Two male lions lying in open land

Male lions known as "dark mane" in march mammal madness 2026, in real life known as Tibu

Male lion sitting with a missing rear left foot, missing eye, and missing tail tip. Known as "torn ear" in march mammal madness 2026, or Jacob in real life!

Throughout reading the #2026MMM battles, I've been thinking "dark mane and torn ear sound a LOT like Tibu and Jacob!" And that's because they are!!!! Brilliant last battle between them and the croc, and here's some real life Tibu & Jacob pics from just the other week 🥰 @mmmletsgo.bsky.social

A tiny meerkat pup aged just a few weeks, emerging from the birth burrow in the Kalahari Desert.

🚨 New paper 🚨

(1/8) In meerkats, pregnancy isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some mothers gain weight steadily, others delay all growth until the final weeks 📈

What drives this striking variation, and how does it affect the (adorable) pups?

OA PAPER: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
Details (+cute pics!) below👇

Delighted to see our paper featured on the cover of the Journal of Animal Ecology @animalecology.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org

Thanks Pam Hurkens for the lovely image of a heavily pregnant meerkat being weighed at our field site.

The ecology of gestational growth in a wild cooperative mammal Using data from hundreds of wild pregnant meerkats, Thorley et al show that gestational growth varies widely, is shaped by nutrition but not social conditions, and improves pup survival without short...

🚨 New paper! 🚨

In exploring maternal traits and social and environmental conditions on rate of gestational weight gain in meerkats:

🍼 Gestational growth is strongly nutrition-dependent
📈 Faster prenatal growth increases pup survival

& more!

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Big big thanks to the LARG Cambridge group for all of the help and support with this one 🫶🏼 it has been in process for a while, and very proud of the outcome for my first publication! 😃

🚨 New paper! 🚨
In exploring the ontogeny of foraging in cooperatively breeding meerkats:
🐛 Foraging skill development doesn't align with the delayed onset of breeding
🪲 Foraging performance likely constrained by physical traits

@asab.org #AnimalBehaviourJournal

Read more ✨ doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

Zoe in a handmade bear mask, scaring her colleague at their fun stall at the festival

View of the main picnic area at the animal sanctuary where many people are watching a "secret world of gases" show by Wonderseekers

The dream team at the end of the weekend

Lots of animal artefacts on a table with children making bear masks behind

FOCAS Fest 2025 was a success! 🥳🐻🐯🐵🌿

So proud of our Learning & Discovery team and everyone involved at The Wildheart Animal Sanctuary and all visiting exhibitors! 🤩

An incredible time bringing conservation, science and art all into one jam packed weekend to start the IOW Biosphere festival! 💗

They're not wrong by any means, and it's GREAT to hear, but I hoped we could believe in a little magic AND science/how science IS pretty magical, especially for children 😅 here we are I guess 🥹

Today on "favourite thing a young child said to me"(whilst running a busy education stall at a conservation and science festival)....

*Me making the badge-making dramatic by saying "here is where the magic happens"*

*Deadpan 4 year old*: "that isn't magic, that is science"

😆😆😆

🚨New PrePrint out on the Kalahari Meerkats. In this study we quantified two axes of sociality to explain how developmental needs of pups shape meerkat social life. @zoejturn.bsky.social Neumann Christof & Tommaso Sacca
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/vie…

Qr code to register to the conference

📣 Registration for #ABL2025 is now OPEN!

Join the Animal Behavior Live Annual Conference on 13–14 November 2025 — a free, global, online event celebrating animal behavior research🧠🌍
🆓 The event is FREE, but registration is mandatory.
📄 Register here: ablaoc25.sciencesconf.org

New paper accepted on the complexities of feral cattle social behaviours. 🎉🐂 led by @ghodgson.bsky.social - well done Team. More news to follow in a few weeks.

View from Bembridge Windmill across Brading Marshes

Balu the brown bear, hoping I had some snacks (I did not)

Glorious oak tree in the meadows of Newtown National Nature Reserve

Meerkats enjoying our homemade enrichment

I am finding this work incredibly rewarding, getting to share my knowledge and inspire the younger generation, AND can't complain when I'm surrounded with incredible views and/or the sweetest rescue animals 🫶🏼🐾

Activity for children to match different descriptions of senses to their respective animal

Colouring sheets depicting bee vision and dichromatic primate vision

Children making their own kaleidoscopes. I'm on a bear fix at the minute, hence a little bear design on mine

Giving CeCe the marmoset a fun CD disc enrichment!

Alongside being busy with a couple of papers currently in review or in press (!!), I'm extremelyyyy busy right now with my current visitor experience and education roles!

Here's a few snaps of the last weeks! Lots of fun craft activities, and even better seeing CeCe enjoy her enrichment we made!!

🚨 New preprint! ✨

From the work I conducted for my MSc thesis, we explored the social niche of meerkats in relation to the social and ecological needs of cooperative pup care during foraging.

doi.org/10.32942/X26...

🐾 🐾 🐾

📣SEMINAR SERIES 2025📣
We are kicking off 2025 with our first seminar.

📆Tuesday 29th April 2025 at 2pm GMT on our Youtube channel: @damienfarine.bsky.social will talk about “The costs of collective behaviour” 🐦

🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc9z...

This event is free, no registration required. 🤗

Resurrecting the Dire Wolf, or Clickbait Science for the 21st Century On the May 12th, 2025 cover of Time Magazine, you will see a picture of a white wolf below the bold word Extinct slashed through with a red block. Below it reads “This is Remus. He’s a …

ANYWAY @adampjohnson.bsky.social says much of these things much more politely & scholarly than me here: anthropology365.com/2025/04/07/r...

a couple of wolves are playing with each other on the ground . Alt: a couple of wolves are playing with each other on the ground .

NO THEY ARE NOT DIRE WOLVES.

These animals do not have their ecosystem to return to.

These animals do not have a real pack to rear them.

And DO NOT BE BAMBOOZLED- storing and archiving animal's genetic material is NOT an effective bulwark against the human-driven planetary extinction crisis.

Me: I'm ready for some CARNAGEEEEE 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼

Also me, when CARNAGE comes in the wildcard battle removing my first combatant:

#2025MMM
@mmmletsgo.bsky.social

a picture of a monster with the words looks like meat 's back on the menu boys below it Alt: a picture of a monster with the words "looks like meat 's back on the menu boys"

Northern Flying Squirrel won't have to wait for spring eggs & baby birds for FRESH MEAT #OpportunisticOmnivore
(Wells-Gosling & Heaney 1984) #2025MMM

#2025MMM WILDCARD
EMOJI BATTLE RESULTS

🐿️🆚🐸:
🌲🌕🌌/🐸🌳⬇️/🐿️🛫🌲/
🐸🦶🏼🪂/🐸🪂🪄/🐿️🔎🍄/
🐸⬇️🐿️/🐿️😠🔊/🐸🦵🏼🐿️/
🐿️🍽️🐸/🏆🐿️

#2025MMM Wild Card YouTube video by Erminea Inc.

The AMAZING @oddangel.bsky.social, Operation Ermine, and the INCREDIBLE voice talent from ASU Library (among other familiar notables), dropped the Wild Card Video earlier than expected!

Welcome TO THE RUNDOWN!!!
#2025MMM youtu.be/msRkhgL-fqs?...

Readmore Books on #worldbookday!

Photo array concealing the 2025 bracket from view- images include "So it begins" for LOTR the Two Towers & Rafiki saying "It is Time" from the Lion King. The bracket guide cover of a polar bear and the pulp magazine cover that says Exciting Tales of Science!

MARCH MAMMAL MADNESS BRACKET DROP!!!! #2025MMM
Did you get the combatants you dreamed of?
HAPPY RESEARCHING THE SPECIES!!
libguides.asu.edu/MarchMammalM...

MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration We present MacaqueNet, a global community of macaque researchers who developed the first publicly searchable, standardised database on affiliative and agonistic behaviour. This cross-species database...

What if we could compare animal social structures across time and space?

Now we can! The MacaqueNet database spans 14 macaque species and 61 populations over 40+ years, unlocking new possibilities in comparative social behaviour research.

🔎 Explore the project at doi.org/10.1111/1365...

On the cover of @royalsocietypublishing.org Proceedings B:

We show that moving as a group constrains energy efficiency in wild vulturine guineafowl making large displacements (relative to individuals moving alone). A cost of collective movement!

shorturl.at/nKhI0

@jamesklarevas.bsky.social

Remembered that the bracket drops tomorrow and I cannot wait 🙌🏼

FINE starts again next week with exciting free online seminars.
In its 10th season we will hear about whales, parental care, neuroethology, aging, group-living lizards and much more!