Our main goal is to leverage key aspects of animal behavior and ecology to advance conservation and improve animal welfare.

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Animal behavior and social interactions, including feeding, mating, and communication can have important fitness consequences for captive and wild animals. Understanding how animals behave and why can lends insight into their health and welfare, and it can be useful for informing critical conservation management decisions, like how and when to release captive-reared individuals into the wild. ​​​​​

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We use a variety of research methodologies to study animal behavior, including field studies, lab experiments, and technological innovations.

 

Field studies allow us to observe animals in their natural habitats, providing valuable insights into how animals behave in natural conditions. Although less natural, lab settings allow for highly controlled environments where we can manipulate variables and closely observe specific behaviors. When combined, field and lab experiments can provide critical insights. 

 

Whether in the field or the lab, we specialize in technology like apps, to gather data on individual behaviors and social interactions. This approach allows us to collect large amounts of fine-scale data over long-periods of time.