Dr Cassandra Raby
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cassandraraby.com
Dr Cassandra Raby
@cassandraraby.com
2.1K followers 840 following 150 posts
Conservation biologist: animal behaviour and health.
Studies 🐒 🦔 🐇 🙋 | Stats, GIS, Fieldwork
Teaching Fellow, University of Leeds. FHEA.
Outdoor adventures and allotment grower
she/her (Cass/Cassie)
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cassandraraby.com
Always a privilege to be teaching out at Mpala Research Centre
Our MSc Biodiversity and Conservation students are having a great time so far
April 4, 2025 at 3:08 AM
cassandraraby.com
Post a warning
Sign says to "Be Aware of Baboons"
March 30, 2025 at 7:51 AM
cassandraraby.com
I'm currently trying to crop utilisation distributions by habitat type (without recalculating the UD). I've done it before, but I can't seem to replicate it well enough for me to make the conversion back to an estUDm for the UDOI calculations
Map of two habitats in black and white, looking pixelated. Some home ranges in yellow and purple are shown in the black habitat.
March 27, 2025 at 3:09 PM
cassandraraby.com
Throwback to my PhD fieldwork as I join the Tsaobis group meeting today

Love hearing about what these baboons have been up to since I was last out there
Selfie of me in the bottom left of the photo, with a baboon sat nicely on a rock in the top of the photo. The baboon is doing a great job at looking cute for a selfie
February 17, 2025 at 10:42 AM
cassandraraby.com
Spent the start of 2025 in the lake district. A frozen tent and some chilly walks, but also some incredible views. Especially from the top of Scafell Pike
A lake with brown green moors and a mountain in the background. Blue sky is reflected in the water Amazing view from the top of a mountain. Small boulders are covered in snow and as you look further out there are more mountains in the distance. A bright blue sky holds a bright winter sun.
January 5, 2025 at 11:35 AM
cassandraraby.com
Visiting a placement student at ZSL... It's been a long while since I was last here! It only feels like yesterday I was doing my PhD here
Photo of a beautiful adder. The reptile enclosure has changed since I was last at ZSL and it looks great. Terrible photo of an ostrich at London zoo. I was in a rush
December 17, 2024 at 8:09 PM
cassandraraby.com
It was great to be able to speak about the @asab.org virtual conferences and how they changed the accessibility of these events.

So many lessons were learnt during this process, and I hope academic societies continue to promote digital resources as part of their events.

x.com/Cassie_Raby/...
Screenshot of a tweet, with the text: Me after another #ASABvirtual2020 "I'm never doing another conference again" In real life: I have three more conference websites to finish #IEA2021 #AnimBehav2021 #EMPSEB26
December 16, 2024 at 11:18 AM
cassandraraby.com
A fox just ran in front of the castle!
Feels very appropriate
Super blurry photo, but you can kind of see the fox running with the castle in the background
December 11, 2024 at 8:58 PM
cassandraraby.com
Made it to Edinburgh! Looking forward to #ASABwinter2024 over the next couple of days.
Selfie of me in a blue bobble hat standing on the royal mile Edinburgh castle lit up in the dark. Old buildings are just lovely in Edinburgh. Here is a grey brick building with Royal Mile street sign on it.
December 11, 2024 at 8:53 PM
cassandraraby.com
I'll forever be haunted by my own face, with these cold eyes staring out
Screenshot of an avatar I made for moving around a virtual conference. It's a photo of my face stretched across a robot shaped object but with these very white cold digital eyes positioned over my eyes. I'm oddly attached to this creepy version of me.
December 6, 2024 at 12:13 PM
cassandraraby.com
I'm currently looking back through Twitter to see my posts about online conferences I've organised over the last few years. Apart from feeling a little emotional, it's reminded me how brilliantly manic the whole process was.

How do I even explain all this:
Not sure how to describe this image, but let's try. A mix of four photos or screenshots. One is a selfie of me with a laptop showing a presentation being delivered. Two are of the virtual reality meeting room I created for the virtual conferences (with my creepy avatar). And the other is a very terrible mock up of what the conference website could have looked like if it was really bleak. Luckily, I improved it from that original design
December 4, 2024 at 8:08 PM
cassandraraby.com
All this trouble from such a tiny piece of glass
#cycling
Photo of a bike wheel mid-inner tube change. In front of the wheel is my hand with one finger sticking out. In that finger is a small (and I mean small) glass fragment. I got through about three inner tubes to get the bike fixed
December 1, 2024 at 9:03 PM
cassandraraby.com
Anyone got any tips for getting through marking? I want to get these last lot finished today, but it's so draining.
Selfie of me losing the will to live. But in a cute way. I am a Caucasian woman with long blondish hair, wearing a white jumper, sat in my office.
November 25, 2024 at 2:45 PM
cassandraraby.com
And my sweet fluffy little Oats. Such an absolute cutie

#AdoptDontShop
Photo of my pet rabbit Oats. Cream double maned lion head rabbit (basically a very fluffy fluff) sat on a windowsill. She's sat upright on her back feet with her front paws raised. Video/Photo of Oats (cream double maned lion head) sat eating at her hay box
November 24, 2024 at 2:07 PM
cassandraraby.com
My little cuddly Rocco. Why is he so adorable 😍
Photo of my pet rabbit laying down. He is a black lop and is so very cute. His little paws are sticking out a little, and you can see bits of the gray fluff on this paws Pretty much the same photo of my black lop rabbit. You get to see his beautiful brown eyes more in this photo.
November 24, 2024 at 2:03 PM
cassandraraby.com
Earlier this year we wrote a paper illustrating the fact that many academics were moving from Twitter to other platforms, and we briefly highlighted BlueSky as one of the alternative options. Might be of interest?

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Screenshot of paper article: Is it time to get over the X? Assessing the global impact of social media conferences in animal behaviour. I'm the senior author listed.
November 23, 2024 at 6:35 PM
cassandraraby.com
Hello! I'm a little late to this party, but could I be added please? I study a range of animal species to determine the role of behavioural ecology on health and disease transmission

Cassandraraby.com
November 22, 2024 at 5:20 PM
cassandraraby.com
Don't you tell me no, Soul

I hear you calling
Oh, baby, please
Give a little egret
to me
Lone Little Egret, stood on a grassy bank, the bird is reflected in the dark, still water. Photo taken from the RSPB website
November 20, 2024 at 6:07 PM
cassandraraby.com
I've just connected my profile to my website domain. Still not sure if this was a good idea. Hopefully any old links will redirect?

And I'd like to make myself searchable as Cass Raby or Cassie Raby. Tricky going by so many variations of a name. Anyone got any advice?
Screenshot of my name Dr Cassandra Raby and my new domain which is my website address @cassandraraby.com - which makes me feel like I'm a business or something.
November 19, 2024 at 12:40 PM
cassandraraby.com
Over time the Alt-text I add the pictures seems to get more and more unhinged. I always hope it's still accessibile, so I am happy to adjust if needed. But if it still useful, then I look forward to the madness that is to come in future posts.
Coming to look for the Alt-text? I knew you would. So this is a photo I took of a baboon when I was doing my fieldwork. Background is a bright blue sky (appropriate for this app), bottom left and right are orange rocks, and peering inbetween those two rocks is a baboon. You can see his head and hand looking at me from above where I was sitting.
November 15, 2024 at 1:57 PM
cassandraraby.com
Hello there!
Looks like I'm ready to start operating...
Photo of the operation room in the museum. I'm stood by the main wooden table whilst tying up the operating apron on. A bit morbid but I look very happy about the whole thing.
November 15, 2024 at 9:00 AM
cassandraraby.com
REMINDER!

Breathe in deeply

Relax that jaw

Drink some water

Back up your data

💙
Baboon (his name is Melbourne) lying on a rock whilst yawning. You can see some of his teeth, but also his cute hands. Overall, very chill vibes.
November 13, 2024 at 9:51 PM
cassandraraby.com
The benefits of having dissertation students studying captive species enrichment...
A free trip to Tropical World for me 😁

I grew up in Leeds and have such fond memories of this place.
A beautiful butterfly (brownish with a bright eye spot on its wing) resting on a butterfly feeding (red sponge thing) A meerkat sat on sand, looking upwards, and looking like such a cutie
November 11, 2024 at 1:18 PM
cassandraraby.com
Hanging out at the allotment after dark is a little cool and a little spooky... Especially with all the garlic just hanging there
Photo of inside my allotment shed with a lantern lighting the interior. It's a bit of a mess, but I also have loads of garlic hanging down which is backlit by the light.
November 9, 2024 at 6:21 PM
cassandraraby.com
Hello all!
I'm Cass. I'm an ecologist who focuses on animal health and behaviour. This includes studying monkeys and hedgehogs. But I also dabble in other conservation research, accessibility in STEM, and fieldwork pedagogy.
And I have two pet rabbits
This is a photo of Syndey, an almost adult male chacma baboon. He is posing like a king, with his left hand draped over a reddish rock, and his chin resting on the top of the rock. Photo of me, centre, behind a sign that says "Be aware of baboons". Which is a message I strongly approve of. Photo of two rabbits on a window sill (it's safer than it sounds). On the left is Oats who is cream and so insanely fluffy. She's a double-maned lionhead. On the right is a black lop rabbit who is fluffy, but not as fluffy. Both are perfection.
November 8, 2024 at 5:23 PM