A few recent updates

Some recent papers: Latest on social bonds in baboons from Seyfarth and Cheney lab Risky Ripples Allow Bats and Frogs to Eavesdrop on a Multisensory Sexual Display A biological market theory approach to plant-fungi mutualism. The past and future of Behavioral Ecology mentions vampire bat food sharing Three-dimensional space: locomotory style explains memory differences in rats … Continue reading A few recent updates

Foraging big brown bats use social calls to ward off competitors

Genni Wright has been studying social calls by flying big brown bats. She found that males produce distinct calls when foraging for food, and that they use these social calls to ward off competitors and claim aerial insects. Prey defense was one of the first functions of social calls suggested by field evidence in 1997 … Continue reading Foraging big brown bats use social calls to ward off competitors

More on evolutionary psychology and morality

I have been reading work by the evolutionary psychologists Peter Descioli and Robert Kurzban. Kurzban gave a great talk I saw last week at a conference proposing that the reason people have Kantian rule-based systems of morals is because morality serves as a way for bystanders to collectively coordinate which side to join in a conflict. As … Continue reading More on evolutionary psychology and morality

Conference on Evolution of Morality: why do people condemn others?

Last month, I moved my vampire bats to the Organization for Bat Conservation in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I'm now working on a group of more than 30 bats. I recently attended a small conference on The Evolution of Morality at Oakland University. My favorite talk was by Robert Kurzban on the evolution of third-party punishment … Continue reading Conference on Evolution of Morality: why do people condemn others?

Some recent studies on cooperation

Brood Parasitism and the Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds (Science) Brood parasites (like cuckoos) do best when they lay eggs in the nests of cooperative breeders. But cooperative breeders are better at rejecting brood parasites, because having more eyes and ears at the nest also helps keep out brood parasites. Evolutionary routes to non-kin … Continue reading Some recent studies on cooperation

More on vampire bat control and rabies

Previously, Daniel Streicker and colleagues argued that vampire bat control methods (targeted poisoning) might actually increase rabies rates in vampire bats. I wrote about that here. The team has since published a new model to examine hypotheses regarding why culling vampire bats does not reduce, and worse may even increase, rabies rates in vampire bats. … Continue reading More on vampire bat control and rabies