Current news

Tracking animals without markers

Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour developed a computer vision framework for posture estimation and identity tracking which they can use in indoor environments as well as in the wild. They have thus taken an important step towards markerless tracking of animals in the wild using computer vision and machine learning.

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Two meerkats. One seems to speek into the ear of the other one.

Meerkat chit-chat

Konstanz researchers unravel the vocal interactions of meerkat groups and show they use two different types of interactions to stay in touch.

Individual small robot

"Turing test" for animal systems

What advantages do robots offer in researching the behavioural rules of animal groups? How is robotics research inspired by nature? Three robotics researchers from the Cluster of Excellence "Collective Behaviour" (CASCB) at the University of Konstanz provide insights.

Two lions in grassland. One is standing. The other one is laying close to a bush.

In the realm of lions (copy 1)

“Contrary to ‘The Lion King’ there is no king or queen in lion societies. No single individual gets priority access to resources, whether that be access to mates or access to food after participating in a hunt”, says Konstanz researcher Natalia Borrego.

A good first impression

A collaborative research environment is key for establishing a new research group: insights from bioinformatician Andreas Gruber, funded within the framework of the Joint Federal Government-Länder Tenure-Track Programme.

A diagram of six different honeycomb patterns. These illustrate the structural differences and similarities between the honeycombs of honeybees and wasps.

Architectural marvels

Honey bees and social wasps developed a similar solution for nest building although evolution separated them 179 million years ago. This is a new finding by researcher Michael L Smith from the Cluster of Excellence Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior published in PLOS BIOLOGY.