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Department of Zoology

 
Read more at: Don’t feed the birds! Dr Jack Shutt explains why
Dr Jack Shutt conducting fieldwork.

Don’t feed the birds! Dr Jack Shutt explains why

10 April 2026

UK residents put out enough bird food each year to feed more than 3 times the entire populations of garden bird food consuming bird species if they ate nothing else. In response to emerging evidence, the RSPB has asked the public to rethink this practice. Research has shown that heavily used bird feeders can become...


Read more at: 25th Student Conference on Conservation Science: 31 March - 2 April 2026
Student Conference on Conservation Science delegates at the Museum of Zoology

25th Student Conference on Conservation Science: 31 March - 2 April 2026

27 March 2026

The 25th Student Conference on Conservation Science takes place here in Zoology next week. Conservationists and students from across the globe will travel to Cambridge to take part. Four delegates told us about the importance of the event to them, and to their research. Fetratiana Rakotomanga University of Antananarivo...


Read more at: Global insect rescue plan needs new tech to ensure success
Mayflies back lit in a dark sky.

Global insect rescue plan needs new tech to ensure success

19 March 2026

Insects make up the vast majority of animal species on Earth, but their populations are declining rapidly. The ability to measure their numbers is crucial to understand the efficacy of methods to reverse the trend, but, until now, tracking insect decline at a global scale has been challenging. New technologies could change...


Read more at: Zoology research essential to effective policy and practical solutions to pollinator decline
A bumble bee on a flower

Zoology research essential to effective policy and practical solutions to pollinator decline

12 March 2026

Research groups in this Department are playing an important part in Europe’s response to pollinator decline. Through their participation in the EU-funded Safeguard and RestPoll projects, our researchers contribute significantly both to practical guidance and to policy advice for everyone interested in pollinator and nature...


Read more at: Carnivorous plants show unique adaptation to fluctuations in climate
Pitcher plant leaves being measured in the wild, alongside an illustration of different fluid levels in the plant and how that affects prey capture.

Carnivorous plants show unique adaptation to fluctuations in climate

6 March 2026

New research shows a previously unrecognised adaptation to changing climatic conditions in one of the most charismatic plant genera of South-East Asia, the carnivorous pitcher plant. Published in the March 2026 edition of the Annals of Botany, the research was led by Charlotte Andrew, a PhD student in our Insect...


Read more at: Eavesdropping on wildlife to reduce human-tiger conflict
Crouching tiger in woodland

Eavesdropping on wildlife to reduce human-tiger conflict

13 February 2026

A recent paper led by Dr Arik Kershenbaum , a College Associate Professor here in Zoology, describes how both wildlife and humans could benefit from networks of acoustic detectors to monitor tiger activity in Nepal. Here Dr Kershenbaum writes about his group's research, and how a faux tiger skin came in handy. kershenbaum_...


Read more at: Monstrous, mythological insects make for symposium success

Monstrous, mythological insects make for symposium success

12 February 2026

On 20th November, the Cambridge University Entomological Society ran a symposium, titled ’The Good, the Bad, and the Monstrous: Insects in Mythology, Literature and Media’, at the Department of Zoology. This symposium discussed the portrayal of insects in mythology, literature, and present-day media, with the objective of...


Read more at: Buzzing Futures: youth-led pollinator-focussed projects win funding
The Last Pollinator on Earth an image from a 'zine created for the Pollinator Ambassadors’ project, "FLOWER: Facilitating Learning and Women’s Empowerment in Pollinator Regeneration"

Buzzing Futures: youth-led pollinator-focussed projects win funding

6 February 2026

Pollinator Ambassadors, a European charity co-founded by Zoology PhD student Nynke Blömer ( Agroecology Group ), has recently won grants for two new projects on youth engagement on the topic of pollinators. Together with Biodiversity Action Europe, Pollinator Ambassadors secured funding worth 67,300 euros for the project "...


Read more at: Invasive alien species threat to insects revealed
Infographic showing impact of invasive alien species on key insect groups credit: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Invasive alien species threat to insects revealed

15 January 2026

Research published in Nature Communications on Thursday 15 January 2026, co-authored by Dr Joseph Millard of our Agroecology Research Group, provides new insights into the threat that invasive alien species pose to terrestrial insects. This is the first study to analyse and quantify the impact of invasive alien species on...


Read more at: How did ants evolve some of the largest and most complex societies on Earth?
3D reconstruction of the exoskeleton of an ant worker (Myrmoteras sp.) from x-ray tomography. Credit: Julian Katzke

How did ants evolve some of the largest and most complex societies on Earth?

19 December 2025

Research published today in the journal Science Advances shows that part of the answer lies in a subtle but consequential shift in how individual workers are built. Using a computer vision approach applied to 3D X-ray scans, researchers digitally reconstructed the anatomy of more than 500 ant species and traced how their...