From October 30 to November 2, over 200 experts and young scholars gathered together in XIshuanggbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) for the Third Young Scholars Forum of the Animal Behavior Branch of the China Zoological Society.

The Forum featured 3 invited keynote speeches, 2 plenary young scholar reports, and 4 parallel thematic sessions focusing on behavioral phenotypes and intrinsic regulation, behavioral adaptation and interspecific interactions, behavioral research paradigms and data innovation, and behavioral science empowering conservation and governance. A total of 56 thematic reports and 34 posters were presented, covering taxa ranging from insects, arachnids and cephalopods to birds and mammals.

The keynote speeches were concerning group decision-making in Asian elephants, auditory neural mechanisms underlying male mosquito courtship, and cognition and emotion in bumblebees, respectively delivered by Prof. Quan Ruichang of XTBG, Prof. Zhao Zhilei of Institute of Zoology, and Prof. Peng Fei of Southern Medical University.

The forum also organized a one-minute poster flash talk session, a concentrated exchange and display of representative achievements by young students, and activities of the youth committee. Participants also visited XTBG research stations for on-site academic exchanges in tropical rainforest habitats.

Prof. Zhang Jiaolin, CPC secretary and deputy director of XTBG, delivered a welcome speech. He encouraged young scholars to link their research interests with the practical needs of national biodiversity conservation.

The forum was hosted by the Animal Behavior Branch of the China Zoological Society, organized by XTBG, and co-organized by the editorial office of Current Zoology.

Prof. Li Zhongqiu chairs the opening ceremony. 

Prof. Zhang Jiaolin and Prof. Liu Dingzhen make opening speeches.

3 keynote speekers and 2 young scholars make presentations.

Young scholars at the forum.

Poster presentations.

Participants pose a group photo.