Stephanie L King

What a treat - this is the third time the Shark Bay dolphins have made the cover of @pnas.org! You can read more about our new paper - led by @alicebouchard.bsky.social in the current issue www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @researchdolphin.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. 🧵

!! 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/...

www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

I’ve come to the end of my 5-year term as a Trustee of @asab.org & Executive Editor of its journal, #AnimalBehaviour. It's been a real privilege to hold these roles & I’m grateful to all those who have made it such a productive & enjoyable experience. 🙏 Please support Society journals.

Please help spread the word: Wilkinson lab at U Maryland, College Park, is hiring a postdoc to join our collaborative ongoing NIH-funded project titled “Social stress, epigenetic and immune function across bat lifespans.” umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UMCP/job/Uni...

Worth the early start to see the Bristol Ballon Fiesta #Bristol

The result of 10+ years of fieldwork & analysis of 1000s of data points is out now in @natecoevo.nature.com... and on the cover! Mongoose pre-emptive behaviour & intergroup conflict Congratulations @josharbon.bsky.social @juliekern.bsky.social #AmyMorris-Drake doi.org/10.1038/s415...

🧬🐬 Culture may leave a molecular footprint. Our new study on Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins @researchdolphin.bsky.social explores how a socially learned behaviour — sponging— may be reflected in DNA methylation. OA: doi.org/10.1098/rstb... Hosted by a Phil Trans B special issue:

Another new paper out this week: A culturally transmitted foraging technique in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins can be predicted by DNA-methylation levels royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

Nice to see one of my photos of the #SharkBay sponging dolphins on the cover of this #PhilTransB special issue 📸

Online Now: Do animals use names? Conceptual and empirical criteria

Coverage of our recent opinion piece in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social on whether animals have names www.science.org/content/arti...

Do animals use names? Conceptual and empirical criteria: Trends in Cognitive Sciences www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Ever wondered what the bizarre dances of male birds of paradise look like to females? Check out our new preprint! @izziehb.bsky.social @fusanilab.bsky.social “The geometry of visual signaling in a bird-of-paradise” ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

🐒 Work with primates? Have you observed 3 or more individuals grooming together? Polyadic grooming is barely documented and we know little about its distribution. Please take 1–2 minutes to fill out this short survey and share: forms.gle/cLPB1mnwrjJo...

link.springer.com/article/10.1... Just out - complicated integrative perspective with a bunch of great marine mammal folks, including @stephanielking.bsky.social and @andrearavignani.bsky.social. We take an expansive trip through the peripheral effector, CNS, and social domains of vocal rhythm.

In this issue: Deforestation and soybean yields in Brazil, the environmental impact of updated US dietary guidelines, and bird flu transmission in cows. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/auxc50ZcOHn

Nice coverage of our new paper in National Geographic @alicebouchard.bsky.social www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

In our new TREE paper, with M. Borgerhoff Mulder, S. Brosnan and E. Strauss we show that power in animal societies can be subject to control. When high-powered individuals use aggression to gain better access to resources, other group members can respond with "levelling". doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

So happy to welcome @francae.bsky.social to the team! 🥳🐬

Just finished an incredible two month field season in Shark Bay #Gathaagudu - big thank you to all my wonderful team members 🙏🏻 So much appreciation for the animals and the time I get to spend with them. You have my heart Shark Bay 🫶

Great work from Simone Videsen. We found sperm whale slow clicks maintain extreme isochrony with inter-click intervals up to ~10s. That's beyond any known neural system for precise interval timing. May be a long-distance communication system. nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Do elephants adress one another with vocalizations that function like human personal names, as was widely reported two years ago? Dharmarajan (2026) argues that this finding may have been just a methodological artefact. 🐘🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

One month of amazing fieldwork with some of my favourite people - 33 playbacks done for our next whistle study and some lovely observations of dolphin behaviour. Always such a privilege to be here and we are lucky enough to have another month of fieldwork ahead of us 🙏🏻 #sharkbay #gathaagudu

So happy to be back in Shark Bay #Gathaagudu for two months of fieldwork 🫶

Bonobos and bottlenose dolphins may seem worlds apart, but together they reveal key conditions that foster cooperation beyond group boundaries

New OA paper @royalsocietypublishing.org: What can we learn from bonobos and bottlenose dolphins about the evolution of between-group cooperation? royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... Lovely collab with @lirsamuni.bsky.social Martin Surbeck and Richard Connor.

🧠🧪🧵1/37 Our new paper on how pinniped (seal and sea lion) brains evolved to unlock vocal plasticity is this week's @science.org cover. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

By mapping the brains of seals and sea lions, researchers have uncovered specialized neural circuits that have evolved to support the control of complex vocal behavior and learning in the species. Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4bpsJYU

New paper on magpie vocal development led by @stephaniellaura.bsky.social ⬇️

New paper on age-related reproductive tactics & success in humpback whales, published in Current Biology.🐳🧬 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #marmam @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social @clairenea.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social 1/7

🥂CONGRATULATIONS to Lola von Kietzell on defending her #Masters by Research thesis with no corrections. 👏 🙏THANK you to @josharbon.bsky.social for cosupervising, #Chun-ChiehLiao & #RobMagrath for brilliant #fieldwork support, and @caglarakcay.bsky.social & @stephanielking.bsky.social as examiners.

🚨JOB alert🚨 We have three (yes, THREE) 🌟lectureships🌟 advertised in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol. Broad remit, including #AnimalBehaviour & #GlobalChangeBiology ⏱️Deadline: 8th March 2026 🙏Please circulate widely 😊Come join us! Full #job details: tinyurl.com/y3us95rc

5 days, 5 reasons to apply for a Lectureship @bristolbiosci.bsky.social (Day 2): Behavioural & Sensory Ecology & Responding to Anthropogenic Change Theme includes animal senses, underpinning behavioural theory & mitigating human impacts www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/rese... Job: tinyurl.com/3ebphy34

Fantastic opportunity to work with us at Shark Bay Dolphin Research 👇🏻

🚨3 Lectureships in Biology 🚨 Come join us in Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social! We are looking for new collegues working across a broad spectum of topics in biology, including ecology & environmental change. Get in touch if you have Qs! Apply here by 8 March: www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Join us on Saturday, February 7th for a live Q&A with the authors and editors of ‘The Evolution of Cetacean Societies’ 18:00 GMT / 10am PT 🎟️ Free with registration 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc...

Join us Sat, Feb 7 for a FREE virtual book launch of 'The Evolution of Cetacean Societies'. Live Q&A + cover BTS. 🕕 18:00 GMT / 10am PT 🎟️ Free with registration 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc...

Ever wondered how accurate drone-based photogrammetry really is? Turns out UAV-based photogrammetry does a great job at estimating body size, condition, and even mass in live cetaceans. Yes, we validated it. doi.org/10.1113/JP29...

Our paper is published today in Current Biology and is featured on the cover! We report a neat, and somewhat counter-intuitive, finding: higher-ranking baboons get less and more interrupted night-time rest.

🌟Huge CONGRATULATIONS to @patrick-kennedy.bsky.social who has won the @asab.org Christopher Barnard Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Investigator. 🤗 Research on social evolution and what links climate & cooperation in a changing world, using #wasps as models. #worthywinner #ECR #proud

Almost four years on since we started work on this project, it feels surreal to have a copy in my hand. @stephanielking.bsky.social @darrencroft.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social

Friendship is magic: male dolphins with close friends age more slowly theconversation.com/friendship-i...

New paper out in @commsbio.nature.com: Social bonds decrease epigenetic age in male bottlenose dolphins rdcu.be/eUoID led by @liviagerber.bsky.social @researchdolphin.bsky.social

The ZSL Scientific Medal is also awarded to Professor Stephen Montgomery, @bristolbiosci.bsky.social whose research has provided insights into the relationships between ecological niche specialisation, brain structure, and cognitive function 🏅 @ebablab.bsky.social

I’m one of the lucky people to have been mentored by @andyradford.bsky.social and I can’t think of anyone that deserves this award more than he does 🙌🏻