in the book?
February 2, 2026 at 8:24 AM
Hi Olivier, looks very useful; will there be any training courses/workshops on the topics in the book?
This has been my experience too. When I run out of brainpower, I sometimes turn to LLMs. But then comes the endless back-and-forth with the thing to actually make the code work; I guess that’s the vibe coding part 🥺 I can’t imagine what this is doing to the skills of those newly learning coding…
"Vibe coding, does it work and if so, for whom?"
I did try using "AI" for coding. It turned the entire experience into continuous debugging session to fix extra subtle bugs. The fun and stimulating part was automated away, while the tedious parts that take the most time got worse and took longer.
I did try using "AI" for coding. It turned the entire experience into continuous debugging session to fix extra subtle bugs. The fun and stimulating part was automated away, while the tedious parts that take the most time got worse and took longer.
February 1, 2026 at 4:52 PM
This has been my experience too. When I run out of brainpower, I sometimes turn to LLMs. But then comes the endless back-and-forth with the thing to actually make the code work; I guess that’s the vibe coding part 🥺 I can’t imagine what this is doing to the skills of those newly learning coding…
Reposted by Ollie Wearn
The 10th Annual #Tech4Wildlife Challenge is starting soon!📸
Help us celebrate a decade of conservation technology by sharing how you use #Tech4Wildlife throughout next week.
Learn how to participate 👉 wildlabs.net/article/join...
#conservation #conservationtech #naturetech
Help us celebrate a decade of conservation technology by sharing how you use #Tech4Wildlife throughout next week.
Learn how to participate 👉 wildlabs.net/article/join...
#conservation #conservationtech #naturetech
January 26, 2026 at 9:40 PM
The 10th Annual #Tech4Wildlife Challenge is starting soon!📸
Help us celebrate a decade of conservation technology by sharing how you use #Tech4Wildlife throughout next week.
Learn how to participate 👉 wildlabs.net/article/join...
#conservation #conservationtech #naturetech
Help us celebrate a decade of conservation technology by sharing how you use #Tech4Wildlife throughout next week.
Learn how to participate 👉 wildlabs.net/article/join...
#conservation #conservationtech #naturetech
Cool! Carnivores help mycorrhizal fungi to disperse.
Paper is here for those interested (although paywalled so I can’t actually read it): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Paper is here for those interested (although paywalled so I can’t actually read it): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Truffle-spreading involves not one, but two meals: that of the animal which eats the truffle, and that of the animal which eats the animal that eats the truffle
To disperse their spores, truffles rely on animals eating other animals
It is a gruesome business
econ.st
January 26, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Cool! Carnivores help mycorrhizal fungi to disperse.
Paper is here for those interested (although paywalled so I can’t actually read it): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Paper is here for those interested (although paywalled so I can’t actually read it): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Coffee! ☕️ 🫘
For the UK: Kiss the Hippo has great credentials (direct sourcing, carbon neutral, organic) kissthehippo.com/pages/kiss-t...
For the Netherlands: Wakuli does some great work direct with suppliers www.wakuli.com/pages/mission
For the UK: Kiss the Hippo has great credentials (direct sourcing, carbon neutral, organic) kissthehippo.com/pages/kiss-t...
For the Netherlands: Wakuli does some great work direct with suppliers www.wakuli.com/pages/mission
Little Waves Coffee Roasters is a producer of great coffee and is committed to supporting the people who grow the coffee. There are other ethical direct trade roasters and I am making a list. Please tell us your favorite direct trade coffee roaster. littlewaves.coffee
Little Waves Coffee Roasters & Cocoa Cinnamon
Latina led, women forward, small & independently owned company. We take an open-hearted approach to sourcing and roast profile development, connecting quality, relationship, and and sustainability. 20...
littlewaves.coffee
January 20, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Coffee! ☕️ 🫘
For the UK: Kiss the Hippo has great credentials (direct sourcing, carbon neutral, organic) kissthehippo.com/pages/kiss-t...
For the Netherlands: Wakuli does some great work direct with suppliers www.wakuli.com/pages/mission
For the UK: Kiss the Hippo has great credentials (direct sourcing, carbon neutral, organic) kissthehippo.com/pages/kiss-t...
For the Netherlands: Wakuli does some great work direct with suppliers www.wakuli.com/pages/mission
Ah I see. Yep monitoring is only useful when properly embedded in the conservation work and when communities (as in the link above ☝️), managers, everyone involved, is invested in it, and it has a very clear purpose in project design. Monitoring (and especially AI 😏) is not useful in and of itself.
January 20, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Ah I see. Yep monitoring is only useful when properly embedded in the conservation work and when communities (as in the link above ☝️), managers, everyone involved, is invested in it, and it has a very clear purpose in project design. Monitoring (and especially AI 😏) is not useful in and of itself.
Love to see this: a women’s camera trapping group in the high mountains of Himachal Pradesh, western Himalaya. All power to them.
Exemplary data collection in the field shown as well, including proper testing of camera setup using “walk test” 😇
#cameratrap 🌏🧪
youtu.be/98Tigg7WXCg?...
Exemplary data collection in the field shown as well, including proper testing of camera setup using “walk test” 😇
#cameratrap 🌏🧪
youtu.be/98Tigg7WXCg?...
The Himalayan women tracking India’s snow leopards | BBC News India
YouTube video by BBC News India
youtu.be
January 19, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Love to see this: a women’s camera trapping group in the high mountains of Himachal Pradesh, western Himalaya. All power to them.
Exemplary data collection in the field shown as well, including proper testing of camera setup using “walk test” 😇
#cameratrap 🌏🧪
youtu.be/98Tigg7WXCg?...
Exemplary data collection in the field shown as well, including proper testing of camera setup using “walk test” 😇
#cameratrap 🌏🧪
youtu.be/98Tigg7WXCg?...
Beautiful and incredible scenes from the centre of the Netherlands, a country with 1.5 times the density of people in the UK. A pack of 11 wolves roaming through the snow!
January 16, 2026 at 12:11 PM
Beautiful and incredible scenes from the centre of the Netherlands, a country with 1.5 times the density of people in the UK. A pack of 11 wolves roaming through the snow!
Alongside “AI colonialism”, the other big worry with this is that modelling results are never confronted with reality, they exist in some kind of desk-based bubble. All models are wrong, only some are useful. It’s by going out & touching the grass that we can sort the useful from the nonsensical.
#AI is transforming #ecology — but at what cost? A new #Nature piece warns that as models, drones & remote sensing boom, many scientists are spending less time outdoors (“I rarely get outside”). Are we losing essential natural-history insight? 🌿🤖
🧪🌍🌐
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪🌍🌐
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
January 14, 2026 at 11:17 AM
Alongside “AI colonialism”, the other big worry with this is that modelling results are never confronted with reality, they exist in some kind of desk-based bubble. All models are wrong, only some are useful. It’s by going out & touching the grass that we can sort the useful from the nonsensical.
~0.2 snow leopards over that area 😉
November 25, 2025 at 9:28 PM
~0.2 snow leopards over that area 😉
A drone’s-eye view of the South Gobi, Mongolia, at sunset. Home to our long-term study of snow leopards & the social-ecological system of ungulates, carnivores & livestock herders.
You might wonder if anything was living down there. But there are 20 snow leopards & 2000 ibex. Life finds a way! 🌏
You might wonder if anything was living down there. But there are 20 snow leopards & 2000 ibex. Life finds a way! 🌏
November 25, 2025 at 10:17 AM
A drone’s-eye view of the South Gobi, Mongolia, at sunset. Home to our long-term study of snow leopards & the social-ecological system of ungulates, carnivores & livestock herders.
You might wonder if anything was living down there. But there are 20 snow leopards & 2000 ibex. Life finds a way! 🌏
You might wonder if anything was living down there. But there are 20 snow leopards & 2000 ibex. Life finds a way! 🌏
Reposted by Ollie Wearn
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
– Upton Sinclair
I do over-share this quote, but it's just so apt for so many things wrong with the world (pretty timeless too).
– Upton Sinclair
I do over-share this quote, but it's just so apt for so many things wrong with the world (pretty timeless too).
November 16, 2025 at 9:00 PM
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
– Upton Sinclair
I do over-share this quote, but it's just so apt for so many things wrong with the world (pretty timeless too).
– Upton Sinclair
I do over-share this quote, but it's just so apt for so many things wrong with the world (pretty timeless too).
Reposted by Ollie Wearn
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Hey everyone, is there a literature (can be grey) discussing the ethics of using #generativeAI in #conservation and-or #ecology? I have to persuade some folks to consider the “darker” side of it and some authoritative/academic sources would really help. Thanks for any links.
🌍#conservationscience
🌍#conservationscience
November 7, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Hey everyone, is there a literature (can be grey) discussing the ethics of using #generativeAI in #conservation and-or #ecology? I have to persuade some folks to consider the “darker” side of it and some authoritative/academic sources would really help. Thanks for any links.
🌍#conservationscience
🌍#conservationscience
Enjoyed reading about this partnership between the Kuikuro and Brazilian/US archaeologists.
✅Trust built over decades
✅Shared research objectives
✅Indigenous data sovereignty
✅Credit sharing
✅Respect & humility (“I didn’t “discover” anything”)
#participatoryscience www.science.org/content/arti...
✅Trust built over decades
✅Shared research objectives
✅Indigenous data sovereignty
✅Credit sharing
✅Respect & humility (“I didn’t “discover” anything”)
#participatoryscience www.science.org/content/arti...
To unearth their past, Amazonian people turn to ‘a language white men understand’
A model partnership between archaeologists and the Kuikuro people has helped rewrite the history of early Amazonian societies
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Enjoyed reading about this partnership between the Kuikuro and Brazilian/US archaeologists.
✅Trust built over decades
✅Shared research objectives
✅Indigenous data sovereignty
✅Credit sharing
✅Respect & humility (“I didn’t “discover” anything”)
#participatoryscience www.science.org/content/arti...
✅Trust built over decades
✅Shared research objectives
✅Indigenous data sovereignty
✅Credit sharing
✅Respect & humility (“I didn’t “discover” anything”)
#participatoryscience www.science.org/content/arti...
Created by and with the input of conservation practitioners with several decades of experience in conservation conflicts (+small contributions from me!)
November 6, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Created by and with the input of conservation practitioners with several decades of experience in conservation conflicts (+small contributions from me!)
Now live! www.ethicalconservation.org/toolkit/
-Offers a fresh perspective on “human-wildlife conflict”
-Suggests shifting the narrative from demonisation of wildlife towards an empathetic & nuanced approach to conflict, in partnership w/ local communities
#ethicalconservation #conservationscience🌍
-Offers a fresh perspective on “human-wildlife conflict”
-Suggests shifting the narrative from demonisation of wildlife towards an empathetic & nuanced approach to conflict, in partnership w/ local communities
#ethicalconservation #conservationscience🌍
November 6, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Now live! www.ethicalconservation.org/toolkit/
-Offers a fresh perspective on “human-wildlife conflict”
-Suggests shifting the narrative from demonisation of wildlife towards an empathetic & nuanced approach to conflict, in partnership w/ local communities
#ethicalconservation #conservationscience🌍
-Offers a fresh perspective on “human-wildlife conflict”
-Suggests shifting the narrative from demonisation of wildlife towards an empathetic & nuanced approach to conflict, in partnership w/ local communities
#ethicalconservation #conservationscience🌍
Totally agree.
Although not a single policy maker will be able to read the paywalled article linked to, so what was the point in publishing it there? (I ask, very much rhetorically)
Although not a single policy maker will be able to read the paywalled article linked to, so what was the point in publishing it there? (I ask, very much rhetorically)
October 31, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Totally agree.
Although not a single policy maker will be able to read the paywalled article linked to, so what was the point in publishing it there? (I ask, very much rhetorically)
Although not a single policy maker will be able to read the paywalled article linked to, so what was the point in publishing it there? (I ask, very much rhetorically)
I find it’s helpful to always start from the premise:
“All models are wrong, but some are useful” (Box, 1979)
“All models are wrong, but some are useful” (Box, 1979)
Editors & reviewers -
an ecological model can never be a complete representation of a system
they are simplifications, useful for exploring specific questions
Please do not expect models to do the impossible
an ecological model can never be a complete representation of a system
they are simplifications, useful for exploring specific questions
Please do not expect models to do the impossible
October 31, 2025 at 8:27 AM
I find it’s helpful to always start from the premise:
“All models are wrong, but some are useful” (Box, 1979)
“All models are wrong, but some are useful” (Box, 1979)
23mins running uphill to celebrate October 23rd, International Snow Leopard Day. #23for23
Because conservation often feels like an uphill battle.
But I guess you never know when the crest will suddenly appear and you’re on the downhill…
#SnowLeopardDay #MoveForSnowLeopards
Because conservation often feels like an uphill battle.
But I guess you never know when the crest will suddenly appear and you’re on the downhill…
#SnowLeopardDay #MoveForSnowLeopards
October 23, 2025 at 6:41 PM
23mins running uphill to celebrate October 23rd, International Snow Leopard Day. #23for23
Because conservation often feels like an uphill battle.
But I guess you never know when the crest will suddenly appear and you’re on the downhill…
#SnowLeopardDay #MoveForSnowLeopards
Because conservation often feels like an uphill battle.
But I guess you never know when the crest will suddenly appear and you’re on the downhill…
#SnowLeopardDay #MoveForSnowLeopards
We (Snow Leopard Trust) will have a consultancy available soon to do climate-smart protected area planning in Kyrgyzstan. Will involve #cameratrap data & Zonation. Suitable for PhD/post-doc level or a lab group. Get in touch if interested! Will post link once it’s live! 🧪🌍#conservationscience
October 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
We (Snow Leopard Trust) will have a consultancy available soon to do climate-smart protected area planning in Kyrgyzstan. Will involve #cameratrap data & Zonation. Suitable for PhD/post-doc level or a lab group. Get in touch if interested! Will post link once it’s live! 🧪🌍#conservationscience
Vested Interests has entered the chat
October 17, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Vested Interests has entered the chat