Meet the Expert: Ms. Cordelia Rasa, Director of UTRGV Lab Animal Resources
Learning Objectives for Ms. Rasa's Interview:
Identify and describe the educational accomplishments and trainings that prepared Ms. Rasa for her current position and career in animal research.
Explain and describe why the topic of lab animal welfare is important to members of our academic community and to the greater RGV Community.
Identify and describe the skills that students can learn and develop at UTRGV that can translate to careers outside of academic research.
Resources:
https://www.utrgv.edu/research/for-researchers/animal-care-use/animal-resources/index.htm
Meet the Experts: A Day in the Life of a Graduate Student, UTRGV Department of Psychological Science
Panelists:
Katelynn Rentería, Moderator & Panelist
UTRGV Graduate Student, currently enrolled in the Experimental Psychology Master's Degree Program
Esperanza Isabel Alaniz, Panelist
UTRGV Graduate Student, currently enrolled in the Clinical Psychology Master's Degree Program, LPA.
Joseph Caleb Cantu, Panelist
UTRGV Graduate Student, currently enrolled in the Clinical Psychology Master's Degree Program, LPC.
Learning Objectives for Graduate Student Panel:
Identify and describe what components are distinctive of a graduate student's program, schooling, and research experiences.
Identify and describe skills and unique experiences graduate students have gained in their time working under the Behavior & Systems Neuroscience Laboratory.
Identify and describe how an original perception of research may evolve based on actual experiences, particularly in neuroscience and following hands-on practice.
Meet the Expert: Ms. Claudia Martinez, Part-time Lecturer in the UTRGV
Dept. of Psychological Science
Presentation Title: What's it like Conducting Animal Behavior Research at the Gladys Porter Zoo?
Ever wonder what’s it like being a scientist at the zoo? Want to know how researchers collect animal behavior data? Want to see cute gorilla pictures? Then click on this video to hear Claudia Martinez describe her personal experience on what it’s like conducting animal behavior research at the Gladys Porter Zoo.
Learning Objectives:
Explain and describe what animal behavior is and how to collect it.
Describe why the study of animal behavior is important.
Identify and describe what needs to be done before someone takes their inter-observer reliability test.
Explain and describe the daily routine Mrs. Martinez goes through when collecting gorilla behavior data at the Gladys Porter Zoo.
Meet the Presenter: Ms. Ashley Grady, UTRGV Undergraduate Student
and Gladys Porter Zoo Primate Keeper
Presentation Title: Lemur Interactions with Enrichment Items and Contact Between Both Species
This project is focused on the interactions of two lemur species that reside on the same island, and the potential for aggressive tendencies around feeding times, non-feeding times, or both between the two species.
Meet the Presenter: Ms. Katelynn Rentería, UTRGV Graduate Student
Presentation Title: Biological Sex & Environmental Enrichment Interact & Impact
Grey Short-tailed Opossum Behavior
The effect of enrichment on animal behavior has been studied in a variety of species, with a main goal being to see if animal engagement with enrichment items would influence an animal’s subsequent behavior. This sort of research has been investigated largely using rodent models, and this study differs in its use of a marsupial model, the grey short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). The objective of this study is to further investigate sex differences in the effect of enrichment object interaction on subsequent grey short-tailed opossum behavior using opossums less than three months of age, expanding the existing literature with a more enrichment object-oriented study and contributing to the study of enrichment with a less frequently studied marsupial species.
Learning Objectives:
Learn about Monodelphis domestica, common name: grey short-tailed opossum, and its use as an animal model for this study.
Identify and describe enrichment, particularly the items and use of enrichment objects to affect opossum behavior in this study.
Identify and describe significant differences found between male and female opossums during enrichment object exposure.
Meet the Presenter: Ms. Patricia Scanlan, UTRGV Graduate Student and Curator of Behavioral Husbandry at the Gladys Porter Zoo
Presentation Title: Western Lowland Gorilla Birth Intervals and Weaning
The goal of this project is to determine weaning periods amongst three mothers with a direct comparison between two specifically, a mother – daughter (Martha and Margaret) pair whom gave birth approximately one month apart. Secondly, this project aims to compare known inter-birth intervals in “Martha” as compared to “Margaret” whom is a first time mother. Finally, a goal is to gather baseline values on “Penney”, the third of the mothers, whom has had previous young with the aid of medicinal intervention due to reproductive complications.
Meet the Presenter: Ms. Teresa Shumaker, UTRGV Alumnus and Associate Director of the Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy
Presentation Title: Stereotypic Behaviors Present in the Giraffe Population at the Gladys Porter Zoo
Life in captivity can differ greatly from that of animals in the wild. According to Loraine Fernandez, giraffes in the wild spend over half of their time looking for and eating food (Fernandez, 2011). This project's team decided to study the Gladys Porter Zoo giraffes to see if they spent most of their time foraging as well.
The study included the six giraffes being cared for at Gladys Porter Zoo at the time, four females and two males. Randomized lists were generated for use with the focal animal method to ensure that each giraffe was observed an equal amount of time. Over the course of four weeks and 14 systematic observations, researchers compared the proportion of time each animal spent in ten different categories of behavior. Overall, the giraffe population spent 46 percent of the observed time in food-seeking behaviors, which was significantly more than any of the other nine categories. The behavior observed was close to the behavior of wild giraffes.
Meet the Presenter: Mr. Grady Brashear, HCISD Stem2 Preparatory Academy Student
Meet the Presenter: Miss Aracelli Garcia, HCISD Stem2 Preparatory Academy Student
Meet the Presenter: Miss Destiny Gutierrez, HCISD Stem2 Preparatory Academy Student
Meet the Presenter: Mr. Noah Lopez, HCISD Stem2 Preparatory Academy Student
Meet the Presenter: Mr. Jonathan Wendorf, HCISD Stem2 Preparatory Academy Student
Meet the Presenter: Miss Emarii Martinez, HCISD Stem2 Preparatory Academy Student
Meet the Presenter: Ms. Claudia Martinez, Part-time Lecturer in the
UTRGV Department of Psychological Science
Presentation Title: The Story of Mbundi
Hear the story of how Mbundi, the current silverback of the Gladys Porter Zoo’s gorilla group, came to be introduced to his now family group. In addition, go behind the scenes and find out how the gorilla behavior data was collected and studied.
Learning Objectives:
Explain and describe what occurred after Gladys Porter Zoo’s former silverback passed away.
Identify and describe why silverbacks are important in their family groups.
Explain and describe what happened when Mbundi, the new silverback, got introduced to the family group during the first introduction and second introduction.
Identify and describe what was learned from this study and how it can help zookeepers.
Meet the Interviewee: Sergio Garcia, Curator of Education at the Gladys Porter Zoo
Sergio Garcia Interview
UTRGV Graduate Student and Curator of Behavioral Husbandry at the Gladys Porter Zoo, Patricia Scanlan interviews the Curator of Education at the Gladys Porter Zoo, Sergio Garcia.
Meet the Interviewees: Matt Christensen, Associate Curator of Primates, & Jorge Moya, Primate Keeper
Matt Christensen & Jorge Moya Interview
UTRGV Undergraduate Student and Primate Keeper at the Gladys Porter Zoo, Ashley Grady interviews Matt Christensen, Associate Curator of Primates for Gladys Porter Zoo, and Gladys Porter Zoo Primate Keeper, Jorge Moya.