Jeroen Zewald

Nice end to a fun PhD 🎉

SPAR supermarkets are promoting a broom and stick set in Austria with Veronika.

It reads:
“Einstein among the cows: Spar sells Vroni's back scratcher set”

Vroni is the diminutive form of Veronika, of course.
Thanks to Özge Nasa for the tip!

Jeroen, Jen, mat, Awani and poppy. Jen is holding a raven stuffie, poppy a cockatoo stuffie and Awani a sign that says ARAA with thr logo

Logo for ARAA. Half black raven and half white cockatoo on a diamond

Had our official launch of the Avian Research Association of Austria (ARAA) yesterday, and I’m so pleased it went well! This is the planned culmination of the regular research pub socials I started back in 2023, it’s hard to believe it’s finally happened 🥰 I have such a great team!

Cracking cancer’s code, and the cow that scratches its back Plus, SpaceX’s Starlink continues to expand…

Naked scientist Podcast with Veronika: www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...

1/2 Veronika in winter continues to leave us speechless.

Now there are no annoying horseflies or bites to scratch, but it's time to get rid of the winter coat, and there's nothing better than a good stick with sharp edges.

A group of people with Jen in the centre wearing a grad cap

Jen wearing a grad cap with decorations holding a book titled green city wars

After a rough year, I’ve just had the best two days of my life. I successfully defended my PhD, got a job as a postdoc, and received a signed copy of a book (and an acknowledgment) by one of my favourite authors @aptshadow.bsky.social 😍🙌🥳

Application review begins in one week (Mar 16)!

(Review will continue until all spots are filled.)

So incredibly happy that the work on Tanimbar will continue - it’s such an amazing lab. 🥹

Huge congrats to everyone, well deserved!

Honoured to be among such great colleagues @barbaraklump.bsky.social @christophvoelter.bsky.social @auersperga.bsky.social and Justus Piater, to study fundamental drivers of innovation. And hugely grateful to the @fwf-at.bsky.social to be able to continue the fieldwork on the Tanimbar Islands 🌴🕊️🤠

Fantastic!!! Congratulations!!!

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/...