New preprint!

Our amazing field manager Brendah describes—for the first time—the cooperative breeding system of #vulturineguineafowl

Helpers (mostly males) provide a substantial amount of the care to chicks after hatching.

Also lots of discussion about cooperative breeding being under-described in birds with precocial young.

Read all about it here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.517633v1

So much yet to discover on this amazing species.

Another big #movement by a #vulturineguineafowl group. These are almost daily occurrences as groups go in search of patches of resources to escape the ongoing #drought.

That groups of 50+ individuals (often multiple groups together) can make such decisions blows my mind. I hope that we'll one day find out how they do it!

One of my favourite #CameraTrap photos from #PricklyPearProjectKenya - an especially photogenic #Impala with a group of #VulturineGuineafowl and #PricklyPearCactus in the background. I like this photo so much that I picked it as the project's profile picture when we launched on #Zooniverse!

#Ecology #Conservation #CameraTraps #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature

#introduction

I'm a behavioural ecologist and (mostly) #ornithologist and fascinated by animal societies: how does being social change the way individuals experience their environment, and how do groups of individuals solve the challenges that come from being social?

My major project is the fascinating #vulturineguineafowl, but I also collaborate on other fascinating systems, including primates and dolphins.

I'm presently splitting my time between Uni Zurich and the Australian National Uni.