David Pritchard

A close-up photograph of an ant (Cataglyphis velox) holding a bit of cookie, attached on a trackball device (spherical tradmill)

We usually assume 🐜 ants 🐜 learn views when facing their goal, but our data shows that it is not necessarily the case!

We combined field experiments with a biologically constrained model to show how a two-stage neural circuit (MB -> CX) could allow this:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New #PhD on #bees (BeeHd?)! Despite the ad saying "UK Students only", a limited number of scholarships are available for international candidates. So please apply!

An illustration of how fish navigate in different visibility conditions. In high visibility, fish may rely on beaconing: when the target (eg food) is within visual range, they could swim directly towards it. In low visibility, the target is no longer visible from the starting point. Direct movement based only on memory of its location is risky, so they may use a landmark. Original illustration by Alicia Hayden.

To understand how fish use vision to navigate, we must first understand what they see.

New review from Cait Newport and @burt15theresa.bsky.social in @jexpbiol.bsky.social 👇
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

Eusociality has independently evolved in multiple arthropod lineages

Eusociality has independently evolved in multiple arthropod lineages

Comparative analysis across 5,678 insect species shows that, when you control for phylogenetic bias, eusociality has not evolved at a faster rate in haplodiploid species. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Research

With all this talk of cow tools now's a good time to mention my new paper with @abigaildesmond.bsky.social titled 'Why don't all animals use tools?' 🧪🛠️🐮

It's in press at the journal Animal Behaviour & Cognition. You can get a pdf of the accepted version from the research page of my site 🧵 1/

A view of bird's eyes -- Pigeons lock their eyes in place during flight https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.07.698303v1

Tolman's Sunburst Maze 80 Years on: A Meta‐Analysis Reveals Poor Replicability and Little Evidence for Shortcutting In 1946, Tolman et al. reported that rats could take a novel shortcut to a goal after training on an indirect route, supporting the Cognitive Map theory. However, a review of subsequent Sunburst maze...

Can humans & animals really use internal maps to take shortcuts?

Tolman famously said yes - based largely on his Sunburst maze.

Our new review & meta-analysis suggests evidence is far weaker than you might think.
🧵👇 doi.org/10.1111/ejn....

@uofgpsychneuro.bsky.social @ejneuroscience.bsky.social

"Strange antics' and speciation. Photo of peacock spider. Jonah Walker Joana Meier Chis Jiggins, Jongh Schuben, Ancie Jeop, Cyrila Tedos, Cunia Blar

Male courtship dances have co-evolved with female preferences in peacock spiders, but with closely related species, assortative mating is “leaky” 🦚🕷️ #ASABWinter2025

Hanna posing with tthe medal with ASAB president Melissa

Congratulations to Hanna Kokko for receiving this year’s ASAB medal! Hanna has done extraordinary work and we are so pleased to honour her at #ASABWinter2025

Fascinating Tinbergen Lecture by @toshitakaszk.bsky.social 🐦 on animal linguistics! Not only do Japanese tits have distinct sequence & predator calls 🐍🦅 they can also understand the calls of Willow tits!! You'll soon be able to get a copy of his book! #ASABWinter2025 @asab.org

Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!

preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵

Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

1/9

a drawing of a crow with its mouth open Alt: a drawing of a crow with its beaks opening and closing

New paper: Stick dexterity in carrion crows🥢 Commentary on Moll et al. 2025 in which they trained crows to use stick tools. Their neat set-up allowed tracking tool motions, showing that crows became more efficient over time. Could nest building affect their stick dexterity? Full text: rdcu.be/eSOMF

PhD position - How jumping spiders see

- Put cute spiders on trackballs!
- Program fancy automated experiments!
- Do cutting edge research!
- Hang out in beautiful Italian cities!
- Be supervised by a super nice chap!

Like invertebrate behaviour and computation stuff? You'll love this.

Link in 🧵

From preferences to pollination: do hummingbirds and bees differ in how they choose flowers?

#PhD position!

Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees

Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

From preferences to pollination: do hummingbirds and bees differ in how they choose flowers?

#PhD position!

Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees

Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Vacancy — Postdoc Position in Decision Making in Birds Are you an expert in animal behavior? Do you have experience working with birds? The Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) is looking for a motivated researcher to investigate the ro...

I have a job opening in my lab. If you are interested in bird behaviour and predator prey interactions please take a look! werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Beautiful plenary by @mariatelloramos.bsky.social on the architecture of structures built by cooperative weaver sparrows 🐦 #EtoEcoEvo25

My latest Aronov lab paper is now published @Nature!

When a chickadee looks at a distant location, the same place cells activate as if it were actually there 👁️

The hippocampus encodes where the bird is looking, AND what it expects to see next -- enabling spatial reasoning from afar

bit.ly/3HvWSum

🎇✨Congratulations Prof. Susan Healy, our 2027 Research Award recipient (Uni. St Andrews, UK). A symposium + banquet will honor her contributions at the 2027 conference & a special issue will be published March 2028: 'In Honour of the Contributions of Susan Healy' #WomenInSTEM

Two pictures of nests made by Dartford warblers in England. One on the left is almost completely made of grass while one on the right is made of heather.

Two panels of plots that show data on nest materials (above) and nesting habitats (below) of Dartford warblers. Birds used nest materials that were readily available in respective habitats.

New paper 🐣🌱🌷 Dartford warblers show high variation in nest materials: some nests are made of heather while others have a lot of grass. It seems birds can use different materials in different habitats without compromising nest insulation. nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Image of a PhD position advert entitled "PhD studentship in Brain, Brawn, and Bugs: cognitive and physical factors of insect dexterity" with images of a praying mantis and a bumblebee foraging.

🚨Fully-funded PhD studentship on insect behaviour, cognition & muscles with me & @viveknityananda.bsky.social at @newcastleuni.bsky.social 🐝🍀🎓🙌Application deadline April 30, start date in September. Drop me an email if you have questions! www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate...

A pair of zebra finches sitting in a nestbox. The male is holding a cotton string in its bill.

Job alert🐦 2yr post-doc position with Prof. Sue Healy on project "Mistakes in Action: From the Normativity of Goal-Directedness to Novel Investigations of Avian Nest Construction"🪺 Start asap. Contact: sdh11[at]st-andrews.ac.uk @uniofstandrews.bsky.social