T Revathe

!! New in @science.org !! How do animals learn broad skills necessary for survival in the wild? Our latest study on wild Sumatran orangutans at Suaq provides answers. 1/11 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Job alert for theoreticians! 2yr NERC-funded postdoc to model coevolution of learning & social structure. With Bram Kuijper, @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social @andyradford.bsky.social @ljnbrent.bsky.social Based @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall Deadline Dec 14. Apply: tinyurl.com/3ym39cuv

I will be taking applications for one fully funded PhD student starting in September(ish) 2027 to work on one of 2 projects in @livingingroups.bsky.social and the @imprs-qbee.bsky.social Deadline for submission is Dec 1. imprs-qbee.mpg.de/133244/commu...

It wasn’t just the apartheid government in South Africa that considered Mandela and the ANC terrorist organisations; countries like the United States and the United Kingdom did too.

Read this book to understand strategies of successful anti-colonial movements & the 'controversial' role of violence. Sharing because systemic violence (like violence by colonial powers and state violence, more generally) is often overlooked when portraying protestors or resistance forces as violent

All achievements and historical reparation agreements for native peoples since 2023 could be undone if far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro is elected Brazil’s president. The runoff happens on Sunday, Oct. 25. @bykarlamendes.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/10/braz...

We have open MSc thesis/internship positions!! Come to study mother and offspring Asian elephants with us 🐘🐘🐘

A new theme issue brings together research on multi-predator feeding aggregations - co-occurrences of several species of predators simultaneously exploiting the same prey resource - in ocean environments. Read: buff.ly/3PUyvRi

Some of my thoughts about the surge in AI-generated papers, why this feels like a completely new kind of problem, and what this means for how we evaluate science in biology. Out now in PLOS Biology: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Same weight, different energy bill. An Andean condor uses 79% less energy per kilometer than a trumpeter swan, even though both weigh roughly the same. Why? Find out in a new study in Science, which rewrites the costs of flight for wild birds and bats: doi.org/10.1126/scie... 1/3

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

On Saturday, the Modi government pulled out all stops to protect #GyaneshKumar, India’s Chief Election Commissioner. scroll.in/article/1096... The police pulled every trick in the book to prevent protests. Detentions were arbitrary to the point of being illegal. Shoaib Daniyal reports.

We are offering 3 #PhD positions in our Ecology of Animal Societies Department @livingingroups.bsky.social at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior - check them out! imprs-qbee.mpg.de/66685/current

Are you interested in supporting scientific research and teaching focused on living things and the natural world? My department, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology is hiring two full-time Lab Coordinators (faculty assistants). Union jobs with good benefits. careers.harvard.edu/job/laborato...

‘Navi’ Pillay dedicates Nobel Prize to ‘survivors of international crimes’

"The last thing I did is the report on Gaza naming what is happening there as genocide. One of the main reactions to that report [was] paying tribute to me for my courage.. why would you need courage to speak the truth?" Navi Pillay upon winning the 2026 Nobel peace prize

BREAKING NEWS The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law.

Large declines in South Sandwich Island populations of Chinstrap penguins likely caused by reductions in krill availability associated with regional warming. Authors call for reconsideration of the IUCN Red List status for the species. @currentbiology.bsky.social

In the peat swamp forests surrounding the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station, where this research is based, a major wildfire emergency is currently unfolding. Please consider reading about or donating to support firefighting efforts in the area. coreborneo.com/wildfire-app...

Reminder that we are offering this really cool opportunity. The deadline for expressions of interest is October 31!

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...

Hand-colored engravings of insects from ‘Der monathlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung’ by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. Published in Nuremberg, 1746-1761. University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections. #insectart #sciart

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

We have put in a bid to hold the next @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social conference in Auckland 🇳🇿 from Feb 17-19 2028! We could really use your input in this survey to help us plan for if/how this conference is held (particularly re: in-person vs online participation): us.list-manage.com/xEOnWEahXJf?...

Your favorite website for illustrations of almost all organisms is looking for donations to help cover its running costs! Please consider donating to help keep this open-source platform running: www.phylopic.org/images

🦋 Butterfly wing patterns create motion illusions that protect them from predators! Our new study (8 years in the making) is out in Nature today doi.org/10.1038/s415... @grahancock.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social @scienceanna.bsky.social @lauraakelley.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

Hey fieldworkers! Do you need documentation (health & safety protocols, codes of conduct, feedback forms)? Do you have documentation that you think could help others do better fieldwork, but don’t know where to share it? We’ve got you covered in our new Fieldwork Repo! osf.io/4h7bu/overview

9. Benefits and potential issues associated with efforts to mobilize data from multiple generations of researchers on hundreds of primate species, both in the wild and in captivity

6. The digitization process: development and testing of manual and/or automated protocols 7. Database creation, curation, standards, licensing, and accessibility 8. Handling uncertainty and validation in reconstructed historical data

3. Integrating historical datasets with modern technology (remote sensing, camera traps, biologging) 4. Tracking demographic and life-history changes from past to present 5. Descriptions of valuable, under-used paper datasets (even if not yet digitized)

1. New analyses with old data: using recently digitized historical datasets to address fundamental questions in primatology 2.Using the past to predict the future: evaluating primate responses to climate change & anthropogenic impacts over the past 50 years to inform future research & conservation

I am part of a team guest editing a special issue of the American Journal of Primatology on "Digitization and use of legacy datasets in primatology” and we are seeking out submissions due on 1 September 2027. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

🚨 Our new lab paper, led by @amandinevisine.bsky.social, examines exploration, group composition, and play activities among BaYaka children and teens living in a village context! Amandine is currently on fieldwork following up on this for her PhD 🎯 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Sumatran orangutans have a long, long childhood (8 yrs!) but there's a lot to learn. This week on the @science.org podcast, we hear about how social and individual learning interact to shape ecological competence in orangutans w/ Elah Feder & Revathe Thillaikumar www.science.org/content/podc...

To fare well as independent orangutans, infants need to learn many survival skills, arguably the most important of which are feeding skills. phys.org/news/2026-09...

https://scholarpeer.com/dogs-and-orangutans-hint-human-skills-rest-on-older-learning/ Dogs and Orangutans Hint Human Skills Rest on Older Learning

Learning style predicts survival skills in young #orangutans: how much knowledge a wild orangutan acquires over its long development depends on its tendencies for #learning socially and individually www.mpg.de/26983581/lea...

Adult #orangutans feed on 250 distinct food items, which they choose from thousands of options in the wide maze of the rainforest. Infants must learn this complex curriculum before they reach independence at the age of eight. How do they do this? www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzFH... #animalbehavior

Does my Speak-n-Spell feel pain when I type O-U-C-H? The jury is out. Philosophers and neuroscientists say that's fucking stupid, but I called a guy from the Center for Pretending that Household Electronics Are Sentient and he said there's no way to know for sure.

For the German speakers, here is an interview where Caroline Schuppli, my postdoctoral supervisor and the senior author on the paper, discusses our recent work on orangutan competence development. www.swr.de/swrkultur/wi...

Wonderful to see the positive comments by Elizabeth Lonsdorf and Michael Tomasello! www.newscientist.com/article/2590...

Learning over an extended childhood has been fundamental to survival during human evolutionary history. Researchers show how Sumatran orangutans use their 8 years of dependency to master a broad diet, necessary for independent survival. Read more in this week’s issue: https://scim.ag/4xDjOfh

Thrilled that our research is featured on the cover! There is also a perspective piece. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...