Jeroen Zewald

True Facts: Is The Goffin's Cockatoo The Smartest Bird? YouTube video by Ze Frank

New True Facts : www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq9J...

Ze Frank is the best, and "the Goffin's cockatoos make the New Caledonian crows look like Old Caledonian crows" (this it's an actual comment on YouTube!)

Don't miss this video about our work at the Goffin Lab (and the Tanimbar Lab!)

"I've seen a cockatoo. I've seen a cockatoo 🤘"

Is dogs’ tendency to follow human misleading communicative cues influenced by humans’ auditory perspective? - Animal Cognition Studying Theory of Mind in non-verbal populations requires designing tasks that address the distinction between responding based on directly perceivable cues and additionally inferring others’ mental ...

Is dogs’ tendency to follow human misleading communicative cues influenced by humans’ auditory perspective?

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Cow cognition might have been underestimated, but check out this exciting study by @biotay.bsky.social and @auersperga.bsky.social. Perhaps they do deserve more credit in the field of animal cognition than they have been given 🧹🐮

Formatted version of our new #allometry paper is out!

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

✨New paper✨
How do juvenile ravens find social groups?

We describe how juvenile common ravens, who have left their natal territories seeking to join non-breeder flocks, use space with respect to other birds, and discuss what this means for social integration.

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Our new theoretical paper on combinatory tool use origins is out !
with @raccoonologist.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

An amazing feat of work! Can't wait to follow up on this ;) Big congrats! 👏🏻👏🏻

The flexible, the stereotyped and the in‐between: putting together the combinatory tool use origins hypothesis Tool use research has long made the distinction between tool using that is considered learned and flexible, and that which appears to be instinctive and stereotyped. However, animals with an inherite...

I had the honour of working to bring @auersperga.bsky.social’s baby to life. It’s a VERY heavy baby - over 200 references (and yes I read them all) - but necessary to do justice to our new hypothesis of combinatory tool use origins 📝👶🛠️

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

How do curiosity and surprise intersect following a violation of expectation? Read our paper here🔥
@auersperga.bsky.social @ivojacobs.bsky.social @elifduran.bsky.social

Looking for a Postdoc position and have a background in bioacoustics and animal cognition? Interested in whether other animals might have something akin to language? Join our team: www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeaw-home...

Looking for a PhD at the intersection of animal cognition, acoustics & machine learning?
We offer 3 PhD projects at the Acoustics Research Institute (Vienna) and IT:U Linz:

Info: it-u.at/en/research/...
Apply: career.it-u.at/en/Job/73280
Deadline: Jan 31, 2026 | Start: Mar 2026

Vienna dog owners! Clever Dog Lab researchers and I have new study for your pups to participate in😊

Only need one visit to the lab to play with their favorite toy😍
Email to participate today! Rita.goetz@vetmeduni.ac.at
@asommese.bsky.social

second PhD position is on social and ecological cognition in wild Assamese macaques at our long-term field site in the beautiful Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand
👉 tinyurl.com/ypefnbxp
⏰ deadline 20 Dec 2025

First PhD position is on the evolutionary basis of empathy using infrared thermography in Barbary macaques at Affenberg Salem, southern Germany
👉 tinyurl.com/2e8wzkfz
⏰ deadline 20 Dec 2025

We kindly invite every PhD candidate to present their research to the CoBeNe community at the PhD academy. It is an excellent opportunity to practice presenting in a friendly environment and receive input on the topic.

Abstract Submission Deadline: 01.12.2025!
ufind.univie.ac.at/en/course.ht...

Application deadline this Wednesday!!🦜

📢 #Ethology2026 – A Double Event
Join us for:
• Ethologische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting, 18–21 Feb, Grünau
• DK Symposium: Cognition & Communication, 23–24 Feb, Vienna
A full week of ethology, cognition, and communication.
univie.eventsair.com/etho26-dkcog...
@ethoges.bsky.social @univie.ac.at

Elephants gesture to signal what they want—just like us.

Learn more: scim.ag/3IyDRrq

Exploration Behavior Is Consistent and Associated With Foraging Behavior in Island Songbirds We tested the neophobia threshold hypothesis in six landbird species, including four Darwin's finches. Exploration behavior was consistent over time and contexts, with species exhibiting greater fora....

Hi everyone, happy to share with all of you the paper from the second chapter of my PhD, where we show that more exploratory birds use a broader foraging niche, linking consistent behavior with ecological flexibility. I hope you can enjoy it and share it!!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We're hiring📢📢📢
To complement our team we're currently looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in animal communication and behaviour, ideally canids but not a must! Position is based in Vienna, Austria, and available for 4 years. Please check the attachment for details 🐺🐶😊

Lovebirds have begun to use air conditioning in buildings in Phoenix, only during the hottest months and when the temperature approaches the maximum they can tolerate.

(paper, 2021) royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
vía @zewaldj.bsky.social‬
(blog) www.forbes.com/sites/grrlsc...

PhD positions in bird cognition and behavior at the University of Hong Kong are open for motivated candidates. Applicants should have a biology background. Apply to Dr. Simon Sin at sinyw@hku.hk. More info: www.simonywsin.com. #phd

We are looking for a Research Assistant to contribute to our ongoing analysis of dolphin acoustic data from West Wales - collaboration between @wtsww.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🐬
Deadline is 29th June - please share widely!
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Cockatoos have learned to operate drinking fountains in Australia.

The behavior—never before seen in birds—may be a developing cultural tradition among one population: scim.ag/4kIi12G

The mechanics of male courtship display behaviour in the Ptiloris riflebirds (Aves: Paradisaeidae) Abstract. Sexual selection through female choice has driven the evolution of some of the most elaborate signalling behaviours in animals. These displays of

Did you know that riflebirds are the only known bird with “double jointed” wrists?

It’s a nice example of how sexual selection can mess with the bodies of males (and females) to accommodate unusual displays

Read more about these spectacular displays here:

doi.org/10.1093/biol...

Did complex song and dance co-evolve with brain size in the birds-of-paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae)? Abstract. Complex signaling behaviors, such as avian song and courtship displays, have been associated with increases in both absolute and relative brain s

Our paper on brain size evolution in birds of paradise was recently accepted!

In brief:
•BoPs have big brains, comparable to those of medium-sized corvids
•Neither absolute nor relative brain size appears to have co-evolved with display complexity

doi.org/10.1093/orni...

🎊Fully funded PhD position on cooperative sustainability🌳

Are you curious about
🧒 developmental,
🌍 cross-cultural
🦧 species comparative
research on cooperative sustainability?

All info here or dm me with questions!
career2.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/job...
Please share! 🙏

Mark O'Hara sits in a tree with camera equipment. Everything is fully dressed in camouflage. Mark looks happy to be there.

Berenika watches wild cockatoos (not in shot) with camera equipment. Everything is fully dressed in camouflage.

NEW EPISODE 📣
To study animals in the wild you have to find the animals & build a research "villa" before you even start the science

@mohara.bsky.social & @bmioduszewska.bsky.social took on this challenge to study wild Goffin's cockatoos on a small Indonesian island
Photos: Goffin lab Tanimbar

Black kites gather at Australian bushfires to hunt flying insects fleeing the blaze
#birds