Madeleine Geiger
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madg.bsky.social
Madeleine Geiger
@madg.bsky.social
280 followers 290 following 28 posts
Biologist, interested in anything with 0 - 1306 legs, living and otherwise 🦜| research: ecology & evolution of human-animal interactions 🐈‍⬛ | curator @ Natural History Museum St.Gallen | researcher @ SWILD
orcid.org/0000-0002-8405-6663
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madg.bsky.social
🐇 Very happy to announce our new paper in #ProcB on rabbit #domestication and feralization and what that does to the skulls of these animals. That's #evolution going on in (almost) real time.

@royalsocietypublishing.org

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

Photo credit: Mike SY Lee
A feral European rabbit is chilling among acacias and eucalypts in Australia. Its fur is a mixture of mainly brown tones, with some orange and white, and it looks very fluffy. The rabbit is sitting fairly close to the camera with its ears erect, looking at it with its large, dark eyes.
July 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
madg.bsky.social
Eulipotyphlans are often considered primitive mammals. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hedgehogs for example, have highly specialized hair (aka spikes) & cutaneous muscles. This allows them to raise their spikes & pull their oversized, spiky skin over their whole body like a nasty gym bag.
Schematic drawing of the hedgehog's most important cutaneous muscles, which allow it to curl up.. Arrows show the approximate direction of contraction of the muscles. (c) Madeleine Geiger; after Reeve1997 and Morris 2018.
November 28, 2024 at 6:55 AM
madg.bsky.social
Small dog = small brain, big dog = big brain?🐕‍🦺 It's not that simple! Our new study shows that toy dogs have relatively larger brains than working dogs, even though the latter have been bred to perform complex tasks to assist humans: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
photo: (c) Ana Balcarcel
Two dogs sit next to each other on a paved square. The dog on the right is a large, long-haired Collie, the one on the left a small, short-haired Pomeranian. Both dogs are looking curiously at the observer. In the background to the left is the reddish wall of a house, and to the right and back a lush green bush.
November 14, 2024 at 12:57 PM
madg.bsky.social
The Alpstein - the most beautiful mountains currently in existence. Change my mind.
View of a rugged mountain range, karst outcrops, and green meadows from above, against a blue sky with some light clouds. The picturesque mountain inn "Tierwis" can be seen from atop. Imagine a mild breeze and the rolling calls of a chatter of Alpine Choughs.
September 1, 2024 at 4:42 PM