Rakesh Muni

PhD Student at IISER Tirupati, Interested in Behavioural Ecology, Urban Ecology, Wildlife Behaviour, Music, birding and photography.

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

RT @Behaviour2025: #Behaviour2025 started with watering a sapling!

Looking forward to meeting a lot of people, from diverse backgrounds a…

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

@NCBS_Bangalore Had a great experience in presenting at this symposium on animal social behaviour about our work of palm squirrels and food acquisition patterns in urban areas. Thanks #iwec2024 and @NCBS_Bangalore for the opportunity.

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

Had a great time presenting at #iwec2024 at NCBS, about our work (special mention to Adhithi Balaji) on palm squirrels and food acquisition patterns in urban and rural areas, in the symposium on effect of urbanization on animal social behaviour. Looking forward for the next IWEC.

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

Happy to be named as one of the best posters on Biology Day 2024 (the annual event of Bio Dept of @IiserTirupati ). In this poster I talked about Niche differentiation and partitioning in closely related palm squirrel species in sympatry and allopatry.
#bioday2024
#sciuridlab

[Swati Udayraj (She/Her) @swatiudayraj]

Wrapping up the inaugural Inter IISER Ecology meet at IISER Tirupati! 🌿
Students and faculties from IISERs, CCMB Hyderabad, KREA University, and TIFR Hyderabad rocked it with engaging presentations and discussions. Future plans? Keep this student-driven vibe alive annually!

[Swati Udayraj (She/Her) @swatiudayraj]

Happy to share that our paper, "A comprehensive database of squirrel distribution and occurrence in South Asia", is out now @BioDataJournal
Link - https://t.co/Nn9RfN1Noz
@NandiniRajamani @senandsouza @aravindpsuresh @rakeshkmuni #OpenAccess #AcademicTwitter #GlobalSouth (1/n)

[MSc Wildlife @MSc_Wildlife]

Applications for MSc WILDLIFE BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION @ NCBS (2024-2026) are now open! Please share and RT
@NCBS_Bangalore @ncfindia @WCSIndia
https://t.co/NwYE8vDqiu

[Kirk Borne @KirkDBorne]

How a young statistician identified a cognitive bias called "Survivorship Bias" and saved lives:

During World War II, the U.S. wanted to add reinforcement armor to specific areas of its planes.

Analysts examined returning bombers, plotted the bullet holes and damage on them (as in the image below), and came to the conclusion that adding armor to the tail, body, and wings would improve their odds of survival.

But a young statistician named Abraham Wald noted that this would be a tragic mistake.

By only plotting data on the planes that returned, they were systematically omitting the data on a critical, informative subset:

The planes that were damaged and unable to return.

• The "seen" planes had sustained damage that was survivable.
• The "unseen" planes had sustained damage that was not.

Wald concluded that armor should be added to the *unharmed* regions of the returning planes (the areas without bullet holes on the image below).

His profound logic: Where the survivors were unharmed was actually where the planes were most vulnerable.

Based on his insight, the military reinforced the engine and other vulnerable parts, significantly improving the safety of the crews during combat and saving thousands of lives.

Abraham Wald had identified a cognitive bias called "Survivorship Bias":

The error resulting from systematically focusing on survivors (successes) and ignoring casualties (failures) that causes us to miss the true base rates of survival (the actual probability of success) and arrive at flawed conclusions.

Survivorship Bias is all around us — its cost to business can be huge.

When we fail to consider the range of outcomes and the hidden evidence, we develop a skewed (and often incorrect) view of reality.

What is unseen often has more value than what is seen.

Source for this post: https://t.co/3mjCVJOQMY

[bioRxiv Ecology @biorxiv_ecology]

Multifunctional evolution of palm squirrel coat colour and pattern https://t.co/UyY9oX0hVi #biorxiv_ecology

[Nandini Rajamani @NandiniRajamani]

Palm #squirrel colour & patterns evolved across the #Indiansubcontinent in response to the environment plus predators. Exciting results from work by @nivetha_ecoevo Senan D Souza, Shijisha AC & collaborator Russell A Ligon at the #SciuridLab @IiserTirupati

[HRDGCSIR @HRDG_CSIR]

The upcoming #CSIR-UGC-NET Examination is scheduled on 26th, 27th and 28th of December, 2023. The dates for online application process shall be released shortly by NTA. @NTA_Exams @DrNKalaiselvi @CSIR_IND @ugc_india

[Sudarshan Shaw @Sudarshanshaw93]

To Odisha, my homeland.
Inspired by the forms and features of traditional folk art form of Pattachitra, this biodiversity map brings together the inseparable- diverse life forms, forest-dwellers, age-old beliefs, culture and colours of the sacred land of Odisha.

#Odisha

[Swati Udayraj (She/Her) @swatiudayraj]

🐿️ Exciting Update about the Squirrels of South Asia (#SOSA) Database!
1/3 🌍 We've gathered data on 34 squirrel species in South Asia, making up 14% of global sciurid diversity. Tree, flying, ground squirrels – they're all here! 🌳 #sciuridlab #iisertirupati #southasia

[IISc Bangalore @iiscbangalore]

IISc is the organising institute for the GATE 2024.
This year, the computer-based test will feature a fresh additional test paper on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
The online application is expected to open on 24th August.
Follow @GATE24_Official for more updates!

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

@ghee_dosa @USouthFlorida Congratulations and all the best. 🎉

[Swati Udayraj (She/Her) @swatiudayraj]

I will be presenting tomorrow at #Landscapeecology and #biodiveristy session #ATBC2023 at 11:45 IST. Do attend if you want to know how these scurry squirrels thrive in urban areas! #sciruridlab #iisertirupati #palmsquirrels #urbanecology

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

@vvrobin Meanwhile researcher of one lab stating their concerns to another lab in the Dept. of Gaumutra research.

[Aniruddha Datta Roy @skinkomaniac]

1/n: Last year, I assigned a meme-making assignment to my evo bio course students. One suggestion was from @Torsay who recommended a .gif making assignment. So, @raxitdaves and I took the cue! We asked our 181 registered students (phew!!) to make a course-related .gif. #evobio

[Swati Udayraj (She/Her) @swatiudayraj]

Ranveer Singh as Mammals Part 1

A🧵... @RanveerOfficial #ranveersinghasmammals #RanveerSingh

[Rakesh Muni @rakeshkmuni]

@swatiudayraj... This is super cool... Memes ka mine hai re tu...