About
We aim to understand the evolution and regulation of cooperative relationships. I use grooming and food sharing to gain insights into the social lives of vampire bats. My lab starts Fall 2018 at The Ohio State University.
Browse Topics
- About cooperation (52)
- About science as an activity (12)
- About vampire bats (50)
- News (54)
- Other topics (19)
- People (7)
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My TweetsTop Posts & Pages
- Do you hear what I hear? Hearing sensitivity of the common vampire bat
- What animals will a vampire bat feed on? You might be surprised.
- Field notes on weekend trip to Costa Rica (with disc-winged bats!)
- The story of "How I almost died in Trinidad"
- Relatedness and kin discrimination in vampire bats (and a few updates)
- Should we wipe out vampire bats?
- The use of the terms "reciprocity" and "reciprocal altruism" in biology
- New grad student: Bridget Brown
Category Archives: News
Latest paper: social bet-hedging in vampire bats (and two other recent and related studies)
Our latest paper here. Also some early press here. There are actually three recent papers on social networks and the benefits of network size in primates (by Laurent Brent and co-authors), songbirds (by Josh Firth and co-authors), and bats (by me … Continue reading
Posted in About cooperation, About vampire bats, News
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Latest paper: Reproductive seasonality, sex ratio and philopatry in Argentina’s common vampire bats
It can be found here. Summary: 35 years of field observations 13,642 mist-net captures and 181 whole roost captures vampire bats in Argentina (near the southern limit of their range) have a reproductive season (unlike most other places) we have … Continue reading
Posted in About vampire bats, News
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A new field site in Panama
I am hoping to develop some new long-term field sites for future work on vampire bats. On March 27, I traveled with Austin Garrido, Rob Mies (director of the Organization for Bat Conservation), his daughter Georgia Mies, and labmates May Dixon, … Continue reading
Posted in About vampire bats, News
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Update: three golden opportunities
Now – October 2017, the Smithsonian Institute has awarded me with a fellowship to finish collecting data from lab and field experiments on vampire bat social behavior with Rachel Page at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. November 2017 – August 2018, … Continue reading
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‘Team Vampire’ Fall 2016
Julia Vrtilek (Biology, Amherst College, 2015) is studying the development of grooming and food-sharing networks in young-of-the-year vampire bats. What are your interests? I find it fascinating and awe-inspiring that “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most … Continue reading
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Summer 2016 updates
Our two undergraduate interns Yeli Garcia (Earlham) and Emily Dong (Cornell) just completed their independent projects and finished their seasons in Panama. Yeli’s project was entitled “Guano scent as a cue for roost-finding in vampire bats” and Emily’s was “Co-feeding … Continue reading
Posted in News, People
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Recent media article about vampire bats and friendship
Sapiens Magazine just put out an article about vampire bats and friendship. The author Leah Shaffer did a great job, probably the most accurate media story on the vampire bats I can remember. Usually, journalists get a lot wrong, but … Continue reading
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