Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

How volant seabirds benefit from sub-surface predators during multi-predator feeding aggregations

Abstract Multi-predator feeding aggregations are common in marine ecosystems and frequently involve seabirds. Often labelled opportunistic ‘scroungers’, volant seabirds derive diverse benefits from the association with sub-surface predators (such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, Teleosts...

Airflows redefine the cost of aerial transport in the wild

Fuel economy matters to both animals and machines, as the cost of transport can determine where, when, and how far locomotion is possible. However, established estimates of these values for animal flight come from laboratories and treat the atmosphere as constant, even though fre...

Tree Species Classification in a Madagascar Tropical Dry Forest Using Multi-Temporal UAV Multispectral Imagery and Machine Learning

Accurate tree species mapping in tropical dry forests remains challenging because strong seasonal phenological variation and spectral overlap can limit discrimination from single-date imagery. This study evaluated the integration of wet- and dry-season unoccupied aerial vehicle (...

How 8 years of social and individual learning interact to shape ecological competence in orangutans

Cultural learning permeates human skill and knowledge acquisition. To understand its importance for nonhuman apes, we analyzed just under 7000 records of behavioral bouts of social and individual learning across wild orangutans’ 8-year dependency period to assess their combined e...

Genetic and behavioural repertoires support olfactory communication in wild capuchin monkeys

Olfaction is a key sense for many mammals, but its role in the social lives of anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, humans) is poorly understood. Studies of chemosensory receptor genes and olfactory behaviours can provide insight into the evolution and function of olfaction across...

Ageing processes in the bonobo gut microbiome mirror human patterns

Ageing is associated with changes in the human gut bacterial microbiome: with age, it becomes more diverse, intra- and interindividual variability increases and it shows a decline in core bacterial genera and an expansion of rarer genera. While recent evidence in model organisms...

The vocal repertoire of white-nosed coatis: structural features, temporal dynamics, and social variations

Abstract For many group living species, vocal signals are a vital form of communication needed to coordinate social behaviours. Investigating these processes first requires a detailed description of the species’ vocal repertoire. White-nosed coatis ( Nasua narica ), which forage...

Synchronous human-dolphin foraging increases fishing success despite prey unpredictability

Abstract Foraging theory predicts that individuals adjust their behaviour in response to environmental conditions and prey availability. One solution to finding and capturing unpredictable prey is social foraging, yet it remains unclear whether its benefits arise from behavioural...

Females cooperate, rather than monopolize reproduction, in multi-female groups of cooperatively breeding birds and mammals

Abstract Scholars have long sought to understand why, in some cooperatively breeding species, females care for the offspring of other group members while forgoing their own reproduction. Here, we analysed data from 101 cooperatively breeding populations of 73 bird and mammal spec...

Decoupling of emigration timing and skill acquisition in a saturated population of golden eagles

Abstract Many animals must gain independence from parental care by acquiring skills necessary for survival. Thus, the rate of skill acquisition can predict when parental care ends and animals emigrate. However, young animals sometimes acquire adult-like skills long before they em...

Bio-inspired decision making in robot swarms under biases

Abstract To operate autonomously, minimal robot swarms must make timely and reliable collective decisions despite noisy individual sensing and severe constraints on communication, computation, and memory. Achieving this capability could expand their use in applications such as he...

Emerging innovations in movement ecology to address planetary challenges

Abstract Movement ecology—the study of how and why animals move within their environments—stands to offer transformative insights into our rapidly changing world, with benefits for both nature and people. Here, we present the first global horizon scan for movement ecology, engagi...

An elementary form of agency at planetary-scale

Abstract The claim that climate homeorhesis—non-equilibrium steady-state dynamics that underlie Earth’s long-term habitability—depends on an integrated biosphere–climate system capable of acting on its own is central to debates surrounding the Gaia hypothesis. This paper presents...