Studying social structure and the evolution of sociality
I am currently recruiting 3-4 field assistants to collect data and run social experiments with Monk Parakeets. The goal of this project is to determine how social groups respond to perturbations. We will allow parakeets to interact in a group in a large semi-natural flight pen and collect observations of social interactions in order to quantify social structures like dominance hierarchies and affiliation networks.… [Read full details]
The first new Cincinnati Zoo babies of the year are baby penguins!
Here’s the news from the zoo: http://cincinnatizoo.org/news-releases/little-blue-penguin-hatchlings-kick-off-cincinnati-zoos-year-of-the-penguin/
The zoo is reporting Reuben and Chip as the parents of these two new chicks. Interestingly, in our very preliminary analyses last semester in Penguin Data Club, Reuben was very social while Chip was not (based on RFID tags and swimming data).… [Read full details]
Sajay Prasher joined the lab this week as our first PhD student.
Sanjay did his Masters work Dr. Julie Morand-Ferron in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottowa. His previous work focused on cognition in chickadees (MSc titled “Examining the predictors of technical and consumer innovation in black-capped chickadees”).… [Read full details]
“Penguin Data Club” is a weekly meeting for undergrads at the University of Cincinnati. Working in collaboration with Dr. Katie Kalafut and the Cincinnati Zoo, we will dig into the social lives of Little Blue Penguins.
*** UPDATE: Penguin Data Club meetings in Spring 2020 have been scheduled for Fridays, 3:00-5:00, in Rieveschl 713.… [Read full details]