Journal of Vertebrate Biology

🔎 A rare glimpse into the intimate life of an endangered mammal! 🦦 Camera traps capture steppe polecats mating in the wild for the first time, revealing male den preparation and at least 1 h 40 min of mate guarding. 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #mammalogy @bioblogo.bsky.social @crisflows.bsky.social

Exciting EPSRC-funded PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Based @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall. Supervisors: Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social & Monica Craciun Apply: tinyurl.com/v79p8en8

📣 CALL FOR PAPERS - SPECIAL ISSUE 📣 "Decomposing avian diet: linking food, foraging and fitness" More info: vist.ly/5pp3h Guest editors: Ana Paula Aprigio Assis, @alice-risely.bsky.social @juehlz.bsky.social , Christopher Guglielmo, @asutto.bsky.social Please repost 🙏 #ornithology

In our new study, playback experiments revealed sex-specific responses to the same social calls produced during foraging: female nectar-feeding bats were attracted, while males avoided them. Receivers matter! doi.org/10.1111/nyas... Thanks to @ralsimon.bsky.social for the beautiful video!

📢 Exciting PhD opportunity in #soilacoustics 📢 "Good Vibrations: Evidencing the Links Between Soil Acoustics and Soil Health" come join us: @biouea.bsky.social @ueaceec.bsky.social @ueaenv.bsky.social Closing date: 16th December 2026 More info here: aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

You like mammals and are looking for a PhD? Apply to this fully funded project @treesdla.bsky.social with Prof. Aida Gomez-Robles and myself at @ucl.ac.uk and @nhm-london.bsky.social www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/dev...

📖 Published! Milder winters alleviate seasonal challenges for a migratory goose facing Arctic warming 🦆❄️ 🔎 Find out more: buff.ly/DLeL2wD

🐸 Iris patterns have been evaluated as a non-invasive biometric identification tool for treefrogs (Osteocephalus oophagus) during a multi-year capture-recapture study in French Guiana! 🔗 Full study: doi.org/10.3897/herp... 📖 @pensoft.net's blog: blog.pensoft.net/2026/10/22/i...

More trees are not always good for wildlife! 🌳🐦 A study of ~3,000 UK wader nests found that lapwing nest predation risk was higher near conifer woodland. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge... #ornithology #waders #shorebirds @rspbscience.bsky.social @cmbeale.bsky.social

Our team in #Namibia has been tracking Tupuka since he was returned to the #wild last September. Over the past year, our team also noticed a female #cheetah with five cubs moving across the farms north of CCF. The team wondered – could Tupuka be the father? 🐾 🔗Read more: cheetah.org/ccf-blog/res...

Can restoring 🐘 and 🐋 help fight climate change? @andrewabraham.bsky.social et al. @currentbiology.bsky.social examine the role of large animals in carbon storage and explain why the potential is real, but no substitute for cutting emissions. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #conservation #climatechange

🧑‍🎓 [Jan-June 2027] We offer two 6-month research projects (Master's thesis or gap-year internship) on meerkat vocal communication 🎤 at the University of Zurich 🇨🇭 Check it out! mathildemartin-research.com/wp-content/u...

I am recruiting for a 2-year postdoc position with our group at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior! Learn more & apply here: tinyurl.com/3n88uv2p Deadline: 20 Dec 2026 Start date: Flexible in 2027 @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social @carlzeissstiftung.bsky.social

Social play is key for development in many animals, yet how solitary species with single young acquire playmates has remained a quandary. We unlock this using long-term data from 31 Bornean orangutan mother-offspring pairs in our new publication in PNAS. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2621225123. 🧵

I’m excited to share a PhD opportunity in my group, focussed on ecological forecasting of blue tit population responses to climate change as part of the e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk @edinburghbiology.bsky.social.

Continuing my theme of "Why would a bat weighing 6g do this??" look what Mike did last night. 👀 (yellow highlight). At 18.40, he was holidaying in Prestatin. By half past midnight he was in Cardiff. In a straight line that's 130 miles in under 6 hours. #bats #wildlife #movementecology

🐸 Imagine returning to the forest and finding all the frogs gone. The Waiting follows researcher @karenrlips.bsky.social as she tries to understand what happened - and uncovers a much bigger story about amphibian declines... Sad, but beautifully made. Well worth watching! 🌿

New research from #BiologyLetters finds that climbing is energetically demanding for bonobos, while moving through trees can be surprisingly efficient, offering clues to the evolution of bipedal walking in humans doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... | #Behaviour #Biomechanics #Evolution

Drone photographer Theresa Graham (tgraham.photography on IG) captured this Ornate Eagle Ray (Aetomylaeus vespertilio) off Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. These rays are called the "unicorn of the sea": fewer than 100 sighting have been documented. We suspect they're critically endangered.

Very excited to share our new paper, out now in Science. 17 years of biologging and radar data on 50 species of free-flying birds and bats revise the classic ranking of locomotion costs 🧵 doi.org/10.1126/scie... @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @swanseauni.bsky.social @science.org 🎥 ©Bruno Osorio

🐦 Nearly 3 million eBird observations reveal a mismatch: EU Song Thrush hunting closures often come after pre-breeding migration begins, potentially exposing migrating birds to hunting. 🗺️ Conservation must follow migration timing, not just national borders! 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.je... #ornithology

📢 SAVE THE DATE Announcing our one-day #BOUasm27 conference Birds and Artificial Intelligence | 12 October 2027 | York, UK & Zoom & Bluesky The call for keynote nominations is now open: bou.org.uk/event/bir... 🗓️ Nominate by the 16 November deadline #ornithology 🪶

PhD applications are now open via @treesdla.bsky.social (14th Dec deadline), including this project @es-ucl.bsky.social supervised by @rnf.bsky.social & I on early crocodylian evolution & end-Cretaceous extinction selectivity: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/ear...

How early tetrapods got their neck www.nature.com/articles/d41...

It takes two to raise an albatross chick, but does teamwork always pay off? In this blog, the authors explore how studying black-browed & wandering albatrosses found environmental variability changes the rules of parental care. 🪽 buff.ly/Ggo9Syp @tashgillies.bsky.social

📖 New research No effect of short-term exposure to ocean acidification on individual-level variation in behaviour and susceptibility to predation in a Great Barrier Reef damselfish🐟️ 🪸 🔎 Find out more: buff.ly/fJG59z4

New paper @oikosjournal.bsky.social! Wild #guppies become twice as social in response to ephemeral food resources, helping individuals find these fleeting foraging opportunities. doi.org/10.1002/oik.... With @ralfkurvers.bsky.social @w-u-r.bsky.social @igb-berlin.de @gedragsbiologie.bsky.social

Check out our new paper Why don't all birds lay early? Causes and consequences of breeding timing for a long-lived migratory seabird It's got the first welsh language abstract in the journal (I think) Thanks to everyone for their field efforts besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fossil taxa are sometimes considered island weirdos without any actual evidence that island effects were important in their evolution. So we wrote a paper on how we could do actual island biogeography in deep time. If you want a copy but can't access it, email me: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

LIVE NOW! 🎥🚨 Experts gathered to advance the Atlas of Animal Migration. Join the live session "Migratory animals connect the planet: the wonder of their journeys, and threats for their future" followed by a choir presentation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH_Y... More info: www.cms.int/meeting/cms-...

🌺 What happens when plants and pollinators team up for millions of years? 🧬 Genomes reveal their long-term interdependence: populations fluctuate in sync and hummingbird foraging shapes plant genetic diversity. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #ornithology #coevolution @currentbiology.bsky.social

At Zavodovski Island, chinstrap 🐧 decreased by 63% from 2011 to 2025, while macaroni 🐧 increased. Declining krill availability linked to ocean warming is the likely driver. Could this signal a wider Antarctic ecosystem shift? 🌊 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #ornithology @currentbiology.bsky.social

New PhD opportunity to study vectors, pathogens, birds and urbanisation with @dmdominoni.bsky.social and I @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk and #LuigiSedda @lancasteruni.bsky.social The impact of urbanisation on vector-borne transmission: avian malaria as a case study Deadlines: 🌍 1/10 to 30/11 🇬🇧 2/11 to 4/1

OUT TODAY: Living Planet Report from @wwf.panda.org & @zslofficial.bsky.social highlighting the ongoing loss of nature, including an 85% collapse in freshwater species populations on average since 1970 - far worse than decline for terrestrial & marine species livingplanet.panda.org/en-GB/downlo...

🐟 Two coexisting Japanese dojo loaches share a similar mating sequence, but one of the species has more developed mating structures and significantly longer coiling during spawning. ❓ Could these differences help maintain reproductive isolation? 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #JVertBiol #ichthyology

Our paper on how orangutan mothers plan and alter their space use at personal costs so their offspring may play with similarly aged offspring (independent of kinship and fruit productivity) has transitioned from preprint to peer reviewed publication doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Funded 3.5 year PhD🎺 The effects of gamebird release and management on the lowland ecosystems of S England Lots of fieldwork. A robust and resilient student is required. Focus on reptiles and ecto-parasites Any Qs, please DM or email me Please RT www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

I am recruiting a PhD student to work with our group at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior! Learn more & apply here: tinyurl.com/kd4xx4ku Deadline: 15 Nov 2026 Start date: Flexible (summer-fall 2027) @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @livingingroups.bsky.social @carlzeissstiftung.bsky.social

🐸 Why is a frog a frog is a frog, while a salamander is not a salamander is not a salamander? 🤔🦎 After many brainstorming sessions with Ronald Bonett, we explored this question in a new perspective. We discuss how life-cycle complexity may shape morphological diversity! 👉🔗 doi.org/10.1086/744206

🐸 New paper from the META-MOSPHOSIS team! Vivien investigates how external factors (temperature, continental fragmentation) and internal factors (life-cycle traits) shape species richness in salamanders. 🌍🦎 Read the paper: doi.org/10.1093/sysb... #Salamanders #Biodiversity #Evolution #Herpetology

Job Alert! 🐦🎧🚁 We are seeking a #Postdoc in #Bioacoustics to join our EU-funded project investigating the impact of #Drones on #Birds. Position: 18 months (expected start Feb/Mar 27) Deadline: November 3rd University of Salford, UK @salforduni.bsky.social jobs.salford.ac.uk/en/sites/CX_...

CALL FOR SYMPOSIA: EXTENDED DEADLINE! Still thinking about submitting a symposium proposal for #EOU2027? We have extended the deadline: Monday 19th October 2026, 23:59 European Ornithologists' Union, Brno, Czech Republic 23-27 August 2027 Instructions & more info: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym...

We're excited to announce our MSc projects for 2027 are live! 🧪🪶 Our postgraduate opportunities page now also advertises placement projects for PhD students too Find out more here: www.rspb.org.uk/helping-natu...

Who gets to the top of the jay hierarchy? Pacific morphotype Canada jays formed steep, linear social hierarchies. Males ranked higher, dominance increased with tenure more strongly in males and juveniles sometimes outranked adults! 👉 doi.org/10.1007/s002... @ryannorrissci.bsky.social #ornithology

🏝️ How do island species persist despite small populations? A recent synthesis shows that purging, genetic drift and ecological buffering can act together, yet genomic erosion may still leave populations vulnerable to environmental change. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.tr... @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social

New findings in the Pacific Hagfish, a jawless vertrebrate, show that adult retinogenesis 👁️🐟 is a deeply conserved trait within the vertebrate lineage. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A perfect example of how detailed field observations can help reveal the complexity of habitat and food requirements in a declining species! 🐦🔎 👇 Check the thread #ornithology @lesserspotnet.bsky.social

🐸 #FrogFriday Seeing with your fingertips? 👀 Surinam toads use their bizarre star-shaped fingertips as ultra-sensitive sensory organs to detect prey in murky water – even before the fish touches them! 👉 doi.org/10.1007/s003... Frog biology never stops to amaze! 🤯 #herpetology #amphibians