animal prattle
The latest n' greatest research about all things animal communication 🐔🐑🐁🐿🐳🦀🦚🕷🐝🗣🐦 @ me your favorite papers, new results, etc 💬
- Reposted by animal prattleSo psyched for this year's Neural Mechanisms of Acoustic Communication (NMAC) GRC! Come join us in May, and please RT!
- Reposted by animal prattleAuditory neurons form ensembles in the songbird NCM, showing synchronized activity within ~6ms! And the ensemble show stimulus-specific adaptation. Remarkable dissertation work from Felipe Cini, who has just started his postdoc with @jess-cardin.bsky.social . www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by animal prattleMost of us are familiar with the nightingale's song, but did you know there's more to it than just a melody? Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... @danielavallentin.bsky.social @tpvogels.bsky.social @mpiforbi.bsky.social
- Reposted by animal prattleCongrats @danielavallentin.bsky.social happy to see this out in @currentbiology.bsky.social
- Reposted by animal prattleOur new pre-print shows how unsupervised clustering methods can identify biologically meaningful differences in early vocal production, with no human feedback. @antorrisi.bsky.social has led this interdisciplinary collaboration based on computational methods + #chicks 🐣 arxiv.org/abs/2601.12203
- Reposted by animal prattle🎉 Congratulations to Philippe Blondel and the team on their paper being published online in Nature Acoustics! A valuable and important study, well-done to all involved! 👏 Title: Marine soundscapes of the Arctic and human impacts: going beyond the “shipping bands” www.nature.com/articles/s44...
- Reposted by animal prattle"Benchmarking Automated and Semi-Automated Vocal Clustering Methods", new from Lee et al. (Hahnloser group) www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/16... Abstract: "...while fully automated methods provide a useful baseline, they generally fall short of human-level consistency." 1/3 #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
- Reposted by animal prattleNow out in Evolution @journal-evo.bsky.social Tetrapod vocal evolution reveals faster rates and higher-pitched sounds for mammals 🐘🦉🐸. Mammalian hearing likely allowed the rapid diversification of their vocalizations. Open access here: doi.org/10.1093/evol... #bioacoustics #animalcommunication
- Reposted by animal prattleNew preprint! We used neuropixels 2.0 in a small microbat (first time as far as I know) to show that: 1) slow and fast spiking neurons in auditory cortex respond differently when bats vocalize. 2) networks of (mostly) fast spiking neurons form right around the time of vocalization.
- Reposted by animal prattleThank you for supporting us throughout 2025! Check out our little sum up of it! We can't wait to see the exciting studies and experiences 2026 has to offers! ✨
- Using neural networks to analyze animal communication? Check out this new #python package from @masonyoungblood.bsky.social, provides a full workflow; builds on approaches from @timsainburg.bsky.social @jmxpearson.bsky.social @nilomr.bsky.social & others #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
- Happy new year! I wanted to share my new Python package called chatter that streamlines the process of applying AI/ML models to animal communication 🦜🦇🐋🐵👨🌾 masonyoungblood.github.io/chatter/
- Reposted by animal prattleOur latest article is out @jexpbiol.bsky.social ! doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... We show that tungara frogs adjust interaction modes to current collective chorusing dynamics based on how patterns of conspecific stimulation experienced between calls interact with their internal call rhythms
- Reposted by animal prattleWe are excited to announce the 2026 GRC Neurobiology of Cognition (7/19-24) in beautiful Waterville Valley, NH! Registration/abstract submission open. Wonderful speakers/program covering cognition across scales & species, incl. AI & neuromodulation! @desrocherslab.bsky.social @erinlrich.bsky.social
- Reposted by animal prattleThank you to everyone at #ibac2025 for this amazing conference. I met so many great people and learned a lot about so many interesting projects. Excited to see you all again some time! And proud that my poster got the student poster price ☺️ stay tuned for the publication!
- Reposted by animal prattleYour daily Avian Hybrids story! Not dead yet: The decaying W-chromosome of songbirds can still acquire new genes avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2021/09/11/n... #ornithology
- Reposted by animal prattle🐦⬛ New paper in Animal Cognition covering our carrion crow project with partners at @Univeristy of Leon. 52 mini-biologgers were deployed on wild carrion crows in Spain — capturing 127K+ vocalizations. 🔗: www.earthspecies.org/blog/unlocki... (1/4)
- Reposted by animal prattleSweet postdoc in ML for budgie bioacoustics 🔊 www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeaw-home...
- Reposted by animal prattle🔊Our last paper of the year: Unique rhythmic signatures in arrhythmic birdsong First evidence: rhythm analysis can reliably describe arrhythmic sequences. In tawny pipits, (ar)rhythmic differences are individual, and indicate singers' population of origin! doi.org/10.64898/202...
- Reposted by animal prattleWild Bird Acoustics Season 3 has now been edited, completed and uploaded! Some new features include longer sound magazines, with more continuity as regards storylines and commentary. High quality audio and a lot of work done in woodland, beaver wetlands and with autumnal migration.
- Reposted by animal prattleSo excited to present our python package for real-time annotation and targeting of birdsong!!! Please check it out on bioRxiv!!!!
- Our python package for real-time targeting of birdsong syllables "Moove" is finally out! Thanks to my co-authors Nils Riekers, @goebl.bsky.social and Lena Veit. Our pre-print is online on biorxiv and our code is available on GitHub. Check it out! doi.org/10.64898/202... github.com/veitlab/moove
- Reposted by animal prattleOur python package for real-time targeting of birdsong syllables "Moove" is finally out! Thanks to my co-authors Nils Riekers, @goebl.bsky.social and Lena Veit. Our pre-print is online on biorxiv and our code is available on GitHub. Check it out! doi.org/10.64898/202... github.com/veitlab/moove
- Reposted by animal prattleAfter months of efforts, Moove is available for everyone to use! So happy for my lab :) Please check it out!
- Our python package for real-time targeting of birdsong syllables "Moove" is finally out! Thanks to my co-authors Nils Riekers, @goebl.bsky.social and Lena Veit. Our pre-print is online on biorxiv and our code is available on GitHub. Check it out! doi.org/10.64898/202... github.com/veitlab/moove
- Reposted by animal prattle
New book! I have written a book, called Syntax: A cognitive approach, published by MIT Press. This is open access; MIT Press will post a link soon, but until then, the book is available on my website: tedlab.mit.edu/tedlab_websi... - Reposted by animal prattleI may be a *little* biased but this 📘 is GREAT! If you ever found language structure interesting, but were turned off by implausible and overly complicated accounts, this book is 4U: a simple and empirically grounded account of the syntax of natural lgs. A must-read for lang researchers+aficionados!
- New book! I have written a book, called Syntax: A cognitive approach, published by MIT Press. This is open access; MIT Press will post a link soon, but until then, the book is available on my website: tedlab.mit.edu/tedlab_websi...
- Reposted by animal prattleLast week, our 2 PhD students & colleagues successfully conducted a full turnover of 8 #acousticrecording stations 🎧 out in Aarhus Bay 🌊. The data feeds into a year-round #marinesoundscape monitoring programme to assess #noisedisturbance for #harbourporpoises 🚢🐬(funded by AVJ Naturfond).
- Reposted by animal prattleNew publication 🐋 fresh out of our #bioacoustics lab! Congratulations to our dedicated colleague @beeden.bsky.social & co-authors 🥳 HIGH FREQUENCY #VESSELNOISE 🛥️ MASKS ECHOLOCATION AND COMMUNICATION 🔉 IN #HARBOURPORPOISES 🐬 Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1121/10.0...
- Reposted by animal prattle☀️ Hey all! We're an ethology lab from @uparisnanterre.bsky.social! We study babies, birds, primates and other cool species 👶🐦🐒🐈⬛ to understand the developmental and cognitive bases of communication and social behaviour✨ We're excited to share our projects and connect with other curious minds here!
- what's in a meow?? 🐈 New from @berlinbatlab.bsky.social! 1. "we examined meows and purrs to establish how individual identity is encoded" 2. stronger individual signature in purrs than in meows 3. domestic cat meows more variable than those of wild felids #bioacoustics #prattle 💬 #neuroskyence
- Reminds me of the cool work by @barkslab.bsky.social Lots to learn about brain, behavior, and evolution from our best friends! 🐈🐕
- tired: telling people to "touch grass" wired: learning from monk parakeets to "test the waters"
- In an increasingly divided world, how do strangers become friends? Parakeets might have something to teach us! New paper on formation of affiliative relationships, led by Dr. Claire O’Connell doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
- Reposted by animal prattle📢NEW paper out NOW in @asab.org Animal Behaviour on how a novel #call changes subsequent responses to #alarms in #fairywrens 🌟CONGRATULATIONS #NatalieTegtman on #first paper from #PhD 👥With #RobMagrath @bristolbiosci.bsky.social #animalcommunication #birds #fieldwork #ECR doi.org/10.1016/j.an...
- Congrats to @robertslab.bsky.social, the version of record of this paper is now published in @elife.bsky.social Nice use of optimal transport methods to measure acoustic distance, if you're into that sort of thing 😉 elifesciences.org/articles/101... #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
- How do you build a brain that lets mice sing? 🎤🐭 If you enjoyed @cliffscience.bsky.social's talk @braincoustics.bsky.social on this work, now you can read it in @currentbiology.bsky.social! (w / 1st author @xmikezheng20.bsky.social, @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social group) #prattle 💬 #neurosky
- Great @currentbiology.bsky.social study by @xmikezheng20.bsky.social @cliffscience.bsky.social @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social 🧪🧠🐭🎶 Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node www.cell.com/current-biol...
- (If you have no idea what we're talking about, you should read the paper anyways. And also you should join us at @braincoustics.bsky.social seminars) bsky.app/profile/brai...
- Reposted by animal prattleOrigins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by animal prattleIf you are unable to download the full version of our newly published language evolution article in Science, there is a link for direct free access on the Max Planck Institute website here:
- Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by animal prattle🚨Who wants to work with Kalahari meerkats? A MSc project with @mathildemartin.bsky.social at the University of Zurich. #bioacoustics 🧪
- Reposted by animal prattleBig week for mouse squeaks coming up! 🐁 💬 🗓️11/18: BBB seminar with @emilyjanedennis.bsky.social and Stuart Newson of the @btobirds.bsky.social ✅ braincoustics.com 🗓️11/20-21: 4th Annual Ultrasonic Vocalization Conference (free!) ✅ bit.ly/3JRVOCu #bioacoustics #neuroskyence #prattle 💬
- Reposted by animal prattle🐟🔊 New publication about all the exciting additions we made to FishSounds throughout versions 2 and 3: doi.org/10.1111/geb....! Since then, we've added even more recordings thanks to the FishEye Collaborative, and we have a lot more planned for next year!
- Reposted by animal prattle#MongooseMonday is here again 🎉 Dwarf mongooses track what their groupmates are up to in the day using #vocal cues, altering their #grooming in the evening. They reward helpful hounds (doi.org/10.1073/pnas...) & shun bullies (doi.org/10.7554/eLif...) #bioacoustics #mammals #cooperation #conflict
- Reposted by animal prattleHappy to share our new paper is now published! 🎉 We developed a non-invasive method to model animal hearing using 3D photogrammetry and showed it on bats 🦇 and a pig. It even allowed us to capture the 3D mesh of an alive and awake bat and model its hearing! 🔉 Article: doi.org/10.1111/2041... 🧪
- Reposted by animal prattle📢 JOB ALERT! Interested in #Bioacoustics, #Linguistics and the #Evolution of #Language? We are seeking a #ResearchAssistant to join our project 'Convergent Evolution of Vocal Communication: Exploring the Parallels between #Birdsong and Human Speech'.👇 www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
- Reposted by animal prattleI am looking for an intern to support my PhD project on multimodal communication in common marmosets! 🐒🌞 Minimum commitment is 3 months full-time. Please note that this is an unpaid position and that remote options are not available. BSc and MSc students are welcome!🥰 @nccrlanguage.bsky.social
- Reposted by animal prattleAdvances in genomics are giving exciting new perspectives on biology of speech, language & reading. My latest peer-reviewed paper is a tutorial, guiding readers from different backgrounds through the history of the field, current state-of-the-art, & where we’re heading. A taster in this thread.🧪 1/n
- Reposted by animal prattleYes, very nice! Fluent vocal production is motorically complex and requires predictive/pre-conscious loading of motor transformations. What better brain region for that than cerebellum? We've been looking at it in cetaceans... journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
- 🧠 time 2 study #cerebellum in birdsong? 🧠 In #neuroskyence songbirds are a model to study learned motor skills like speaking a language The cerebellum plays a role in these behaviors in humans. It remains unclear if it interacts w/song system, brain areas for song in songbirds #prattle 💬 1/2
- Always happy to see researchers like A. Leblois, going beyond the classical birdsong circuit & looking at the #cerebellum to give it its due: “A lobule-specific neuronal representation of song temporal structure in the songbird cerebellum” 🧪🐦🎵🧠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Looks like a really nice use of a Bayesian approach to identify vocal mimicry -- now published in Animal Cognition #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics
- Very happy to see this collaboration with @babeheim.bsky.social published in Animal Cognition: 'Vocal mimicry in corvids'. Since posting the first preprint, we have identified evidence for vocal mimicry in 8 more species, thanks to the community highlighting additional sources #communityscience
- Fun 🧵 on vocal mimicry by @biotay.bsky.social that starts w/ a ref to this paper☝️ from @wascherclaudia.bsky.social Waterhouse @babeheim.bsky.social (h/t to @irenegarciaruiz.com who we saw repost it) bsky.app/profile/biot... #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics #R2D2
- Reposted by animal prattleOut 🌟TODAY🌟 in the #new volume of @asab.org #AnimalBehaviour, is latest #PhD chapter from the fantastic #Chun-ChiehLiao: Functionally referential communication about danger in cooperatively breeding white-winged choughs #fieldwork #experiments With #RobMagrath #RobHeinsohn doi.org/10.1016/j.an... 1/
- Reposted by animal prattleLooking for a PhD? 🦜 Interested in ornithology, animal behaviour, bioacoustics? I am advertising a PhD on vocal communication in ring-necked parakeets tinyurl.com/44a3hcnz Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply for University of Salford Widening Participation Scholarships tinyurl.com/4wtzzh3z
- Reposted by animal prattleConsider signing and sharing the petition by @redwingsuk.bsky.social calling for limits on consumer fireworks to reduce harm to animals and wildlife: 🔗 lnkd.in/e-DCQGVB
- Reposted by animal prattleAs Bonfire Night approaches, new research lnkd.in/epBXK8Tu by @distrustful-dinos.bsky.social and me shows that fireworks significantly disturb urban corvids. OA: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/d... #BonfireNight #Wildlife #AnimalWelfare #Corvids 📸 Photo: @distrustful-dinos.bsky.social
- Congrats to Chiti Arvind, V.V. Robin et al on this fantastic study! #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics #neuroskyence
- Curious about genes and vocal learning in the wild? Check this out! bit.ly/4oXExqp 1️⃣High-res bioacoustics+pop-gen in a vocal learning bird in the Western Ghats 🇮🇳 2️⃣Spatial variation in song and genetics but no clear association bw the two ➡️Genetic and vocal variation shaped by distinct processes!
- Curious about genes and vocal learning in the wild? Check this out! bit.ly/4oXExqp 1️⃣High-res bioacoustics+pop-gen in a vocal learning bird in the Western Ghats 🇮🇳 2️⃣Spatial variation in song and genetics but no clear association bw the two ➡️Genetic and vocal variation shaped by distinct processes!
- 🗣️💬 Your brain understands what someone says *and* who said it -- how? 🧠 @eintzandt.bsky.social @ralphpeterson.bsky.social & Dan Sanes show in Mongolian gerbils that both vocalization type & social identity can be decoded from neural activity in auditory cortex #prattle 💬 #neurosky #neuroskyence
- Super excited to share the first part of my thesis work! Perhaps how you might be able to both recognize someone’s voice *and* understand what they’re saying, we find that both social identity and vocalization category can be decoded from gerbil auditory cortex activity👂🧠 tinyurl.com/4fba6wk4
- Reposted by animal prattleResearchers gave female canaries testosterone, which causes them to sing. Two-photon in vivo imaging reveals that songs emerge due to changes in brain cell function rather than by increasing the size of a key brain region, as was once thought. In PNAS: ow.ly/pn1750XhFL5
- Reposted by animal prattleOur new preprint is out! This time with a focus on prevocal spiking in the AC and how it encodes single and multi-syllabic vocalizations before they occur!
- Our new paper is now in BioRxiv ☺️ See how the auditory cortex encodes vocalizations before the bat produces them 📣🦇🧠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Dennis Röhrig!
- Reposted by animal prattleAre you interested in bat vocalizations and the neural circuits that give rise to their emission?🦇🎶🧠 We reviewed the recent literature on neural activity underlying echolocation and communication calls across multiple bat species in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: doi.org/10.1111/nyas...
- Reposted by animal prattleNew paper out! We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by animal prattleLast week, I moved from Frankfurt to Berlin and started my new postdoc position at Freie Uni with @talking-bat.bsky.social and @ycabral.bsky.social 🥳 I am super excited to set up our new lab for more work on bats and their brain+behavior! 🦇🧠🧠
- Reposted by animal prattleOur new paper is now in BioRxiv ☺️ See how the auditory cortex encodes vocalizations before the bat produces them 📣🦇🧠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Dennis Röhrig!
- Reposted by animal prattlePaper & incredible science alert: Our assistant professor @laurastidsholt.bsky.social & a passionate team @elena-tena.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social found proof for greater nocturnal #bats 🦇 preying on migratory birds 🐦 AND devouring them in flight! #bioacoustics www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
