Franziska Wegdell
Biologist - Ethologist
postdoctoral researcher @University of Tuebingen
studying the communication of BONOBOS
🔊🐵🎙
- Do young bonobos and chimpanzees become independent from their mothers at the same age?🤔 Answers can be found in this cool new study led by @jolindevlaeyen.bsky.social 👏👏👏, which was an absolute pleasure to be part of.
- My first PhD paper is published! 🎉 We compared how wild bonobo and chimpanzee infants (0-5.5y) become independent from their mothers. Here is the open-access link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... 🧵(1/5)
- Reposted by Franziska Wegdell📢 Come to Tübingen and get your PhD with us! Unique opportunity to explore great ape communication 🐵🦧🦍 from multiple disciplinary angles within a single, integrated project. 👇
- 📢 2 PhD positions (E13 TV-L, 75%) in our DFG-funded project on great ape communication & the evolution of common ground! 🧠 Backgrounds in biology, psychology or linguistics welcome. 🗓️ Deadline: Aug 13 🔗 bit.ly/4l8p7hy & bit.ly/46jcfAq Please share! @elmanubohn.bsky.social @meanwhileina.bsky.social
- Reposted by Franziska WegdellThe spotlight video for the ChimpFACS Extension for bonobos is out: youtu.be/qijxWubdyNU?...
- Reposted by Franziska Wegdell🐾 Just out & open access! Exploring Animal Behavior Through Sound, Vol. 2 🎶 From insects to elephants and whales—how animals use & are affected by sound. Thanks to Christiane Erbe & all co-authors (me included)! 👉 link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
- Reposted by Franziska WegdellDo you have field work experience? Do you want more? Our team wants YOU to manage our field site studying Kinda baboons in Kasanka National Park, Zambia! Start date is this August 2025 so apply ASAP! Job ad here: tinyurl.com/KindaBaboon
- Reposted by Franziska Wegdell📢 2 PhD positions (E13 TV-L, 75%) in our DFG-funded project on great ape communication & the evolution of common ground! 🧠 Backgrounds in biology, psychology or linguistics welcome. 🗓️ Deadline: Aug 13 🔗 bit.ly/4l8p7hy & bit.ly/46jcfAq Please share! @elmanubohn.bsky.social @meanwhileina.bsky.social
- 🎉Exciting times ahead for @elmanubohn.bsky.social, Michael Franke, and me! We will soon be advertising 2 PhD positions (linguistics/biology/psychology) for our SFB subproject "Modeling Great Ape Signaling Behaviour" 🧮 🐵 Stay tuned!
- Reposted by Franziska Wegdell1/n Hot off the press! The first empirical chapter of my PhD and the fruit of a hugely collaborative project led with Franziska Wegdell and Johanna Schick is out! We explore if immature-directed vocalisations are present and in what quantity in wild great apes. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Franziska Wegdell📰 🐒 These exciting new results from our consortium are also featured in an article from The New York Times, by Carl Zimmer. 👉 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...
- 📰 Humans from different cultures talk to their children using “child-directed speech”, or “baby talk”. But according to new research, this characteristic is however far from prevalent in our closest relatives, the non-human great apes... evolvinglanguage.ch/baby-talk-a-...
- Reposted by Franziska WegdellOne thing that makes humans remarkable is baby talk. And that might be one reason why we have language. Here's my story [Gift link] nyti.ms/4k5duXd
- We studied the evolution of infant-directed communication by comparing vocal input rates across great apes! A collaborative study led by @carolinefryns.bsky.social, Johanna Schick and me; www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....
- with 14 authors in total: Lara Nellissen, Marion Laporte, Martin Surbeck, Maria van Noordwijk, Shelly Masi, Birgit Hellwig, Erik Willems, @zuberbuehler.bsky.social, Carel van Schaik, @sabinestoll.bsky.social and Simon Townsend
- This research sheds light on a fundamental aspect of what makes us human: our capacity for language and how it is passed from one generation to the next. A key part of this process is infant-directed communication - communication directed to children.
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View full threadAaand we even made the cover! With beautiful Gloria, who is grooming her infant, Gwen, two bonobos of the Kokoalongo community at the Kokolopori Fieldsite in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
