Prof. Amiyaal Ilany is a Data Scientist at the Steinhardt Museum and an Associate Professor at the School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University. He completed his PhD in Zoology, supervised by Prof. Eli Geffen (Tel Aviv University), and postdoctoral research at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) and at the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Ilany’s research focuses on behavioral ecology, particularly the dynamics of animal social networks and communication. He has conducted extensive fieldwork on species such as the rock hyrax and the Arabian babbler, integrating empirical data with theoretical models to explore how social structures influence longevity, reproductive success, and information transmission. He currently focuses on the interaction between social structure and the microbiome in wild animals.