New tools are transforming #canine #cognition! This symposium covered eye-tracking and scent-based research, as well as soundboards and touchscreens. Through these methods, this symposium showed us innovative ways to study how dogs perceive, learn, and communicate across various contexts. #CO32026

Get ready for #CO32026! This week #ComparativePsychology and #AnimalBehavior researchers will gather in Montréal for the 33rd International Conference on Comparative Cognition, we've got a very exciting lineup of talks and posters! Stay tuned here for highlights 🤩 🧪

Looking forward to co-chairing a symposium on 'Methods to study curiosity-like behaviours in animals' with @monteirotiago.bsky.social at the European Conference for Behavioural Biology (@ecbb2026.bsky.social). Consider applying by 30th April if your work is curiosity/information-seeking related!

Point of View: An easy way to improve lab meetings Sharing positive and negative experiences at lab meetings can make a career in science a little less hard, a little more pleasant, and a little more human.

Point of View: An easy way to improve lab meetings doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

I'm really happy to see this one out @elife.bsky.social. Awesome Cara Glynn and I describe and reflect on a year-long, low-cost practice that transformed our group meetings.

#researchculture #ECR #labmeetings

From wag to affect: Tail kinematic signatures of canine emotional states in computer-controlled environments www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

Online survey for dog owners on cold and heat stress and its implications for dog welfare (in English or Portuguese): survey.vetmeduni.ac.at/index.php/83...

Please share, participation is anonymous, and we hope to identify indicators and risk factors of thermal stress in dogs

We are seeking to appoint four full-time field assistants to work on the Wytham Tit Project for 4-8 weeks in spring 2026. Two 8-week field assistants will join the nest monitoring team; duties for these posts will include (i) collecting standardised data from nest-box breeding populations of blue and great tits, (ii) catching and ringing parent birds, (iii) ringing nestlings, and (iv) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with run from approximately Tuesday 7th April to Monday 1st June. Successful candidates for these positions must have (or be qualified to obtain) a BTO permit to ring adult great tits and blue tits. A further two field assistants will be hired to support a project collecting behavioural (foraging) data for great tits breeding in the Wytham population. These roles will involve a significant amount of nightwork. Duties will include (i) setting up and calibrating electronic tracking equipment and nest box cameras in the field, (ii) mapping tracking equipment locations using GPS, (iii) helping with catching and ringing parent birds and fitting tracking devices, (iv) assisting with mistnetting to re-trap tagged parents, and (v) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with be approximately 7 and 4 weeks in duration, starting from 13th April and 4th May, respectively. Possession of a BTO ringing permit with misnet endorsement and driving license are highly desirable for these roles. All fieldwork will take place in Wytham Woods, near Oxford. All Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate skill and enthusiasm for biological research as well as experience of fieldwork under arduous conditions, and both lone work and working as part of a team. Due to the short-term nature of these posts, successsful applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Salary & Accommodation: Field assistants will be paid at grade 5.2 (£17.37/hour). Contact eleanor.cole@Biology.ox.ac.uk

We are hiring at the Wytham Woods for the upcoming field season. 4 roles available. Please share with anyone who might be interested. #UKbirds #birdringing

Looking for a Postdoc position and have a background in bioacoustics and animal cognition? Interested in whether other animals might have something akin to language? Join our team: www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeaw-home...

There's still time to submit your abstract for #CO32026! 🙌 The submission deadline is on Friday Dec 12th, all information about registration, membership, and the conference is on the website: www.comparativecognition.org/conference.php 🧪
See you in Montréal! 🐶🐝🐟🐦🐀🐍🦧🦝🐢🐘🐬🦦🕷️🐖🐆
#CompCog #AnimalBehavior

Nearly ready to go! Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2025!

📣 @asab.org grants BOOSTED! 📣

We've increased most of our research-related grants by 50%, effective from the next deadline of 1st Feb 2026.

Check out what we offer here:
www.asab.org/grant-overview

Foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience The study of foraging is central to a renewed interest in naturalistic behavior in neuroscience. Applying a foraging framework grounded in behavioral …

Pleased to have this review out in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social. In it we discuss various aspects of the intersection between foraging behaviors and neuroscience, and offer some future directions: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Demonstrating inferential reasoning through behavioural choices: an experimental analysis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09....

Please share!🙏
🚨 PhD Oportunity in Avian Behavioural Ecology in Spain
The BirdBond Project (MNCN & IREC) studies how pair bonds form, change & affect reproduction/survival in the spotless starling 🐦

This new #RSOS study compares computer vision, statistical analysis and #dog experts’ evaluation in the classification of detection dogs’ tails movement when identifying target scents: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Graphic with blue background and PS branding indicating the name, institution, and paper title of the 2025 Best Article Award recipient for each of the Society's journals. 

The Psychonomic Society is pleased to announce that Victor Ajuwon has been honored with the 2025 Best Article Award for L&B. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. Read the paper here: bit.ly/45CAn06 #psynomLB @victorajuwon1 @Dr_AlexSchnell @_MonteiroTiago_ @nickyclayton22

Opportunities — ASAB

We are seeking a full-time Managing Editor for our journal Animal Behaviour. This editor will be involved in all stages of the publication process & must have a general understanding of the topics covered. Position starts Oct 1, application deadline July 31.

More details:
www.asab.org/opportunities

Super excited to announce a follow-up to the Janelia 'mechanistic basis of foraging' conference - this time held in Birmingham, UK! Join us from the 3rd - 5th November to discuss all things foraging: uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis...

Fantail goldfish, photo by Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff

Goldfish aren't very curious - and this means that curiosity and seeking out information aren't necessarily ubiquitous across vertebrate species.

Do goldfish like to be informed? TLDR: No
Paper by @victorajuwon1.bsky.social, @monteirotiago.bsky.social: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... 🧪🐠🌍

All Souls College, University of Oxford is advertising a senior academic position in philosophy. Closing date: 19 September 2025. #PhilJobs, #Philosophy, @jowolff.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social
www.asc.ox.ac.uk/senior-resea...

Today I came across a delightful paper titled "Do goldfish like to be informed?" The short answer is "no" but the (slightly longer) answer is more interesting.
In the experiment, goldfish were given a choice between two lanes, both resulting in a 50% chance of snacks after a short delay. 🧪🧠 (1/n)

In our latest work, co-lead by @victorajuwon1.bsky.social (together with Mark Walton and Alex Kacelnik), we show that, at least in goldfish, the data support the view that information-seeking behaviors may have evolved in some, but not all vertebrate lineages.

Previous studies have shown that some bird and mammal species prefer access to advance information about their future - a trend that may be related to associative processes or to a special appetite for knowledge.

Ever wondered whether other animals are curious?

Check out our new paper:

Do goldfish like to be informed?

Now out in Proceedings of the @royalsociety.org!
Co-lead by @monteirotiago.bsky.social during my PhD
@biology.ox.ac.uk with Mark Walton and Alex Kacelnik

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Goldfish aren’t curious – but this makes curiosity special

Thanks to @biology.ox.ac.uk for wonderful write-up:

"Goldfish aren’t curious – but this makes curiosity special"

www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/gold...

Goldfish aren’t curious – but this makes curiosity special

Curiosity is a feature we share with several animals - but new research shows goldfish aren't curious

This suggests curiosity isn't just a consequence of basic learning mechanisms & is instead a distinct trait 👇
bit.ly/43nWR2K

w/ @victorajuwon1.bsky.social @monteirotiago.bsky.social

Submission Link: AIRoV – The Austrian Symposium on AI and Vision

For submission guidelines and details, please visit: airov.at/2025/worksho...