Animal Behavior Research blog posts
20 Nov
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
Picky cats and tasty food – sniffing is an indicator for tastiness
Cats can be extremely picky when it comes to food. If the cat doesn’t like it, it will refuse to eat. Reason enough for the pet food industry to try to find out what cats really like.
13 Nov
animal behavior research
Social Behavior
A high-throughput method to screen natural behavior of mice
Traditional standard tests with rats or mice are carried out immediately after human interference. Therefore, the behavior of the animals may not be natural and spontaneous.
28 Oct
animal behavior research
Anxiety, Depression and Fear
Anxiety is ancient – how crayfish resemble vertebrates
Fear is something we all know. It changes our behavior: we freeze, try to escape, or respond with aggression. Fear can also cause anxiety, which is a more complex phenomenon.
24 Oct
animal behavior research
Zebrafish Research
Inhibitory avoidance learning in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly being used as model in behavioural, neurobiological and genetic research.
11 Sep
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
Walking the ladder: testing the cellular source of motor functioning in mice
The cerebellum, our “little brain”, is all about motor control; more specifically, it’s about coordination, precision, and timing.
25 Aug
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
What a horse likes to eat: how to test dietary preferences
Redgate and colleagues looked into the addition of a monadic phase (a phase in which only one food was offered at a time instead of all of the options) to choice testing.
18 Aug
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
The accuracy of measuring fish aggression by using mirror tests
To examine the response of cichlids to their mirror image, Balzarini et al. used three sympatric species from Lake Tanganyika and did the mirror test for measuring aggression.
12 Aug
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
The relationship between food scarcity and caching in fox squirrels
We’ve all seen squirrels carrying acorns around in their mouths and burying them in the ground. This is a way to hoard food, and most squirrels use a strategy called scatter-hoarding.
05 Aug
animal behavior research
Social Behavior
How wild cavies and domesticated guinea pigs differ
Domestication has a considerable effect on the behavior of animals. The dramatic change in their environment and provision of food alter the need for behaviors such as exploration. But what exactly is the difference?
31 Jul
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
The impact of visitor access in a shelter on the welfare of shelter dogs
If you’ve ever been to a shelter to adopt a dog, you know that when you walk into the holding area, the dogs can get very noisy.