Actually could have talked to Dr Daniel Thomas for hours about this.... totally fascinating. Have a listen

Coming up: PENGUINS 🐧🐧🐧 @cconcannonsci speaks to @NZfauna about why penguins are so cool, and why Aotearoa is a great place to study these birds (giant penguin fossils, anyone??) Episode dropping Thursday morning. 🎨: giant extinct penguin Kairuku waewaeroa by @GiovaFavazzi

I followed Massey’s planned sciences restructure closely after it was first flagged just before Covid hit three years ago. This time, Professor Dianne Brunton told me today, the plans are “much more brutal”.

This Long-Term Study shows nestling phenotypic diversification in shining cuckoo and its hosts from the South-Pacific, and how this might generate different subspecies. @ShiningCuckoo @NatSciMassey Don’t miss it while it’s free to read:

9:45am Update: Kia ora, I hope you’re all doing okay. This is a really rough time for our community especially for those who have tragically lost love ones in this disaster. My thoughts are with their whānau. Thread below:

How does brood parasitism promote phenotypic diversification in shining cuckoos, and how might this be linked to new subspecies? @ShiningCuckoo @NatSciMassey Read the article: https://t.co/OcKaEs7M73

New research on shining cuckoos and their hosts shows that brood parasitism promotes phenotypic diversification, and how this might generate different subspecies. @ShiningCuckoo @NatSciMassey Read the article: https://t.co/OcKaEspmYB

@Nnipponia @informedbirds Final version of our article is now published online. Available here:

Thanks to the fantastic team that pulled this together: Alfredo Attisano, Brian Gill, Roman Gula, Naomi Langmore, Yuji Okahisa (@Nnipponia), Nozomu Sato, Keita Tanaka, Rose Thorogood (@informedbirds), Keisuke Ueda and Jörn Theuerkauf.

This research represents decades of fieldwork across multiple countries that took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to collect. It is great to see it bought together to show some really interesting results and reinforce the value of long-term research.

The presence of moderately effective defences at the egg laying and egg stages might explain why some hosts do not have defences at the nestling stage.

The coevolutionary interactions in each region suggest different evolutionary stages of the arms race in which either the parasite or the host is currently in the lead.

In response to parasitism, some hosts have developed highly effective defences at the nestling stage by recognising and ejecting cuckoo nestlings from the nest. As with the cuckoo nestlings, some hosts also have polymorphic nestlings.

These cuckoo nestlings closely mimic the respective host nestlings in each region. Additionally, some cuckoo subspecies have polymorphic nestlings.

We used field data collected over four decades in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand to assess potential for coevolutionary interactions between the shining bronze-cuckoo and its hosts, and how diversification at the nestling stage may be generating different subspecies.

Decades of research have shown that the coevolutionary arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts can promote phenotypic diversification in hosts and brood parasites. However, less is known about how brood parasitism promotes phenotypic diversification of nestlings.

Our new research in @AnimalEcology is out! Both cuckoos and their host chicks can be different colours. But why does nestling colour matter?🧵 👇 Polymorphism at the nestling stage and host‐specific mimicry in an Australasian cuckoo‐host arms race

Amazing new 3D Skeleton of Moa nunui (South Island giant moa, Dinornis robustus) from @NZfauna and @aucklandmuseum.

Congratulations to Dr Patrick Bowman who was named the ASA - Albany Students' Association 2022 Lecturer of the Year winner. A big congratulations to all School of Natural Sciences staff that were nominated for the Lecturer of the Year award. #masseyuni #natscimassey

Does the invasion process favour extroverts? Prof. Dianne Brunton (@bellbirdsong_NZ), from @NatSciMassey, is part of an international team that published their work on the invasive delicate (rainbow) skink in @NatureComms this week. 🧵👇 📸Jules Farquhar @FarquharJules