New paper out exploring synchronization of heart rate variability among artisanal fishers who cooperate with dolphins to catch their prey. We show that social factors drive their physiological synchronization during collective hunting. Greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work on this amazing system ♥️

They find neat results. Fishers are more synchronised the longer they spend in the water, the closer they are, and the more cooperative they are (with each other). Yet, heart rate synchrony doesn't translate to fishing success (when dolphins cue)—probably because they have to cast asynchronously. 6/

They then conducted a cross-wavelet power analysis of heart rate variability, which reveals patterns of heart rate synchrony over time and across frequencies. This captures whether synchrony is in phase or anti-phase. 5/

In the second paper, @hanjabrrr.bsky.social and João Valle-Perreira fitted heart rate + GPS sensors to fishers while they fished together with dolphins. This provided simultaneous data on position and heart rate across the line of fishers.

4/

Physiological synchrony among human fishers during collective hunting with wild dolphins | Biology Letters Predator physiology is often overlooked in predator–prey interactions, despite its potential to significantly influence hunting dynamics and social cooperation among predators. We address this gap by ...

Paper is online :-) royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Genau wie viele Menschen zeigen Tiere Anzeichen von Stress, wenn sie versuchen, für eine Gruppe von Artgenossen die Führung zu übernehmen. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt ein internationales Forschungsteam unter Beteiligung von #UniKonstanz @cbehav.bsky.social BiologInnen: t1p.de/zud05

New paper out 🥳
The physiological costs of leadership in collective movements. - Trying to lead the group can be stressful, so it might not always be worth it!#openaccess at @currentbiology.bsky.social @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

Read our commentary on a new article discussing animal ethics in behavioural reserach! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Animal research revisited – the case of behavioural studies Animal research is a matter of intense public debate, with some people supporting and some opposing it. Drawing from examples of behavioural biology, we argue that such an ‘all-or-nothing’ debate fall...

ETHOLOGY: Animal ethics in behavioural studies - read our commentary (by @hanjabrrr.bsky.social and Fritz Trillmich) on a recently published TREE @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social article promoting a more nuanced view on animal testing 🦝🔬
It's #OpenAccess: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Social transmission of stress in zebra finches bird: "Effects were stronger in colonies with a greater proportion of stress-treated individuals. Stressors can reach beyond directly exposed individuals by also affecting their group mates."

Overview of the experimental design and an example of how birds were tracked in the cages.

🚨 Evidence for social transmission of stress in zebra finches

In this huge experiment, Hanja Brandl experimentally stressed zebra finches in replicated colonies, and found that their group mates (who were not exposed) showed similar behavioural responses.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....