Luke Rendell
@lrendell.bsky.social
Reader in Biology @_SMRU_ @SchoolofBiology @univofstandrews. Ocean Yachtmaster for hire! Marine conservation, cetacean & fish behaviour, cultural evolution. He/him. Thalassophile. Sailor. #Fife
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/biology/people/ler4
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/biology/people/ler4
No, they really haven't. Calling spectral peaks vowels is as inane as saying that because my washing up gloves are also yellow, they have the same nutritional content as a banana. Zero evidence of vowel-like function. It's pure clickbait, and a new low in irresponsible claims from this group 🙄🐳🦑🧪
CETI scientists have discovered vowel and diphthong-like patterns in sperm whale communication! Read: bit.ly/3WSn9rc
By: @begus.bsky.social, Ronald Sprouse, Andrej Leban, Miles Silva & Shane Gero.
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, @umich.edu, @carleton.ca, @csail.mit.edu
Animation: Meghan Fenske
By: @begus.bsky.social, Ronald Sprouse, Andrej Leban, Miles Silva & Shane Gero.
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, @umich.edu, @carleton.ca, @csail.mit.edu
Animation: Meghan Fenske
November 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM
No, they really haven't. Calling spectral peaks vowels is as inane as saying that because my washing up gloves are also yellow, they have the same nutritional content as a banana. Zero evidence of vowel-like function. It's pure clickbait, and a new low in irresponsible claims from this group 🙄🐳🦑🧪
Reposted by Luke Rendell
Meet our plenary speaker Felicity Muth!
Assistant professor at the University of California Davis, her lab group are broadly interested in cognition, especially aspects of learning and memory that have a clear function in the natural world, focusing on captive and wild bumblebees.
Assistant professor at the University of California Davis, her lab group are broadly interested in cognition, especially aspects of learning and memory that have a clear function in the natural world, focusing on captive and wild bumblebees.
November 6, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Meet our plenary speaker Felicity Muth!
Assistant professor at the University of California Davis, her lab group are broadly interested in cognition, especially aspects of learning and memory that have a clear function in the natural world, focusing on captive and wild bumblebees.
Assistant professor at the University of California Davis, her lab group are broadly interested in cognition, especially aspects of learning and memory that have a clear function in the natural world, focusing on captive and wild bumblebees.
Great albeit exhausting fun representing @seamammalresearch.bsky.social on the Developing Young Workforce/Hope the Whale roadshow this with colleagues from WDC. 3 days, 3 schools, ~900 students ... aaaaand breath...🤣🐳
October 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Great albeit exhausting fun representing @seamammalresearch.bsky.social on the Developing Young Workforce/Hope the Whale roadshow this with colleagues from WDC. 3 days, 3 schools, ~900 students ... aaaaand breath...🤣🐳
Reposted by Luke Rendell
Super happy to share our new preprint on inferring Galapagos sperm whale sex and age-class using drone photogrammetry 🐳 📏 along with the wonderful @cmk-clarke.bsky.social, David Gaspard, and Hal Whitehead www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Inferring sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) sex and developmental stage using aerial photogrammetry
Demographic data (i.e. sex and age) are fundamental for analyzing behaviour patterns and evaluating the reproductive potential of a population. However, determining these traits in the wild can be cha...
www.biorxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Super happy to share our new preprint on inferring Galapagos sperm whale sex and age-class using drone photogrammetry 🐳 📏 along with the wonderful @cmk-clarke.bsky.social, David Gaspard, and Hal Whitehead www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Super chuffed that @mikemwebster.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social and I had our course 'The question of culture in animals' among this list! 🐳🧪
We're pleased to announce and congratulate the winners of the Advancing Cultural Evolution Course Design Awards! This competition recognises leading educators in the field of cultural evolution and their existing efforts to advance its teaching.
We have 7 winners and 2 runners up (listed below):
We have 7 winners and 2 runners up (listed below):
October 21, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Super chuffed that @mikemwebster.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social and I had our course 'The question of culture in animals' among this list! 🐳🧪
Reposted by Luke Rendell
After almost a year(!!) of my PhD, I am excited to start my 3-month placement at @rothamsted.bsky.social 🌱 I shall miss this lovely group at St Andrews @animalsdoingstuff.bsky.social @mikemwebster.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social but I'm sure I'll be back to the sea before I know it! 🌊🐟🦀
August 28, 2025 at 3:28 PM
After almost a year(!!) of my PhD, I am excited to start my 3-month placement at @rothamsted.bsky.social 🌱 I shall miss this lovely group at St Andrews @animalsdoingstuff.bsky.social @mikemwebster.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social but I'm sure I'll be back to the sea before I know it! 🌊🐟🦀
File under "no s**t Sherlock" 🙄
University efficiency drives may have opposite effect, study finds.
The administrative burden in Australian universities is most keenly felt by teaching and research staff, according to a study from the University of Melbourne’s faculty of education.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-aust...
The administrative burden in Australian universities is most keenly felt by teaching and research staff, according to a study from the University of Melbourne’s faculty of education.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-aust...
University efficiency drives may have opposite effect, study finds - Research Professional News
Teaching and research staff say reforms mean more red tape for them, Australian survey reports
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM
File under "no s**t Sherlock" 🙄
Better late than never but had such a great time last month helping Whitehead lab collect body condition and photo id on northern bottlenose whales in the Gully MPA - see 🧵 for cool whale videos!🐳🦑⛵
August 19, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Better late than never but had such a great time last month helping Whitehead lab collect body condition and photo id on northern bottlenose whales in the Gully MPA - see 🧵 for cool whale videos!🐳🦑⛵
TACO Don is selling Ukraine down the river. Time for UK/EU and it's citizens to step up, good to see this effort! Please consider donating to Come Back Alive savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
UK and EU at Zelenskyy’s side in Washington for meeting with Trump
Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and others will aim to push back against ceding of Ukraine territory in ‘peace plan’
www.theguardian.com
August 17, 2025 at 9:23 PM
TACO Don is selling Ukraine down the river. Time for UK/EU and it's citizens to step up, good to see this effort! Please consider donating to Come Back Alive savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Reposted by Luke Rendell
Spotting whales for the boat team at the lighthouse in the Southern Lagoon, New Caledonia 🐳 🎶 @solenederville.bsky.social @francae.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @entropie-marinelab.bsky.social
August 14, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Spotting whales for the boat team at the lighthouse in the Southern Lagoon, New Caledonia 🐳 🎶 @solenederville.bsky.social @francae.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @entropie-marinelab.bsky.social
Reposted by Luke Rendell
Humpback whale fieldwork 2025: the season is well underway in the Southern Lagoon, New Caledonia @solenederville.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @entropie-marinelab.bsky.social @francae.bsky.social
August 11, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Humpback whale fieldwork 2025: the season is well underway in the Southern Lagoon, New Caledonia @solenederville.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @entropie-marinelab.bsky.social @francae.bsky.social
Reposted by Luke Rendell
New 2 year post-doc position on cultural adaptation in complex environmental management.
Post-Doctoral Position on Cultural Adaptation in Forest Management
The University of Maine seeks a post-doctoral researcher for a two-year project on human cultural adaptation in forest management, requiring a strong quantitative background and experience in modeling.
timwaring.info
June 9, 2025 at 3:35 PM
New 2 year post-doc position on cultural adaptation in complex environmental management.
Reposted by Luke Rendell
New paper
Exploring the biodiversity of cetacean communities along the western North Atlantic Ocean shelf-break
led by Samara Haver.
One finding:
"beaked whale species [were] the most significant driver of differences among cetacean communities"
🐳🌍🦑🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Exploring the biodiversity of cetacean communities along the western North Atlantic Ocean shelf-break
led by Samara Haver.
One finding:
"beaked whale species [were] the most significant driver of differences among cetacean communities"
🐳🌍🦑🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
July 9, 2025 at 12:17 AM
New paper
Exploring the biodiversity of cetacean communities along the western North Atlantic Ocean shelf-break
led by Samara Haver.
One finding:
"beaked whale species [were] the most significant driver of differences among cetacean communities"
🐳🌍🦑🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Exploring the biodiversity of cetacean communities along the western North Atlantic Ocean shelf-break
led by Samara Haver.
One finding:
"beaked whale species [were] the most significant driver of differences among cetacean communities"
🐳🌍🦑🧪
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Orca snogging?! Wild tongues!? 🤭🙄 Tongue nibbling is a fascinating behaviour, but make no mistake, this paper is a sordid piece of propaganda attempting to sanitise two ethically dubious ways of economically exploiting these animals - spicy opinions here: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Orcas spotted SNOGGING for the first time - and they even use tongues
A surprising new study now shows that orcas have a softer, possibly even romantic, side as they are caught kissing on film for the first time.
www.dailymail.co.uk
July 3, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Orca snogging?! Wild tongues!? 🤭🙄 Tongue nibbling is a fascinating behaviour, but make no mistake, this paper is a sordid piece of propaganda attempting to sanitise two ethically dubious ways of economically exploiting these animals - spicy opinions here: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Reposted by Luke Rendell
I really enjoyed presenting some preliminary results from my PhD work at the St Andrews Biology PGR conference today! It was great to see all the cool work coming out of our community as well 🦀🐟🔊 (thanks to @mikemwebster.bsky.social and @lrendell.bsky.social as always)
June 11, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I really enjoyed presenting some preliminary results from my PhD work at the St Andrews Biology PGR conference today! It was great to see all the cool work coming out of our community as well 🦀🐟🔊 (thanks to @mikemwebster.bsky.social and @lrendell.bsky.social as always)
Reposted by Luke Rendell
Huge shoutout to @anacanadas.bsky.social and the MGEL team for this ambitious effort!
A massive collaborative dataset, rigorous modeling & timely insight into Mediterranean cetaceans—especially sperm whales.
Incredible work presented at #ECSconference2025 🐋🧪
#MarineConservation #MGEL #OceanScience
A massive collaborative dataset, rigorous modeling & timely insight into Mediterranean cetaceans—especially sperm whales.
Incredible work presented at #ECSconference2025 🐋🧪
#MarineConservation #MGEL #OceanScience
Super complex but important work by @anacanadas.bsky.social who modelled Mediterranean cetacean abundance using multiple data sources - estimates of total sperm whale abundance had no upper ci above 5.5k supporting recent 'Endangered' IUCN listing doi.org/10.2305/IUCN... #ECSconference2025 🧪🐋🦑
June 4, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Huge shoutout to @anacanadas.bsky.social and the MGEL team for this ambitious effort!
A massive collaborative dataset, rigorous modeling & timely insight into Mediterranean cetaceans—especially sperm whales.
Incredible work presented at #ECSconference2025 🐋🧪
#MarineConservation #MGEL #OceanScience
A massive collaborative dataset, rigorous modeling & timely insight into Mediterranean cetaceans—especially sperm whales.
Incredible work presented at #ECSconference2025 🐋🧪
#MarineConservation #MGEL #OceanScience
JASA 'Scilight' of @angelaamlin.bsky.social's new paper here: pubs.aip.org/aip/sci/arti... 🐋🦭🦑
June 3, 2025 at 10:16 AM
JASA 'Scilight' of @angelaamlin.bsky.social's new paper here: pubs.aip.org/aip/sci/arti... 🐋🦭🦑
New paper 🚨 very excited to see Angela Amlin's first PhD paper confirming the underwater vocal repertoire of Mediterranean monk seals published 🦑🦭🐋 @gordonhastie.bsky.social @joan-gonzalvo.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/art...
Confirmed vocal activity of Mediterranean monk seals in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago, Greece
Mediterranean monk seals (Monachus monachus) are the world's rarest seal species, with fewer than 1000 individuals remaining across fragmented subpopulations. M
pubs.aip.org
May 29, 2025 at 10:47 AM
New paper 🚨 very excited to see Angela Amlin's first PhD paper confirming the underwater vocal repertoire of Mediterranean monk seals published 🦑🦭🐋 @gordonhastie.bsky.social @joan-gonzalvo.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/art...
My new skincare routine is amazing - folks out here spotting me as an undergrad! Follow for my exclusive how-to videos 🤣
Appeals to authority are rarely advisable, but uninformed ones can be embarrassing. There is an important debate about the 'AI to translate whales' fad, but this ain't it. 🐋
Appeals to authority are rarely advisable, but uninformed ones can be embarrassing. There is an important debate about the 'AI to translate whales' fad, but this ain't it. 🐋
May 21, 2025 at 8:39 PM
My new skincare routine is amazing - folks out here spotting me as an undergrad! Follow for my exclusive how-to videos 🤣
Appeals to authority are rarely advisable, but uninformed ones can be embarrassing. There is an important debate about the 'AI to translate whales' fad, but this ain't it. 🐋
Appeals to authority are rarely advisable, but uninformed ones can be embarrassing. There is an important debate about the 'AI to translate whales' fad, but this ain't it. 🐋
Reposted by Luke Rendell
🐳Come join us for a Whale of a Weekend in Dundee from 26-29 June! Some of our team will be part of a panel on June 28, sharing tales about studying whales in South Georgia 🐳
🧪@southgeorgiahertiagetrust @FOSGI
Go to for more information: sght.org/woaw/
🧪@southgeorgiahertiagetrust @FOSGI
Go to for more information: sght.org/woaw/
WoaW - South Georgia Heritage Trust
sght.org
May 19, 2025 at 5:11 PM
🐳Come join us for a Whale of a Weekend in Dundee from 26-29 June! Some of our team will be part of a panel on June 28, sharing tales about studying whales in South Georgia 🐳
🧪@southgeorgiahertiagetrust @FOSGI
Go to for more information: sght.org/woaw/
🧪@southgeorgiahertiagetrust @FOSGI
Go to for more information: sght.org/woaw/
Reposted by Luke Rendell
Interested in biology and comparative psychology, and working in an interdisciplinary project and research team? I’m advertising two PhD positions on the evolutionary origins of cooperative sociality and communication (start 1.10.) at the University of Konstanz👇 links below!
May 17, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Interested in biology and comparative psychology, and working in an interdisciplinary project and research team? I’m advertising two PhD positions on the evolutionary origins of cooperative sociality and communication (start 1.10.) at the University of Konstanz👇 links below!
Mum's in the news again... www.aberdeenlive.news/news/aberdee...
North Sea Knitting grannies cycle length of carbon pipeline from Grangemouth to St Fergus
The group have been talking to the public along the journey which departed Grangemouth, passing through Stirling, Perth, Forfar, Stonehaven, Aberdeen and Peterhead before finally reaching St Fergus.
www.aberdeenlive.news
May 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Mum's in the news again... www.aberdeenlive.news/news/aberdee...
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...
Alec Burslem @alecburslem.bsky.social presented his new non invasive method for measuring body composition in sperm whales - low impact and generalisable 👏👏👏 @seamammalresearch.bsky.social #ECSconference2025 🐋🦑🧪
May 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Alec Burslem @alecburslem.bsky.social presented his new non invasive method for measuring body composition in sperm whales - low impact and generalisable 👏👏👏 @seamammalresearch.bsky.social #ECSconference2025 🐋🦑🧪
Narwhal narhwals because they are so awesome! Marie Louis @mariels.bsky.social shows recent but strong divergence in narwhal populations on different sides of Greenland maybe by learned migratory routes #ECSconference2025 🐋🦑🧪
May 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Narwhal narhwals because they are so awesome! Marie Louis @mariels.bsky.social shows recent but strong divergence in narwhal populations on different sides of Greenland maybe by learned migratory routes #ECSconference2025 🐋🦑🧪