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Sandra Lai

@sandralai.bsky.social
266 followers 141 following 55 posts

Wildlife biologist in extreme environments ❄️🔥 Arctic | Carnivores | Behavioral Ecology | Movement Ecology | Conservation | Ecosystem monitoring 🦊🐺❄️ www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandra…

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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
What is this animal powered by? 😱 #Arctic #EllesmereIsland #wildlife #cameratrap
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WildCRU, Oxford @wildcru.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Can video games encourage people to care about biodiversity? 🎮 Researchers reviewed 380 papers covering 450 video games across 5 languages to find out how gaming links to nature engagement. Read the paper led by WildCRU’s Katie Blake 👉 doi.org/10.1145/3811... 1/6
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
When for a trial of paid peer review, criteria to be a reviewer was ‘having a PhD + 5 years of experience’ (very valid criteria) but when nowadays, editors ask PhD students with NO PUBLICATION to review manuscripts, surely there is a big problem going on in academia 🫠
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
🚨 IS IT FINALLY THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF ACADEMIC SLAVERY?? ‘Why paying peer reviewers works, according to a journal’s editor-in-chief’ ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Why paying peer reviewers works, according to a journal’s editor-in-chief
A biology journal that paid peer reviewers found that the approach cut the time to a first editorial decision by 85% and maintained high-quality reviews.
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Most ecologists are not trained for the brutal reality that is conservation. Studying nature is not the same as fighting for it. Conservation research does NOT equal impact, nor does it make you a conservationist. There is a huge difference between good intentions and realized conservation impact.
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Aude LALIS @audelalis.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Heureuse de découvrir aujourd’hui mon portrait de chercheuse dans BD National Geographic Kids. Merci pour cette belle mise en lumière du métier de chercheuse et des sciences naturelles auprès des plus jeunes @mnhn.fr @recherche.mnhn.fr #projetflocon #arcticfox #WomenInScience #NatGeo
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Aude LALIS @audelalis.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
@isyeb.mnhn.fr @uqar.bsky.social @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social @sandralai.bsky.social
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Emilie Desjardins @emiliedesjardins.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Yesterday, I officially submitted my PhD thesis on the ecology and conservation of Arctic biodiversity. ❄️🌿🐻‍❄️ A meaningful coincidence that it happened on the 100th birthday of David Attenborough 💙 Thank you @sandralai.bsky.social for the video 🫶
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Si vous aimez les belles photos d'animaux, voyez ce magnifique récit numérique de Radio-Canada qui explique nos recherches #uqar à l'Ile Bylot au Nunavut: ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numeri...
ici.radio-canada.ca
La grande migration de l’oie des neiges
La grande migration de l’oie des neiges : de l’escale du Saint-Laurent à la réserve de l’île Bylot
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Arctic wolves and polar bears are rarely seen together at our CFS Alert study area (Nunavut, Canada), as wolf packs usually displace bears. Here, a lone wolf appears dominated by a bear. This rare interaction was captured by an automatic camera on 5 April 2025. 🧪🌿🌎🦑🦊🐻‍❄️
Arctic wolf and polar bear at the sewage outflow of our CFS Alert study area (Nunavut, Canada). Interaction captured by an automatic camera on 5 April 2025.
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
🚨 TL;DR: Lemmings’ pee is hot pink and can be used to determine their abundance 😬 Read here ➡️ cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.... #Arctic #science
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
So excited to have this book coming up!! Among all the incredible stories, read mine about my time searching for Arctic foxes in the tundra ❄️❤️
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
What it was really like
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
You think seeing snow leopards is the most exclusive experience ever? Think again 🤣 Still a genuinely amazing experience 🙌 Safe distance from the animals is always respected to avoid disturbance 🤍 📸🐆: Chloé Warret Rodrigues, Dorge Angrup #SpitiValley #Kibber #Himalayas
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Watch the Canadian passport transform under UV light! 🇨🇦🍁✨
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Christmas at the Department of Biology? This means quiz! 🎄 Happy to have been able to join the WildCRU team this year for the Biology Christmas Quiz. It took place at the Life and Mind Building, with the Oxford skyline in the background.❤️ PS: we won! 😁 @biology.ox.ac.uk @wildcru.bsky.social
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
How it’s been at the new office lately… How’s yours? 🦊 @wildcru.bsky.social 🌱 @biology.ox.ac.uk
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2025 International Arctic Fox Conference @2025arcticfox.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Anders Angerbjörn and Paula White kicking off the first day with important talks about the potential impacts of climate change on the Arctic fox 🔥❄️ #ArcticFoxConference2025
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Scientific American covered our #MovementEcology work on Arctic foxes a couple of years ago, beautifully illustrating their continental-scale dispersal across Arctic Canada, through islands and sea ice straits.🧪🌿🌎🦊🌐🦑🐻‍❄️ #wildlife. If interested, enlarge map below (with full reference to article).
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WildCRU, Oxford @wildcru.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Meet Postdoctoral Research Associate @sandralai.bsky.social! 🦊 As an ecologist and carnivore researcher, Sandra’s work investigates the behavioural adaptations of mammals in extreme environments, from Arctic foxes in the High Arctic to the endangered Ethiopian wolf. [1/2] @biology.ox.ac.uk
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WildCRU, Oxford @wildcru.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
EWCP, in partnership with EWCA, is leading the first large-scale preventive vaccination of Ethiopian wolves in the Bale Mountains. Combining vaccination and GPS collaring, we aim to protect the world’s rarest canid and the Afroalpine ecosystem they call home. @biology.ox.ac.uk @sandralai.bsky.social
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
🔥 I am thrilled to have been chosen as a 2025 Flag Carrier by WINGS Women of Discovery! With their support, I’ll join the team in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains to vaccinate and GPS-collar endangered Ethiopian wolves. ➡️ wingswomenofdiscovery.org/explorer/san... @wildcru.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
In 2020, a male Ethiopian wolf in the Simien Mountains sustained a severe leg injury caused by a gun shot. Unable to keep up with his pack, weak and bleeding, in a place as harsh and exposed as the Ethiopian highlands, that’s usually the end of the story. But this time, it wasn’t.
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
🌍🐺 Wolves Across Borders 2025 — EWCP joined the Himalayan Wolves Project and WildCRU colleagues in Lunteren to represent wolves from Africa, Europe and Asia. A powerful global gathering sharing field insights and coexistence strategies. Thanks to all who came to listen and share!
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Over the years, we've published multiple #MovementEcology papers using the Arctic fox as a model. But I’ve never shared this video of a flying Arctic fox! Filmed on our Bylot Island study area by my former PhD student Clément Chevallier. #wildlife 🧪🌿🌎
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Jeanne Clermont @jclermont.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
The first publication of my postdoc on Scandinavian brown bears is now published in Ecology and Evolution! Go check it out! We used accelerometry data to evaluate bears' behavioural adjustments in response to temporal variation in hunting risk. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Acceleration Data Reveal Behavioural Responses to Hunting Risk in Scandinavian Brown Bears
We used accelerometry data to evaluate behavioural adjustments to temporal variation in hunting risk in Scandinavian brown bears. We find that male bears become more nocturnal after the onset of the ...
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
EWCP delegates, Prof Claudio Sillero, Dr Jorgelina Marino and Dr Sandra Lai, just arrived in Lunteren, Netherlands, for the International Conference Wolves Across Borders 2025! 🧵1/ #WAB2025 #WildCRU #OxfordBiology #OxfordUniversity #WolvesBorders #conservation #research
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
African wild dog playback experiment gone bad 😂 #PhDLife #Fieldwork #nevergiveup
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
💥 Flash news: I’ll be at WAB 2025! Anyone else going? Let’s meet 🦊
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Action on the sea ice: An Arctic wolf chases away a polar bear while other pack members rest nearby on the sea ice. While not a rare event, it's also not a common one at our CFS Alert biodiversity study area, Nunavut, Canada. Picture by Richard Cayer, 20 September 2020. 🌿🌎🦑 #addMam #wildlife
An Arctic wolf chases away a polar bear while other pack members rest nearby on the sea ice. Picture by Richard Cayer, 20 September 2020, at CFS Alert, Nunavut, Canada.
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Dominique Berteaux @dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
This female Arctic hare nursing her six leverets is perfect for Easter, especially with music added! Filmed by my former postdoc @sandralai.bsky.social at our biodiversity monitoring site CFS Alert, Nunavut, Canada. Music: Cumbia Deli.🌿🌎 #wildlife
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
“The three animals produced by Colossal are not dire wolves. Nor are they proxies of the dire wolf based on IUCN SSC guiding principles of extinct species for conservation benefit”—IUCN SSC Canid Specialist Group Read the full statement below ⬇️
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Hi, canid scientist here! 🙋🏻‍♀️ All I’m gonna say is that Colossal is claiming "if they look like this animal, then they are the animal" when the animal in question was more likely to be brownish-red and not white… Kinda like another extant wolf species 👀 www.scientificamerican.com/article/dire...
scientificamerican.com
Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal
The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
When I look back at what we put our field cars through during the last field trip, I don’t even know how we made it successfully to the end… a miracle! All field cars know suffering… that’s universal fieldwork experience! What’s your worst field car story? 🎥 Abdi Samune
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BES Movement Ecology @besmovesig.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Register now for our annual meeting! Join us at the University of East Anglia on the 2nd and 3rd of September. This year's theme is Understanding Migration, but contributions in all areas of movement ecology are welcome. Abstract deadline: 30th June 🧪🌍 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/besmove202...
eventbrite.co.uk
#BESMove2025 -- Movement Ecology Annual Meeting
Our popular Movement Ecology Annual Meeting will move to the University of East Anglia this year, under the title Understanding Migration.
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
🚨New on the blog🚨 Can you guess how many Ethiopian wolves we captured?🦊 14 people, 10 days, 4 camps, 3 cars Read more about my most insane (but meaningful) fieldwork ever! ➡️ ethiopianwolf.org/news/notes-f... #EWCP #WildCRU @wildcru.bsky.social #Oxfordbiology @biology.ox.ac.uk
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BES Movement Ecology @besmovesig.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
🚨New on the blog🚨 Jaguars in the trees: how big cats thrive in the Amazon’s flooded forest Guilherme Costa Alvarenga (WildCRU, University of Oxford) studied an extraordinary population of jaguars living an arboreal lifestyle in the Mamirauá Reserve ➡️ wp.me/pcNAUj-aC @wildcru.bsky.social
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
🦊 Fieldwork essentials🦊 Go ahead, judge me on anything! I’ll be posting about fieldwork with Ethiopian wolves soon! Stay tuned! ✨
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2025 International Arctic Fox Conference @2025arcticfox.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
❄️7th International Arctic Fox Conference❄️ When: September 26-29, 2025 Location: Churchill, Manitoba, Canada CALL FOR ABSTRACTS! Please fill this form: forms.gle/kPhgGfJMC2XV... The deadline to submit abstracts is Thursday, May 1, 2025.
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2025 International Arctic Fox Conference @2025arcticfox.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
❄️Join us in Churchill, Manitoba for the 7th International Arctic Fox Conference, September 26–29, 2025!❄️ 📢 RSVP now: forms.gle/Y6VR6TT1UJXh... 🔗 Info: churchillscience.ca/internationa... 📧 Questions: 2025arcticfox@gmail.com #ArcticFox #Churchill #ArcticEcology #2025ArcticFoxConference
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Yadvinder Malhi @ymalhi.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
While Britain agonises about a few lynx, a new inspiring analysis of tiger recovery in India, the world's most human-populated country, by @ninadm.bsky.social and others. Both land sharing and sparing are needed, and cultural acceptance and economic benefits... www.science.org/doi/full/10....
science.org
Tiger recovery amid people and poverty
Recovery of large yet ecologically important carnivores poses a formidable global challenge. Tiger (Panthera tigris) recovery in India, the world’s most populated region, offers a distinct opportunity to evaluate the socio-ecological drivers of megafauna ...
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Ethiopian wolves’ breeding season is fully on! Pups have started emerging. I took this video almost 2 years ago now. It was my first time seeing Ethiopian wolf pups. Because of how the den was carved under big rocks and a strong wind, they couldn’t see or hear us, leading to this miraculous sight!
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Holly English @hollyenglish.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
The BES Movement Special Interest Group @besmovesig.bsky.social has made it to Bluesky! Make sure to follow if you're interested in animal movement 🧪🌍
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WildCRU, Oxford @wildcru.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
As seen on BBC's Winterwatch: wood mice finding their way! In this amazing footage from @pavelstopka.bsky.social and David Macdonald's research, wood mice can be seen arranging leaves in a specific orientation, creating portable waymarkers as they forage. 🎥 bit.ly/4hBWl6F 📖 bit.ly/3PYrRQK
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
What type of ‘actionable conservation scientist’ are you? (are you one?) I think there is a discrepancy between what people ARE, what they THINK they are, what they SAY they are, and what they actually WANT to be. A cause of internal and external conflict, which is quite damaging on all levels.
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
You know the academic publishing system is completely broken when you see that PhD students with no first author publications are now being reached out directly by editors and asked to review manuscripts… Really, is this the future of peer-reviewing?
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Fieldwork is calling 📳
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
✨Happy New Year 2025! May your fieldwork be legendary, your data results finally be significant, and your camera traps not decide they’re done with you halfway through the field season.🤓 Here’s to surviving another year of chasing elusive creatures and funding! Let's goooo✨
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Field biologists have the reputation of not knowing how to dress well, but what are stereotypes if we can’t break them? #HappyHolidays #MerryChristmas #Oxford
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Sandra Lai @sandralai.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Story time! Watch the beautiful new footage of the wolves and the flowers 🔥 Read the story behind the paper in my piece for The Conversation UK "Wolves with a taste for nectar" ➡️ bit.ly/3ZYD7Ce
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