Mirjam Knörnschild
@berlinbatlab.bsky.social
Professor of Evolutionary Ethology at HU Berlin. Department Head at Museum for Natural History. Interested in animals and their voices. Bats rock.
More cool rats vs. bat content from both my lab and the Yovel Lab in this National Geographic article. I'm glad to report that cosmic justice has been achieved... and the bats won :-)
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
Rats wage war on bats in stunning new footage
New videos reveal the surprising dynamics of bat-rat relationships—and suggest how human activity is fueling these interspecies conflicts.
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:21 PM
More cool rats vs. bat content from both my lab and the Yovel Lab in this National Geographic article. I'm glad to report that cosmic justice has been achieved... and the bats won :-)
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
Remember…
Bats aren’t spooky, they’re adorable 💕Here, an Ectophylla alba pup chilling under a leaf tent gets a surprise visit… from a katydid.
Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇
Bats aren’t spooky, they’re adorable 💕Here, an Ectophylla alba pup chilling under a leaf tent gets a surprise visit… from a katydid.
Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇
October 31, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Remember…
Bats aren’t spooky, they’re adorable 💕Here, an Ectophylla alba pup chilling under a leaf tent gets a surprise visit… from a katydid.
Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇
Bats aren’t spooky, they’re adorable 💕Here, an Ectophylla alba pup chilling under a leaf tent gets a surprise visit… from a katydid.
Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
(Not so) Happy Halloween! 🦇🐀🎃
Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin documented brown rats catching #bats in mid-air at Segeberger Kalkberg, Northern Germany. A rare look at invasive species impacting urban wildlife. 🌍 @berlinbatlab.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin documented brown rats catching #bats in mid-air at Segeberger Kalkberg, Northern Germany. A rare look at invasive species impacting urban wildlife. 🌍 @berlinbatlab.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
October 31, 2025 at 10:09 AM
(Not so) Happy Halloween! 🦇🐀🎃
Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin documented brown rats catching #bats in mid-air at Segeberger Kalkberg, Northern Germany. A rare look at invasive species impacting urban wildlife. 🌍 @berlinbatlab.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
Researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin documented brown rats catching #bats in mid-air at Segeberger Kalkberg, Northern Germany. A rare look at invasive species impacting urban wildlife. 🌍 @berlinbatlab.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
Brown rats are preying on bats at urban hibernation sites – even snatching them mid-air. Conservation efforts must include non-native rodent control at key bat roosts.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Brown rats are preying on bats at urban hibernation sites – even snatching them mid-air. Conservation efforts must include non-native rodent control at key bat roosts.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our latest research highlights the importance of dry grasslands for bats 🦇🦇🦇
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 11, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Our latest research highlights the importance of dry grasslands for bats 🦇🦇🦇
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
This morning @dzg2025berlin.bsky.social, Mirjam Knörnschild gave a fantastic talk about social communication in Saccopteryx bilineata 🦇 including dialects, acoustically-based individual recognition.
@berlinbatlab.bsky.social
#dzg2025
www.cell.com/current-biol...
@berlinbatlab.bsky.social
#dzg2025
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Bats resolve conflicting sensory information for individual recognition
Knörnschild et al. reveal that greater sac-winged bats can detect inconsistencies
in sensory information for individual recognition. Playback experiments show that
bats ignore distress calls from visi...
www.cell.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:53 AM
This morning @dzg2025berlin.bsky.social, Mirjam Knörnschild gave a fantastic talk about social communication in Saccopteryx bilineata 🦇 including dialects, acoustically-based individual recognition.
@berlinbatlab.bsky.social
#dzg2025
www.cell.com/current-biol...
@berlinbatlab.bsky.social
#dzg2025
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Dan Riskin from The Bat Signal made a really cool video about our recent publication.
youtube.com/@followtheba...
youtube.com/@followtheba...
This Geat Big Bat Loves Hugs and Snuggles | The Bat Signal
YouTube video by Dan Riskin
youtube.com
August 26, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Dan Riskin from The Bat Signal made a really cool video about our recent publication.
youtube.com/@followtheba...
youtube.com/@followtheba...
Our recent study on cooperation in spectral bats is featured on CNN.
This is the first publication of my PhD student Marisa Tietge - way to go!
💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇
This is the first publication of my PhD student Marisa Tietge - way to go!
💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇
World’s largest carnivorous bat loves to cuddle | CNN
A new study found the world’s largest carnivorous bat is more social than previously thought. Commonly known as greater false vampire bats, this rare species was observed hunting and playing together ...
edition.cnn.com
August 22, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Our recent study on cooperation in spectral bats is featured on CNN.
This is the first publication of my PhD student Marisa Tietge - way to go!
💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇
This is the first publication of my PhD student Marisa Tietge - way to go!
💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇💕🦇
New publication from my lab: Vampyrum spectrum, the Neotropics' largest carnivorous bat, is very cooperative. These gentle apex predators regularly provide prey for family member – documented in the wild for the first time.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
August 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
New publication from my lab: Vampyrum spectrum, the Neotropics' largest carnivorous bat, is very cooperative. These gentle apex predators regularly provide prey for family member – documented in the wild for the first time.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
New paper out!
We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
August 10, 2025 at 10:48 PM
New paper out!
We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In the field in Abruzzo National Park, watching Daubenton’s bats hunt over water at night. Excited to co-supervise Chiara Belli’s PhD together with Danilo Russo from the Animal Ecology and Evolution Lab in Italy. Chiara studies altitudinal segregation in bats and how climate change affects it 🦇🦇🦇
July 28, 2025 at 10:07 PM
In the field in Abruzzo National Park, watching Daubenton’s bats hunt over water at night. Excited to co-supervise Chiara Belli’s PhD together with Danilo Russo from the Animal Ecology and Evolution Lab in Italy. Chiara studies altitudinal segregation in bats and how climate change affects it 🦇🦇🦇
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
Bats are underrated.
July 3, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Bats are underrated.
Danilo Russo and I have received a grant from MfN Berlin to study how climate change affects bat pup survival.
As Southern Europe swelters under record-breaking temperatures, we are investigating how extreme heat turns safe roosts into death traps – and how to prevent that.
As Southern Europe swelters under record-breaking temperatures, we are investigating how extreme heat turns safe roosts into death traps – and how to prevent that.
July 4, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Danilo Russo and I have received a grant from MfN Berlin to study how climate change affects bat pup survival.
As Southern Europe swelters under record-breaking temperatures, we are investigating how extreme heat turns safe roosts into death traps – and how to prevent that.
As Southern Europe swelters under record-breaking temperatures, we are investigating how extreme heat turns safe roosts into death traps – and how to prevent that.
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
2025. Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system phys.org/news/2025-06...
Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system
In the darkness of old church attics, surprisingly romantic scenes take place as male greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis), the largest native bat species in Europe, compete for the attention of f...
phys.org
June 24, 2025 at 6:09 AM
2025. Acoustic romance in old church attics: Greater mouse-eared bats display lek mating system phys.org/news/2025-06...
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
Last night, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech at the Locus awards. You can view the speech and read the full text here.
stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/
stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/
Hammer Speech
Last night, I got to stand up in front of the audience at the Locus Awards ceremony. I wound up presenting the Locus Award for Best Short Story (congratulations, Isabel J. Kim!) – but first, I deliver...
stone-soup.ghost.io
June 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Last night, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech at the Locus awards. You can view the speech and read the full text here.
stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/
stone-soup.ghost.io/hammer-speech/
Behavioral ecology can inform conservation – and male bats must be part of the picture!
Mating roosts are vital for reproduction, so they should receive the same protection as nursery roosts. Plus, males yodel there...😅
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Mating roosts are vital for reproduction, so they should receive the same protection as nursery roosts. Plus, males yodel there...😅
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
June 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Behavioral ecology can inform conservation – and male bats must be part of the picture!
Mating roosts are vital for reproduction, so they should receive the same protection as nursery roosts. Plus, males yodel there...😅
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Mating roosts are vital for reproduction, so they should receive the same protection as nursery roosts. Plus, males yodel there...😅
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
Our latest paper just came out. We found that more social parrots have a better vocabulary and females produce more variable call types than males. You can read more here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos.... (PS: the bird in the picture is not a parrot but the cover of RSOS.)
The effect of social structure on vocal flexibility in monk parakeets | Royal Society Open Science
The social complexity hypothesis argues that communicative complexity arises as a result of social complexity, with this occurring through mechanisms including plasticity and selection. Most research to date has focused on ultimate drivers of repertoire ...
doi.org
May 7, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Our latest paper just came out. We found that more social parrots have a better vocabulary and females produce more variable call types than males. You can read more here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos.... (PS: the bird in the picture is not a parrot but the cover of RSOS.)
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
Folks, Sara Niksic / Inner Child is fundraising for the next iteration of her phenomenal whale song/music science communication project - please consider a small donation to help make this happen 🎶🦑🐋 whydonate.com/en/fundraisi...
Fundraiser by Sara Niksic | Whale Song Revolution
Sara Niksic Needs Your Help | Do you want to be part of the Whale Song Revolution ??? My name is Sara Niksic , also known...
whydonate.com
May 17, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Folks, Sara Niksic / Inner Child is fundraising for the next iteration of her phenomenal whale song/music science communication project - please consider a small donation to help make this happen 🎶🦑🐋 whydonate.com/en/fundraisi...
Check out the beautiful book Smithsonian Kids published about our research on babbling baby bats! Illustrated by Gavin Scott and written by Paige Towler together with the Smithsonian Bat Lab.
Although it was published last year, I only received my copy a few days ago — and I’m completely smitten! ♥️
Although it was published last year, I only received my copy a few days ago — and I’m completely smitten! ♥️
May 16, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Check out the beautiful book Smithsonian Kids published about our research on babbling baby bats! Illustrated by Gavin Scott and written by Paige Towler together with the Smithsonian Bat Lab.
Although it was published last year, I only received my copy a few days ago — and I’m completely smitten! ♥️
Although it was published last year, I only received my copy a few days ago — and I’m completely smitten! ♥️
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
“[This]finding challenges the notion of a strictly human-specific Arcuate Fasciculus morphology and suggests that language-related neural specialisation in humans likely evolved through gradual evolutionary strengthening of a pre-existing connection, rather than arising de novo” 🧪🧠 👇
May 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
“[This]finding challenges the notion of a strictly human-specific Arcuate Fasciculus morphology and suggests that language-related neural specialisation in humans likely evolved through gradual evolutionary strengthening of a pre-existing connection, rather than arising de novo” 🧪🧠 👇
The inaugural Coller-Dolittle Prize was awarded to the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, scientists Laela Sayigh, Vincent Janik, Frants Jensen, and Peter Tyack, for their long-term field research on dolphin whistle communication. Kudos to the whole team!
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
Dolphin whistle decoders win $100,000 interspecies communication prize
Coller-Dolittle award won by US team for discovering call that triggers avoidance and could be used as alarm signal
www.theguardian.com
May 16, 2025 at 2:14 PM
The inaugural Coller-Dolittle Prize was awarded to the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, scientists Laela Sayigh, Vincent Janik, Frants Jensen, and Peter Tyack, for their long-term field research on dolphin whistle communication. Kudos to the whole team!
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
Reposted by Mirjam Knörnschild
Ever wondered how baby bats learn to sing? 🦇🎶
Turns out, their moms support their practice! Our study shows that maternal feedback leads to:
More vocal practice
Higher song syllable versatility
More mature song syllables
🔗https://elifesciences.org/articles/99474
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
Turns out, their moms support their practice! Our study shows that maternal feedback leads to:
More vocal practice
Higher song syllable versatility
More mature song syllables
🔗https://elifesciences.org/articles/99474
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
May 13, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Ever wondered how baby bats learn to sing? 🦇🎶
Turns out, their moms support their practice! Our study shows that maternal feedback leads to:
More vocal practice
Higher song syllable versatility
More mature song syllables
🔗https://elifesciences.org/articles/99474
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
Turns out, their moms support their practice! Our study shows that maternal feedback leads to:
More vocal practice
Higher song syllable versatility
More mature song syllables
🔗https://elifesciences.org/articles/99474
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
eLife wrote a beautiful dispatch about our study on maternal influences on vocal development in bat pups.
Check it out!
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
Check it out!
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
A mother’s touch
In the greater sac-winged bats, maternal behavior affects how pups learn their songs from males.
elifesciences.org
May 13, 2025 at 2:03 PM
eLife wrote a beautiful dispatch about our study on maternal influences on vocal development in bat pups.
Check it out!
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...
Check it out!
elifesciences.org/digests/9947...