News & Events

21.11.2025
 

What enables human language? A biocultural framework

 

Inbal Arnon, Liran Carmel, Nicolas Claidière, W. Tecumseh Fitch, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Simon...

22.09.2025
 

Brain activation for language and its relationship to cognitive and linguistic measures

Irene Balboni, Alessandra Rampinini, Olga Kepinska, Raphael...

26.08.2025
 

"Startling ravens Corvus corax at foraging: differences in anti-predator behaviour can be explained by age rather than personality"

by: Janina Anna...

21.07.2025
 

A nice press release on gestures in elephants. Well done!

 

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/science/elephants-gesturing-trunk.html

 

09.07.2025
 

Congratulations to Prof. Leonida Fusani for receiving a further FWF grant for the project "Mating and bonding decisions in a challenging environment"

05.05.2025
 

Publications


Chow PKY, Davies JR, Bapat A, Bayern AMPV. Tracking Changes of Hidden Food: Spatial Pattern Learning in Two Macaw Species. Birds. 2021 Sept;2(3):285-301. doi: 10.3390/birds2030021

Adriaense J, Slipogor V, Hintze S, Marshall L, Lamm C, Bugnyar T. Watching others in a positive state does not induce optimism bias in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), but leads to behaviour indicative of competition. Animal Cognition. 2021 Sept;24(5):1039–1056. doi: 10.1007/s10071-021-01497-1

Stöger-Horwath A, Baotic A. Vocal Creativity in Elephant Sound Production. Biology. 2021 Aug 5;10(8):750. doi: 10.3390/biology10080750

Common LK, Sumasgutner P, Dudaniec RY, Colombelli-Négrel D, Kleindorfer S. Avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi) mortality differs across Darwin’s finch host species. Scientific Reports. 2021 Aug 4;11:15832. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-94996-7

Li H, Kepinska O, Caballero JN, Zekelman L, Marks RA, Uchikoshi Y et al. Decoding the role of the cerebellum in the early stages of reading acquisition. Cortex. 2021 Aug;141:262-279. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.02.033

Nemeth M, Eisenschenk I, Engelmann A, Esser FM, Kokodynska M, Szewczak VF et al. Flaxseed oil as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid source modulates cortisol concentrations and social dominance in male and female guinea pigs. Hormones and Behavior. 2021 Aug;134:105025. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.105025

Stocker M, Prosl J, Vanhooland LC, Horn L, Bugnyar T, Canoine V et al. Measuring salivary mesotocin in birds - Seasonal differences in ravens' peripheral mesotocin levels. Hormones and Behavior. 2021 Aug;134:105015. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.105015

Sumasgutner P, Buij R, McClure CJW, Shaw P, Dykstra CR, Kumar N et al. Raptor research during the COVID-19 pandemic provides invaluable opportunities for conservation biology. Biological Conservation. 2021 Aug;260:109149. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109149

Chen H, Yao H, Ruan X, Wallner B, Ostner J, Xiang Z. Tourism may trigger physiologically stress response of a long-term habituated population of golden snub-nosed monkeys. Current Zoology. 2021 Aug;67(4):465-467. zoaa076. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoaa076

Frommen JG, Fischer S. Proximate and ultimate mechanisms of cooperation in fishes. In The Cambridge Handbook of Animal Cognition. Cambridge University Press. 2021 doi: 10.1017/9781108564113.016

Nebel C, Sumasgutner P, Rodseth E, Ingle RA, Childs DZ, Curtis‐Scott O et al. Multigenerational pedigree analysis of wild individually marked black sparrowhawks suggests that dark plumage coloration is a dominant autosomal trait. Journal of Zoology. 2021 Jul 14;315(2):123-130. doi: 10.1111/jzo.12913

Wenig K, Boucherie PH, Bugnyar T. Early evidence for emotional play contagion in juvenile ravens. Animal Cognition. 2021 Jul;24(4):717-729. doi: 10.1007/s10071-020-01466-0

Beeck V, Stoeger A. A novel theory of Asian elephant highfrequency squeak production. BMC Biology. 2021 Jun 17;19(1):121. doi: 10.1186/s12915-021-01026-z

Antonson ND, Rivera M, Abolins-Abols M, Kleindorfer S, Liu WC, Hauber ME. Early acoustic experience alters genome-wide methylation in the auditory forebrain of songbird embryos. Neuroscience Letters. 2021 Jun 11;755:135917. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135917

Kislinger L, Kotrschal K. Hunters and Gatherers of Pictures: Why Photography Has Become a Human Universal. Frontiers in Psychology. 2021 Jun 8;12:654474. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.654474

Wenig K, Bach R, Czaczkes T. Hard limits to cognitive flexibility: ants can learn to ignore but not avoid pheromone trails. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2021 Jun 4;224(11):jeb242454. doi: 10.1242/jeb.242454

Sigmundson R, Stribos MS, Hammer R, Herzele J, Pflüger LS, Massen JJM. Exploring the Cognitive Capacities of Japanese Macaques in a Cooperation Game. Animals. 2021 Jun;11(6):1497. doi: 10.3390/ani11061497

Fischer S, Jungwirth A. Tanganjikasee – ein "Traumsee" für die Wissenschaft. derStandard. 2021 Jun.

Nebel C, Amar A, Hegemann A, Isaksson C, Sumasgutner P. Parental morph combination does not influence innate immune function in nestlings of a colour-polymorphic African raptor. Scientific Reports. 2021 May 26;11(1):11053. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-90291-7

Bates AE, Primack RB, PAN-Environment Working Group, Biggar BS, Bird TJ, Clinton ME et al. Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment. Biological Conservation. 2021 May 20;263:109175. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109175

Massen JJM, Hartlieb M, Martin JS, Leitgeb EB, Hockl J, Kocourek M et al. Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds. Communications Biology. 2021 May 6;4(1):503. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02019-y

Bettoni S, Rodríguez Lopez C, Stoeger A, Fitch WT. Airborne vocal communication in adult neotropical otters (Lontra longicaudis). PLoS ONE. 2021 May;16(5):e0251974. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251974

Colombelli-Négrel D, Kleindorfer S. Behavioural response to songs between genetically diverged allopatric populations of Darwin’s small tree finch in the Galápagos. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 2021 May;34(5):816-829. doi: 10.1111/jeb.13783

Ziegler AK, Watson H, Hegemann A, Meitern R, Canoine V, Nilsson JÅ et al. Exposure to artificial light at night alters innate immune response in wild great tit nestlings. The Journal of experimental biology. 2021 May;224(10):jeb239350. doi: 10.1242/jeb.239350