Bill Bateman
@acanthoplus.bsky.social
At Curtin Uni, Perth, W. Aus - urban ecology, behavioural ecology, wildlife, conservation, eDNA. Twitter @Acanthoplus
Lab. Page: https://www.facebook.com/CurtinUniversityBehaviouralEcology
Lab. Page: https://www.facebook.com/CurtinUniversityBehaviouralEcology
Reposted by Bill Bateman
A new species of native leaf cutter bee, Megachile lucifer, has been described in Western Australia. This is one of an estimated 500 currently undescribed native #bees in Australia
#ausinverts #wildoz #pollinators #nature #inverts
theconversation.com/i-discovered...
#ausinverts #wildoz #pollinators #nature #inverts
theconversation.com/i-discovered...
I discovered a new Australian native bee, but there are still hundreds we need to identify
The discovery of a horned native bee that pollinates a rare plant highlights how little we know about Australian pollinators.
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:54 AM
A new species of native leaf cutter bee, Megachile lucifer, has been described in Western Australia. This is one of an estimated 500 currently undescribed native #bees in Australia
#ausinverts #wildoz #pollinators #nature #inverts
theconversation.com/i-discovered...
#ausinverts #wildoz #pollinators #nature #inverts
theconversation.com/i-discovered...
Reposted by Bill Bateman
The animal kingdom, arranged according to its organization, serving as a foundation for the natural history of animals: London: G. Henderson, 1834-1837. (source: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28027721) #nature #illustration #art
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 AM
The animal kingdom, arranged according to its organization, serving as a foundation for the natural history of animals: London: G. Henderson, 1834-1837. (source: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28027721) #nature #illustration #art
Reposted by Bill Bateman
Swifts have declined 70% since 1994.
They fly from Africa to breed here, only to find we've blocked their nest sites.
A £35 swift brick nest box was proposed for all new buildings.
The construction industry lobbied Labour to block it.
Biodiversity sustains life. Labour sustains economic power.
They fly from Africa to breed here, only to find we've blocked their nest sites.
A £35 swift brick nest box was proposed for all new buildings.
The construction industry lobbied Labour to block it.
Biodiversity sustains life. Labour sustains economic power.
November 8, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Swifts have declined 70% since 1994.
They fly from Africa to breed here, only to find we've blocked their nest sites.
A £35 swift brick nest box was proposed for all new buildings.
The construction industry lobbied Labour to block it.
Biodiversity sustains life. Labour sustains economic power.
They fly from Africa to breed here, only to find we've blocked their nest sites.
A £35 swift brick nest box was proposed for all new buildings.
The construction industry lobbied Labour to block it.
Biodiversity sustains life. Labour sustains economic power.
Reposted by Bill Bateman
I feel seen! Bamboo Pit Viper on the move on a drizzly night in Hong Kong
November 8, 2025 at 9:12 AM
I feel seen! Bamboo Pit Viper on the move on a drizzly night in Hong Kong
Reposted by Bill Bateman
I’ve seen more snakes in jars than I’ve had hot breakfasts, but these Bulgarian bad boys are far and away the fanciest dern snakes in jars I ever did see.
There were 52 species of Bulgarian herpetofauna (one is now thought extinct) & you can see them all exquisitely displayed, as @waspwoman.bsky.social would say at the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, Bulgaria
I’m loving the wiggle of the displays
#museums #displays
I’m loving the wiggle of the displays
#museums #displays
November 8, 2025 at 7:10 AM
I’ve seen more snakes in jars than I’ve had hot breakfasts, but these Bulgarian bad boys are far and away the fanciest dern snakes in jars I ever did see.
Reposted by Bill Bateman
A monograph of the Nectariniidae, or, Family of sun-birds London: Published by the author, 1876-1880. (source: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/item/113608) #nature #illustration #art
November 7, 2025 at 12:20 AM
A monograph of the Nectariniidae, or, Family of sun-birds London: Published by the author, 1876-1880. (source: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/item/113608) #nature #illustration #art
Reposted by Bill Bateman
For today’s #WildlifeWednesday is the endangered Baudin's Black-Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii), found in south-western WA. These cockatoos can live for over 50 years and have a narrower and longer bill than the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, which they are sometimes mistaken for!
📷 Keith Lightbody
#WildOz
📷 Keith Lightbody
#WildOz
November 5, 2025 at 5:17 AM
For today’s #WildlifeWednesday is the endangered Baudin's Black-Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii), found in south-western WA. These cockatoos can live for over 50 years and have a narrower and longer bill than the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, which they are sometimes mistaken for!
📷 Keith Lightbody
#WildOz
📷 Keith Lightbody
#WildOz
Reposted by Bill Bateman
Large old trees sustain avian communities and critical plant-bird interactions in highly urbanised environments | www.sciencedirect.co... | Biological Conservation | #ornithology 🪶
November 4, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Large old trees sustain avian communities and critical plant-bird interactions in highly urbanised environments | www.sciencedirect.co... | Biological Conservation | #ornithology 🪶
Reposted by Bill Bateman
Australia is one of the sunniest places on earth.
Cover every car park with solar panels. Provide shade and cool the cars at the same time as producing electricity.
Cover every car park with solar panels. Provide shade and cool the cars at the same time as producing electricity.
South Korea (hey how about it PM #MarkCarney?) #Solar #ClimateChange #EnergyTransition electrek.co/2025/11/02/n...
New national law will turn large parking lots into solar power farms
Starting this month, parking lots in South Korea with more than 80 spaces will be required to install solar canopies and carports.
electrek.co
November 4, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Australia is one of the sunniest places on earth.
Cover every car park with solar panels. Provide shade and cool the cars at the same time as producing electricity.
Cover every car park with solar panels. Provide shade and cool the cars at the same time as producing electricity.
3 x Master’s by Research projects: Artificial Habitat Optimisation for Fauna - here at Curtin University Perth WA (not Sydney despite link!) Closing date for applications 30 November 2025
www.ecolsoc.org.au/opportunitie...
www.ecolsoc.org.au/opportunitie...
3 x Master’s by Research projects: Artificial Habitat Optimisation for Fauna - Curtin University, WA, Sydney - Ecological Society of Australia
Closing 30 November 2025 3 x Master’s by Research projects: Artificial Habitat Optimisation for Fauna Australia’s legacy of numerous unclosed mines provides a huge opportunity for habitat rehabilitati...
www.ecolsoc.org.au
November 5, 2025 at 3:06 AM
3 x Master’s by Research projects: Artificial Habitat Optimisation for Fauna - here at Curtin University Perth WA (not Sydney despite link!) Closing date for applications 30 November 2025
www.ecolsoc.org.au/opportunitie...
www.ecolsoc.org.au/opportunitie...
Reposted by Bill Bateman
A young male Rhinoceros Hornbill turned up in Singapore this week. It is huge compared to the local Oriental Pied Hornbills, and it oozes charisma. This is the first time in 200 years that this species has been seen in Singapore, despite populations in neighbouring Malaysia.
November 1, 2025 at 12:53 PM
A young male Rhinoceros Hornbill turned up in Singapore this week. It is huge compared to the local Oriental Pied Hornbills, and it oozes charisma. This is the first time in 200 years that this species has been seen in Singapore, despite populations in neighbouring Malaysia.
Reposted by Bill Bateman
Universities across the world seeing this:
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
October 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Universities across the world seeing this:
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
Reposted by Bill Bateman
I teach a field natural history course that’s very analog—a hand-written field journal, hands-on skill sessions, hours in nature each week. This very much tracks. My evals for that class emphasize the class’s impacts on how they think, and their mental health.
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 1, 2025 at 10:39 PM
I teach a field natural history course that’s very analog—a hand-written field journal, hands-on skill sessions, hours in nature each week. This very much tracks. My evals for that class emphasize the class’s impacts on how they think, and their mental health.
Banding out west: Grey Shrikethrush, Blackfronted Dotterel, Yellowfaced Miner #Birds #birdbanding #WildOz
November 1, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Banding out west: Grey Shrikethrush, Blackfronted Dotterel, Yellowfaced Miner #Birds #birdbanding #WildOz
Reposted by Bill Bateman
Meet the Numbat, Australia's only truly diurnal marsupial. This beautiful #SciArt is from John Gould's "Mammals of Australia" (1863): "with its beautiful tail spread out to the full extent, it offers a great resemblance to the Squirrels". doi.org/10.5962/p.31... #InternationalNumbatDay #ILoveBHL 🧪
November 1, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Meet the Numbat, Australia's only truly diurnal marsupial. This beautiful #SciArt is from John Gould's "Mammals of Australia" (1863): "with its beautiful tail spread out to the full extent, it offers a great resemblance to the Squirrels". doi.org/10.5962/p.31... #InternationalNumbatDay #ILoveBHL 🧪
Sunset near Carnegie Station WA
October 31, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Sunset near Carnegie Station WA
Two extremes of bird banding: fairy wren and murder talons of a brown goshawk #birds #birdbanding #wildoz
October 29, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Two extremes of bird banding: fairy wren and murder talons of a brown goshawk #birds #birdbanding #wildoz
Reposted by Bill Bateman
Allowing domestic bees in a national park is akin to letting cattle graze in it. If beekeepers wanted healthy forests they would not introduce a competitor to wild pollinators.
October 28, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Allowing domestic bees in a national park is akin to letting cattle graze in it. If beekeepers wanted healthy forests they would not introduce a competitor to wild pollinators.
Reposted by Bill Bateman
“4 in 10 U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the environmental impacts of AI. That’s higher than the share of Americans who are highly concerned about the environmental impact of the cryptocurrency, meat production and air travel industries”
🌎 apnews.com/article/arti...
🌎 apnews.com/article/arti...
What Americans think about the environmental impact of AI, according to a new poll
A new poll finds that as the United States rapidly builds massive data centers for the development of artificial intelligence, many Americans are concerned about the environmental impact.
apnews.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:48 PM
“4 in 10 U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the environmental impacts of AI. That’s higher than the share of Americans who are highly concerned about the environmental impact of the cryptocurrency, meat production and air travel industries”
🌎 apnews.com/article/arti...
🌎 apnews.com/article/arti...
Reposted by Bill Bateman
New paper on fear of novelty in birds: 129 collaborators, 82 institutions, 24 countries, and 6 continents! 5 from the lab of Dr @laurenguillette.bsky.social
(also featuring Connor Lambert, Stefan Stanescu, Karen Yeung, and Dr Ben Whittaker) @ba-whittaker.bsky.social
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
(also featuring Connor Lambert, Stefan Stanescu, Karen Yeung, and Dr Ben Whittaker) @ba-whittaker.bsky.social
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia
Neophobia (the aversive response to novelty) varies considerably across species and individuals, and can impact adaptability and survival. This study assesses neophobia in 1400 subjects from 136 bird ...
dx.plos.org
October 17, 2025 at 2:53 PM
New paper on fear of novelty in birds: 129 collaborators, 82 institutions, 24 countries, and 6 continents! 5 from the lab of Dr @laurenguillette.bsky.social
(also featuring Connor Lambert, Stefan Stanescu, Karen Yeung, and Dr Ben Whittaker) @ba-whittaker.bsky.social
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
(also featuring Connor Lambert, Stefan Stanescu, Karen Yeung, and Dr Ben Whittaker) @ba-whittaker.bsky.social
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Reposted by Bill Bateman
EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺46c
46.1 Birdsville
QUEENSLAND HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
44.8 Bourke
NEW SOUTH WALES HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
Dozens of records pulverized with extreme margins👇
Australian climatic history rewritten
46.1 Birdsville
QUEENSLAND HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
44.8 Bourke
NEW SOUTH WALES HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
Dozens of records pulverized with extreme margins👇
Australian climatic history rewritten
October 21, 2025 at 10:44 AM
EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺46c
46.1 Birdsville
QUEENSLAND HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
44.8 Bourke
NEW SOUTH WALES HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
Dozens of records pulverized with extreme margins👇
Australian climatic history rewritten
46.1 Birdsville
QUEENSLAND HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
44.8 Bourke
NEW SOUTH WALES HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY EVER
Dozens of records pulverized with extreme margins👇
Australian climatic history rewritten
Maybe this would be good for some people, but it makes me feel slightly sick. The continuing infantilisation and enshittification of the world...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’
The ad campaign for the wearable AI chatbot Friend has been raising hackles for months in New York. But has this companion been unfairly maligned – and could it help end loneliness?
www.theguardian.com
October 22, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Maybe this would be good for some people, but it makes me feel slightly sick. The continuing infantilisation and enshittification of the world...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...