Graeme Shannon

How elephants pass on crucial survival skills to next generations Scientists are finding elephant youths respond differently to danger if they grew up without elders.

My latest story for National Geographic explores the importance of elephant culture for conservation, and the staggering cost of experience lost, featuring @graemeshannon.bsky.social, @pili-scotland.bsky.social and others. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

Loggers affect the foraging behaviour and fitness of European shags Biologgers enable real-time collection of detailed behavioural and physiological data from wide-ranging animals, including seabirds inhabiting remote regions. However, the number of studies using tra...

Loggers affect the foraging behaviour and fitness of European shags | doi.org/10.1002/jav.... | Journal of Avian Biology | #ornithology 🪶

Biologging provides crucial data, but our study of European shags shows that logger type, placement and duration can alter behaviour, reduce body mass and chick growth, and affect survival, highlighting key welfare and data-quality concerns.
tinyurl.com/u7vbv2xk
@ninanatureresearch.bsky.social

Camera-traps work best for surveying wildlife when site-level covariates are considered. Owain Barton led our study showing more cameras reduce error, longer deployments help only if occupancy varies, & ignoring key covariates can skews results
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Very happy to share that our paper presenting a framework for optimal movement decisions in complex landscapes has just been published in TREE @stephharris.bsky.social @jacobnabe.bsky.social tinyurl.com/d45s36y5

💡 We are writing a systematic review article about physical properties of light and attractiveness to seabirds in the Norwegian Arctic and are in need for some benchmark literature to evaluate our systematic search! Can anyone help? Please share 💡

Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Cultural knowledge is widely presumed to be important for elephants. In all three elephant species, individuals tend to congregate around older conspecifics, creating opportunities for social transmission. However, direct evidence of social learning and ...

🚨🐘 New study shows that elder elephants are living libraries of knowledge vital to herd survival; their loss (poaching/habitat destruction) weakens entire herds. 🌍🧪

Research by Bates L., Fishlock V. L., Plotnik J. et al. w/ @royalsocietypublishing.org royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The number of studies reporting the occurrence of each deer species, together with the different effects on woody vegetation that were studied. Note that the numbers in this matrix add up to more than the total number of studies (n = 455), as many studies reported more than one deer species present and more than one effect category.

High deer densities are one of the main challenges in temperate forest restoration and management. But not all deer are the same! In this review we consider the evidence for their impacts on woody vegetation ->

How do different deer species affect woody vegetation? Understanding that not all deer are the same is essential to effective forest management and restoration. 🧪🌏 Summary thread below ->

Elephants: How the loss of matriarchs fractures a society From bees to whales, it’s increasingly acknowledged that creatures have cultures within which they live their daily lives. This is particularly true for elephants, and the loss of matriarchs is leadin...

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

www.researchgate.net/journal/Phil...

Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Cultural knowledge is widely presumed to be important for elephants. In all three elephant species, individuals tend to congregate around older conspecifics, creating opportunities for social transmission. However, direct evidence of social learning and ...

Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Cultural knowledge is widely presumed to be important for elephants. In all three elephant species, individuals tend to congregate around older conspecifics, creating opportunities for social transmission. However, direct evidence of social learning and ...

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... new paper reviewing the evidence for elephant culture and the importance for conservation with @lucybates.bsky.social @graemeshannon.bsky.social @shermindesilva and @joshplotnik as part of a special issue on animal culture in conservation.

Elephant culture in crisis – study reveals new threat to elephants

Research exploring exploring how the loss of key individuals affects elephant societies. www.port.ac.uk/news-events-...

Researchers push to include animal cultures in conservation policy As evidence accrues of complex socially transmitted behaviors in animals, biologists are figuring out how to use these data in conservation

Researchers push to include animal cultures in conservation policy | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

‘Uniquely human’ language capacity found in bonobos In a first, researchers have seen a nonhuman animal combine different calls to make new meanings

‘Uniquely human’ language capacity found in bonobos | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

What deer poo can tell us about the future of Britain’s woodlands Research reveals that fallow deer have an unexpected appetite for brambles, a plant often seen as a woodland nuisance.

Hot off the press: a Conservation article on our recent work exploring patterns in the seasonal diet of fallow #deer in North Wales @graemeshannon.bsky.social @markuseichhorn.bsky.social @bangoruniversity.bsky.social

🌳🦌💩

theconversation.com/what-deer-po...

Morning lark or night owl? Prevailing ideas of mammal activity are outdated Many species can't be easily categorized as nocturnal or diurnal, a new study suggests.

New research led by @science-action.bsky.social and team exploring the daily activity patterns of animals using camera trap data from across the globe.

www.popsci.com/environment/...

Fallow deer diet in North Wales is dominated by bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.) across seasons 🦌

Learn more here 👇

Why the study of deer poo in North Wales could shed light on the future of woodland conservation A team from Bangor University conducted the study amid a growing concern that increasing deer populations are negatively impacting the health and regeneration of UK woodlands. However, according to t...

A study of deer poo in North Wales could shed light on the conservation of woodlands in the UK.

Bramble is important not just for pollinators but also for deer! 🦌 Our new paper published this week used faecal DNA metabarcoding to study the diet of fallow deer in North Wales, and used preference analysis to compare whether plant taxa were used more or less than expected given their abundance.

Graphical abstract for Gresham et al. (2025). Full abstract: A DNA metabarcoding study of the diet of fallow deer (Dama dama) in North Wales has revealed a dominance of bramble Rubus fruticosus agg.) in the diet across seasons. The diet was significantly less diverse in winter compared to other seasons. As we work to expand tree cover and enhance woodland resilience and biodiversity in the United Kingdom amid climate change and emerging diseases, we should seek to understand the dynamic interactions of increasing deer populations with rapidly changing treescapes.

What do deer eat in the winter? In the UK a common assumption is that they subsist on over-wintering crops or grazing land. In our new paper led by Amy Gresham we overturn that story. 1/7 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Why the study of deer poo in North Wales could shed light on the future of woodland conservation A team from Bangor University conducted the study amid a growing concern that increasing deer populations are negatively impacting the health and regeneration of UK woodlands. However, according to t...

News article from @bangoruniversity.bsky.social on our deer diet study in North Wales led by @amygresham48.bsky.social

www.bangor.ac.uk/news/2025-02...

New paper out today led by Amy Gresham exploring fallow deer diet using metabarcoding. Results were very different to what we expected!

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Graphical abstract: @linecordes.bsky.social

@markuseichhorn.bsky.social
@bangoruniversity.bsky.social
#deer