Hard to handle: infected house finches do not prefer easier-to-consume food AnimBeh

dzg-meeting.de/en/welcome-ms/
The Meeting of the German Zoological Society will take place in Münster from September 7 to 11! Abstract submission until June 15!
🧪

Effects of artificial light colour, intensity, structure and contrast on moth flight #behavior Nocturnal moths are severely affected by light pollution, most notoriously through fatal attraction to artificial lights, yet flight-to-light is not their only response. To investigate how artificial lights impact flight behaviour, we exposed over 1200 wild-caught moths of 62 species to LED lights with different characteristics, under varying background lighting conditions, and tracked over 500 flight paths in three dimensions. Flight-to-light behaviour and flight tortuosity both increased with light intensity, irrespective of spectrum, though tortuosity was affected by lower levels of white than amber light, suggesting white LEDs could impact moth trajectories from greater distances. Flight tortuosity was also higher upon exposure to a single light versus three producing equivalent illuminance. Conversely, higher background light levels led to reductions in both flight-to-light and tortuosity, but moths were also less likely to take flight in these conditions, suggesting that both point sources and diffuse background lighting disrupt moth movement. Finally, moths caught using light traps were less likely to fly and, if they did, more likely to fly towards light sources than those caught with butterfly nets. These findings suggest mitigation policies for light pollution should prioritize reducing light intensity, and point to new directions for future research.

Effects of artificial light colour, intensity, structure and contrast on moth flight #behavior bioRxivpreprint

PLS RT📣

Two Postdoc jobs at #mpaib with Serena Ding on collective behavior of worms

(Never seen a "wormuration"? That's them in green)

🪱 social dynamics of collective dispersal: bewerbermanagement.net/jobposting/2...

🪱 sensory ecology of worm towers: bewerbermanagement.net/jobposting/7...

Was trägt man um Vögel zu beobachten? 👕🐦
Selman & Freeberg zeigen: Identität und Kleidung der Beobachtenden wirken zusammen auf das Fressverhalten von Singvögeln. Neon-Sicherheitskleidung vs. Tarnung veränderte das Fressverhalten je nach Person. Sicherheit und Datenqualität müssen abgewogen werden.

Observer Identity and Safety Clothing Effects on Songbird Foraging Rates Influence of individual observer (T vs Z) and safety clothing vs camouflage clothing on seed-taking rates of songbirds from mixed-species flocks. Relative to a pre-stimulus baseline period, birds too...

🧪ETHOLOGY: Ever worried what to wear for birding? 👕🐦
Selman & Freeberg show that observer identity and clothing interact to shape songbird foraging. Neon safety gear vs. camouflage altered seed-taking rates—depending on who the observer was. #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Huge congrats for this well-deserved award to @ahanaaurora.bsky.social for her impressive contributions to the field! 🎖️🥳
And another great contribution to the exciting line-up for the ECBB!

I had an amazing time at my first ever conferences in Austria with @ethoges.bsky.social and @klf-univienna.bsky.social - including the chance to meet Rosemary and Peter Grant as I hope to follow in their footsteps for my masters in Galapagos finch foraging next year!
@univie.ac.at

Great tit perched on a branch, with beak slightly open. Photo credit: Alizée Vernouillet

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us:

🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦

Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social

📆29th May deadline
More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x
Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y

#cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds

🙏Please Share

📌Save the date: from 30.09-02.10.2026 the Joint Graduate Meeting in Animal Behaviour will take place @uni-muenster.de, sponsored by @ethoges.bsky.social and the DZG. No registration fees🤗

Take the chance, visit Münster, present your research, build and grow your peer network. More information soon

Ethology Call for Papers Wildlife in Urban Spaces – Adaptations and Human Perceptions Ethology is a top international behavioral biology journal, covering physiological mechanisms, function, and evolution across all species.

Here is the link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

Impact of Female Mating Status on Male Courtship Behaviour in a Sexually Cannibalistic New Zealand Fishing Spider Scoring of male courtship behaviour in Dolomedes minor revealed no effect of female mating status on courtship duration or sequence structure, but males delayed the initiation of courtship when encou...

Investieren Männchen weniger, wenn Weibchen schon verpaart sind? 🕷️💔
Clémot et al. testeten das bei sexuell kannibalistischen neuseel. Jagdspinnen. Männchen reduzierten ihr Balzverhalten nicht – begannen es bei verpaarten Weibchen jedoch verzögert. Hohe Paarungskosten könnten das Zögern erklären.

Impact of Female Mating Status on Male Courtship Behaviour in a Sexually Cannibalistic New Zealand Fishing Spider Scoring of male courtship behaviour in Dolomedes minor revealed no effect of female mating status on courtship duration or sequence structure, but males delayed the initiation of courtship when encou...

🧪 ETHOLOGY: Do males invest less when females are mated? 🕷️💔
Clémot et al. tested this in sexually cannibalistic NZ fishing spiders. Males didn’t reduce courtship effort—but delayed it with mated females. Hesitation may reflect choosiness under high mating costs.
#OpenAccess doi.org/10.1111/eth....

ETHOLOGY - Call for papers - Special issue "Wildlife in Urban Spaces – Adaptations and Human Perceptions" 🦌🏙️💁‍♀️

Submission deadline: Saturday, 31 October 2026

Joint Graduate Meeting 2026! Highly recommend this event for grad students - don't miss out on a fun and interesting networking opportunity. This should be pretty good! 🦜🦓🐍🥳

📢 Mark your calendars for the Joint Graduate Meeting 2026, sponsored by @ethoges.bsky.social and the German Zoological Society (DZG)!

Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to showcase your research & network with peers!

📆 30.09. - 02.10.2026
🌍 @uni-muenster.de

Abstract submission will open soon.

Abstract deadline is extended but early bird registration ends today, so make sure you get your ticket: www.aru.ac.uk/events/confe...

Flyer advertising special collection of stories for Frontiers for Young Minds. We invite expressions of interest for a curated collection of short articles on animal behavior to be published in Frontiers for Young Minds, an open-access journal for readers ages 8–15. This international collection, developed in collaboration with the Animal Behavior Society, will introduce young readers to how scientists explain behavior using Tinbergen’s four questions. Each article will be co-authored by a researcher and an undergraduate, with an emphasis on clear, engaging communication. Articles will be ~1,500 words and designed for a broad student and classroom audience. Contributors will work with an undergraduate co-author and participate in iterative editorial development prior to submission. We anticipate selecting approximately 10–12 articles, depending on the strength and diversity of submissions.

Do you love animal behavior & want to share that joy with younger folks?

Write a short article on animal behavior for Frontiers for Young Minds (ages 8–15), co-authored with an undergrad! Part of an international ABS collection. Expression of interest due April 30.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Warum sind Kokosnusskrabben rot oder blau? 🦀
Tim Caro zeigt: Ihre Farbe beeinflusst Verhalten oder Entscheidungen nicht – selbst bei Konflikten zählt die Größe, nicht die Farbe. #OpenAccess #Verhaltenökologie #Ökologie #Krebstiere #Evolution

Colour Polymorphism in Coconut Crabs Is Under Relaxed Selection From Conspecifics? Coconut crabs are either red or blue irrespective of age or sex, are nocturnal and have very few predators. This experimental study shows that they do not use conspecific's colour but do use relative...

ETHOLOGY: Why are coconut crabs red or blue? 🦀
Tim Caro shows their colour doesn’t influence behaviour or decision-making—even in conflicts. Instead, size matters, not hue. Read here, it's #OpenAccess: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#AnimalBehaviour #BehaviouralEcology #Crustaceans

We asked the researchers at #ASABSpring2026 if they could summarise their posters in 10 words or less - and they stepped up to the challenge 😍

(Also watch to the end for a celebrity cameo⭐️)

Early-life microbiome assembly and its effects on bird phenotypes We are looking for a motivated Masters/HBO/internship student to partake in upcoming microbiome manipulation experiments, investigating how this fascinating community impacts phenotypes in birds. Star...

Looking for MSc student(s) to be involved in some really cool germ-free experiments with house sparrows at @niooknaw.bsky.social @animalecol-nioo.bsky.social ! 🐣🦠Get in touch if you're interested and please share :)
nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...

Zebra finches in Australia; one of the study organisms for the PhD

Dwarf mongoose staring at a camera in South Africa; one of the PhD study organisms

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us

❓Quantifying animal #movement patterns & behavioural #interactions in a changing world

👥Joint position in @bristolbiosci.bsky.social & #MacquarieUniversity

📆19th April deadline
tinyurl.com/343acaev
#maths #modelling #data #fieldwork #Australia

🙏PLEASE SHARE

Discriminative Reactions to Behaviour and Social Attributes of Non‐Mother Individuals in Wild Infant Japanese Macaques on Yakushima (Macaca fuscata yakui) Overview of the study.

Wie bewerten junge Makaken andere Gruppenmitglieder? 🧠🐒
Lee & Furuichi zeigen, dass wilde Japanmakakenbabys differenziert auf Nicht-Mütter reagieren. Grobes Handling löste mehr negative Reaktionen aus, während vertraute Sozialpartner der Mutter häufiger positive Antworten erhielten. #Tierverhalten

Discriminative Reactions to Behaviour and Social Attributes of Non‐Mother Individuals in Wild Infant Japanese Macaques on Yakushima (Macaca fuscata yakui) Overview of the study.

🧪ETHOLOGY: How do infant macaques respond to others?
Lee & Furuichi show wild infant Japanese macaques respond selectively to non-mother individuals. 🐒 Rough handling triggered more negative, while familiar partners of the mother received more positive responses. #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Increasing temperature reduces decision accuracy by shifting speed–accuracy trade-offs in slower individuals Abstract. Cognitive responses are linked to consistent individual behavioural variation, but the potential impact of warming on this relationship remains u

Excited to share our new paper @royalsocietypublishing.org This one took what felt like endless maze trials.

We found that even modest warming (~1°C) changed an ectotherm's behaviour such that it affected cognitive performance. Speeding them up and reducing decision accuracy.

A Look Back: from February 18–21, 2026, Grünau was the hub of behavioral biology as the @ethoges.bsky.social held its annual conference—featuring exciting research insights, lively discussions, and plenty of space for emerging scientists.
@univie.ac.at
📸: Archiv KLF, M. Klymenko, D. Matejschek

Wer macht Rehe aufmerksamer – Wölfe oder Menschen? 👀🦌
Torretta et al. zeigen, dass menschliche Störungen, nicht die Präsenz von Wölfen, mit erhöhter Wachsamkeit bei Rehen zusammenhängen. In natürlicheren Lebensräumen und größeren Gruppen waren Rehe auch weniger wachsam!
#Verhaltensökologie

Human Disturbance but Not Predation Risk Is Associated With Increased Vigilance in Roe Deer Roe deer vigilance is lower in natural than in modified habitats, decreases with group size, but is not significantly influenced by stable wolf presence, suggesting habitat-driven risk perception and...

🧪 ETHOLOGY: Who makes roe deer more vigilant? 👀🦌
Torretta et al. found that human disturbance, not wolf presence, is linked to higher vigilance in roe deer. Deer were also less vigilant in natural habitats and in larger groups. Read here, it's #OpenAccesss: doi.org/10.1111/eth.... #PredationRisk

Visuelle Signale verändern die Reaktion von Libellenlarven auf Gefahr 👀❗
Tóth et al. zeigen, dass Libellenlarven ihre Aktivität reduzieren, wenn sie chemische Alarmstoffe verletzter Artgenossen wahrnehmen. Können sie jedoch andere Larven sehen, verändert sich diese Reaktion!