Research

Dog Wolf Project

Domestication, a process in which species are selected to live in human-controlled environments, has dramatically impacted the evolutionary trajectories of numerous animal and plant species.

The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is an excellent study species for asking questions about how domestication has affected behaviour. Domestication of the dog from now extinct wolf lineages likely occurred at 40,000-15,000 years ago, making the dog the first domesticated species. Present day dogs live in vastly different environments than wolves (Canis lupus), with various factors influencing behaviour on both individual and social scales, and comparing wolves and dogs therefore provide an ideal set-up to address questions on how domestication has affected behaviour. Or not.

For my PhD work spanning the years 2013-2018, my team and I hand-raised and socialized three litters of European grey wolves and two litters of dogs under identical conditions from the age of 10 days. Our research goals were to investigate how behaviour and behavioural delevelopment have been affected by domestication. We were interested in both individual and social behaviour and collected data using a mix of approaches including behavioural observations, behavioural testing, social network analysis and cortisol assays based on fecal samples.

This work has resulted in some interesting, and sometimes surprising, findings. For instance, did you know that some wolf puppies will fetch a ball for a stranger with out any prior training? Take a look at the publication list to find out more.

African Leopard Project

While the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) is currently listed as a “near threatened” species on the IUCN Redlist, it is considered likely that the species soon will qualify for a “vunerable” status. It is therefore important to address the many threats, including habitat loss, fragmentation, illegal hunting and persecution due to human-leopard conflicts, posed to leopards as part of any comprehensive management strategy. However, the situation in Africa is complicated by the fact that reliable population estimates for the continent are non-existent.

Knowledge of home range size and space use of individual leopards can provide valuable insight on occupancy and populations sizes, and modeling of behaviour in the context of spatial distribution is therefore a valuable conservation tool. While working as a research assistant in the project, we used extensive camera trapping to obtain data on leopard distribution within a private nature reserve for more accurate population estimates.

I was also involved in radio collaring and relocation of lions, hyenas and cheetahs.

Swift Fox Project

The swift fox (Vulpes velox) is a small canid native to the great plains of North America. The species underwent a drastic population decline in the early 1900s and current estimates suggest that the swift fox may be extirpated from as much as 80% of its historical range. Swift foxes are habitat specialists and the severe reduction in their distribution has been connected to conversion of mid- and short-grass prairies to agriculture. While reintroduction efforts have successfully been carried out in Canada and Montana, most populations remain fragile as habitat fragmentation and extensive predation continues to pose a threat to the species. Monitoring swift fox populations to quantify their spatial requirements is therefore important.

During a total of four years, which included my masters work, I was maintaining, monitoring and conducting research on a radio-collared population of swift foxes in North Eastern Colorado. My research consisted of trapping and radio-collaring swift foxes with subsequent extensive telemetry to establish home range sizes, space use and dispersal. I paired this with in situ behavioural tests.