gregorykohn - Network

An American crow that visits the lab has become very confiding. I believe it hatched just north of the aviary this year. I haven’t fed...

An American crow that visits the lab has become very confiding. I believe it hatched just north of the aviary this year. I haven’t fed them or encouraged them, but they just stop by and watch me take data, literally staring at me for close to 40 minutes.

Really excited to read the reprint of Varela’s Biological Autonomy. I really want to offer a special topics course focusing on it in an...

Really excited to read the reprint of Varela’s Biological Autonomy. I really want to offer a special topics course focusing on it in an upcoming semester.

Clapper rail

Clapper rail

It is completely unnecessary how adorable this Easter spadefoot is.

It is completely unnecessary how adorable this Easter spadefoot is.

Built and installed a new roof for this years data collection season. Last year rain significantly impacted the breeding behavior.

Built and installed a new roof for this years data collection season. Last year rain significantly impacted the breeding behavior.

Three new fledglings!

Three new fledglings!

With a preface by Brian Goodwin, theoretical inspiration from D’Arcy Thompson and Hans Driesch, and methodologies drawn from Bohmian...

With a preface by Brian Goodwin, theoretical inspiration from D’Arcy Thompson and Hans Driesch, and methodologies drawn from Bohmian mechanics and dynamical systems theory, this book by Koenraad Kortmulder presents a truly novel perspective on animal behavior. I'm glad I found it!

Really interesting study on the function of greeting displays in Java Sparrow pairs....

Really interesting study on the function of greeting displays in Java Sparrow pairs. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-025-01953-2

Wrote a short note about resurrecting a moribund theory in animal behavior — approach-withdrawal theory — by merging it with enactivist...

Wrote a short note about resurrecting a moribund theory in animal behavior — approach-withdrawal theory — by merging it with enactivist perspectives on organization and behavior. Could this merger result in a general theory of basal behavioral abilities?

https://gregorykohn.substack.com/p/can-we-develop-a-general-theory-of

In frigid Siberia workers at a factory in Ulan-Ude could take a break in a tropical indoor garden. There were similar indoor tropical...

In frigid Siberia workers at a factory in Ulan-Ude could take a break in a tropical indoor garden. There were similar indoor tropical gardens built in the cultural palaces along the БАМ railway (my favorite one is in Severobaikalsk with turtles and finches).

Nice example of lateralization.

Nice example of lateralization.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics

I have spent a LOT of time in the last few years writing, publishing and advocating against genetic determinism in everything from innate...

I have spent a LOT of time in the last few years writing, publishing and advocating against genetic determinism in everything from innate behavior in animals to the menace of using behavior genetics for education. I am sometimes asked if I am fighting against a ghost of the past. But the hydra of genetic determinism is very much alive, and one of its ugliest heads --eugenics-- has a larger than comfortable margin of becoming policy again in the US. Insane. #Eugenics https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/world/the-us-is-talking-about-mass-sterilisation-again/

With all the literal insanity of the last couple of weeks I somehow missed that Helen Hays passed away. She was a beacon among budding...

With all the literal insanity of the last couple of weeks I somehow missed that Helen Hays passed away. She was a beacon among budding ornithologists in NYC when I was growing up. I never made it out to her research station on Great Gull Island, but always wanted to. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/science/helen-hays-dead.html

The Coloration of the Neck Feathers of Large-Billed Crows and Carrion Crows―the Color Variation Observed in Large-Billed Crows |...

The Coloration of the Neck Feathers of Large-Billed Crows and Carrion Crows―the Color Variation Observed in Large-Billed Crows | https://doi.org/10.2326/osj.24.147

Excited to read this! https://www.sup.org/books/anthropology/common-circuits

Excited to read this! https://www.sup.org/books/anthropology/common-circuits