Alex Slavenko

Zoologist, ecologist | Herps, birds and PNG | Research scientist @cesaraustralia | Regional Coordinator @skinks_IUCN | Opinions are my own

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

New paper alert!! We in the Oceania branch of @skinks_IUCN just published a paper in Pacific Conservation Biology @CSIROPublishing on the skinks of Oceania, New Guinea, and Eastern Wallacea
https://t.co/k2NTOJhZpU

1/n

[Oded Rechavi @OdedRechavi]

For a PhD student, choosing a good lab is 10 times more important than choosing a particular topic to study

[Alice Tovey // alicetovey.bsky.social @AliceTovey]

May I offer US friends an Australian proverb in these trying times:

Yeah nah shit's pretty fucked ay

[Ami Dar @AmiDar]

Why is it so hard to hold two simple truths? Hamas should have never taken hostages and/or should have released them immediately. And it is wrong in every way to punish the whole population of Gaza for Hamas’s crimes. Not hard, I think.

[עומדים ביחד نقف معًا Standing Together🟣 @omdimbeyachad]

If you kill everyone who you said was sabotaging ceasefire deals and then you still don’t make a deal, it sort of looks like you never wanted to make a deal. @netanyahu

[Lee Caspi @LeeCaspi]

I'm sorry, Lebanon. I know this doesn't mean much while you're being bombed and displaced, but know that there are Israelis who don't support this aggression against you. Some of us know that a ceasefire in Gaza could have stopped this madness.

[🟣Rula Daood رُلى داوود רולא דאוד @DaoodRula]

עכשיו בקפלן בגין, בהפגנה למען העסקה לשחרור החטופים ולסיום המלחמה. אני פה כדי לומר די להרג הפלסטינים בעזה, די להפקרת החטופים, די להרג בגדה המערבית, ודי לממשלה של מתנחלים שבשם השנאה לעם שלי, העם הפלסטיני, שורפת גם את העם היהודי.

בואו הצטרפו אלינו לתנועת עומדים ביחד. רק ביחד ננצח.

[Perran Ross @MosWhisperer]

New paper led by @AlexSlavenko uses models to explore the potential for transinfected endosymbionts to spread through aphid populations @cesaraustralia @PEARG_Lab

https://t.co/RCyYbUjiDg

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

@RalstonBio @saintmarys @TaliMagory @yael

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

Latest research out, from an excellent project led by @Samanth97963033 with the rest of the @cesaraustralia team

[Annals of Applied Biology @AnnalsApplBio]

Modelling aphid movement in Australian canola fields
@AlexSlavenko @cesaraustralia @wileyplantsci @AABiologists
https://t.co/jbRK9UmHsn

[Szabolcs Kókay @kokayart]

I've just learned that it's the day of the chameleons! I did a few illustrations of Veiled Chameleons for a children book 14 years ago.

[Buzz Lightyear 🇮🇱 @MatanAlcalay]

לישראל אין בעיית הסברה. לישראל יש בעיה של מדיניות של כיבוש וקולוניאליזם על עם אחר. בעולם של 2024 שבו אנו חיים שום סרטוני הסברה/ציוצים/האשטגים לא יצליחו לשנות את זה. אם מדינת ישראל רוצה לשנות את דעת הקהל עליה היא צריכה לשנות מדיניות שהיא לא כיבוש והתנחלויות. שמחתי לעזור

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

Bird of paradise posters for sale by an insanely talented artist!

[Szabolcs Kókay @kokayart]

Thank you all so much for your orders! I thought of a game! Retweet this post with some advert like "Bird of paradise posters for sale", and on 1st of May I will draw a retweeter, and paint the chosen BoP species from the poster for him/her.

[Janne Torkkola @LizardboyJanne]

Nerd alert! #ScholarshipsAvailable Come study the evolution and history of biotic exchange between Australian and Papuan vertebrate lineages. PhD scholarships available with Dr Paul Oliver at #GriffithUniversity, details in link below 🦎🐸
https://t.co/uQS62FVh3I

[Michael S. Y. Lee (biologist) @michael_s_y_lee]

PhD Scholarship alert!

Two positions open in the broad area of Australasian biogeography @Griffith_Uni in sunny (and biodiverse) Qld!

Supervised by Paul Oliver, with possible co-supervision from @AChauvenet, Matt Phillips QUT or myself.

Details: https://t.co/r2UhAkBpjv

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

Really cool PhD opportunity @Griffith_Uni with Paul Oliver, working on 🇵🇬 biodiversity and how it relates to 🇦🇺 biodiversity. Application details in the ad:

https://t.co/SdNBapA6dm

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

New addition to the bookshelf @jules

[Dr. Amelia R. Zietlow 🦎 @TyrantLzrdQueen]

Happy #MosasaurMonday!
For an animal as common in museums as mosasaurs (> 4,000 specimens in N.A. alone), you may be surprised to hear that there are still 2 *fundamental* unanswered questions about them: what are they, & how many times did they become marine?
a #scicomm 🧵...

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

@SAMuseum @bishopmuseum @Griffith_Uni @qldmuseum You can read all about the new species, including their full descriptions, in our newly published Open Access paper in Vertebrate Zoology: https://t.co/AJG5qgDjxf

fin

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

Some brand new #skinks, hot off the presses!

Together with Stephen Richards (@SAMuseum), Stephen Donnellan (@SAMuseum), Allen Allison (@bishopmuseum), and Paul Oliver (@Griffith_Uni and @qldmuseum) we just described two spectacular skinks from #PNG 🇵🇬 (1/n)

[Alex Slavenko @AlexSlavenko]

@SAMuseum @bishopmuseum @Griffith_Uni @qldmuseum They are most similar to Palaia pulchra, sister species to the entire genus. All three species seem to have converged on the stripey colour pattern, possibly a predator evasion strategy where the stripes direct a striking predator towards the tail (https://t.co/1A6g0Okvlq) (9/n)