Categories
Philosophy Psychology

Disgusting Animals: what underlies the ‘Eeeww’ factor?

Do slugs disgust you?

How about dog poo, or road kill?

Tyler (T.J.) Kasperbauer gained his PhD in Philosophy from Texas A&M University where he wrote a dissertation on moral psychology and animal ethics.

He is currently completing post-doctoral research at the University of Copenhagen, working with the well-known Peter Sandøe.

T.J.’s main areas of research are applied animal and environmental ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of psychology.

In this episode, we explore his interesting research into the area of disgusting animals and their traits, why they disgust us, why they should, and what it means for people’s relationships with them.

Podcasts

Publications

T.J.Kasperbauer - Why do animals disgust us / disgusting animals
T.J.Kasperbauer

Kasperbauer, T. J. (2015). Animals as disgust elicitorsBiology & Philosophy,30(2), 167-185.

Kasperbauer, T. J. (2014). Rejecting Empathy for Animal EthicsEthical Theory and Moral Practice, 1-17.

Kasperbauer, T.J. (2014). Perceiving Nonhumans: Human Moral Psychology and Animal Ethics. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University.

Links

T.J. Kasperbauer personal website

T.J. on Twitter

Categories
Research

An evolutionary experiment: when did wolves become dogs and what comes next?

When did wolves become dogs?

What evolutionary and developmental processes are involved in creating physical variation?

Is selection responsible for moulding the diversity of life?

Or does developmental bias via drive and constraint determine how animal shapes change?

Abby Drake is interested in the processes that produce macroevolution and dictate which physical appearances, evolve and which do not.

She is especially interested in learning how species evolve: What mechanisms produce enough physical or behavioural change to ensure reproductive isolation on the population level?

To this end, she studies developmental processes that lead to large modifications of morphology, using variation in vertebrate skulls to answer these questions.

Abby uses three-dimensional scan data to capture each specimen’s 3D geometry.

This type of data allows her team to look at the shape of the skull holistically using a sophisticated shape analysis called geometric morphometrics.

While she also works on cetaceans, owls and primates, this episode focuses on her extensive work examining canids: when did wolves become dogs, how have we shaped them, and where might they go in the future?

Podcast

Images

Dog vs wolf skull shapes
Dog vs wolf skull shapes

Video

A thin-plate spline warping of a wolf skull into a French Bulldog. Data are from Drake, A.G. and Klingenberg C.P. 2010.

Publications

Dr Abby Drake - When did wolves become dogs?
Dr. Abby Drake

Drake, A. G., Coquerelle, M., & Colombeau, G. (2015). 3D morphometric analysis of fossil canid skulls contradicts the suggested domestication of dogs during the late PaleolithicScientific reports5.

Drake, A. G. (2011). Dispelling dog dogma: an investigation of heterochrony in dogs using 3D geometric morphometric analysis of skull shape [PDF]. Evolution & Development, 13(2), 204-213. **If you download and open this pdf with Adobe Reader 9 or higher you can rotate and magnify the skulls in the figures.

Drake, A. G., & Klingenberg, C. P. (2010). Large‐scale diversification of skull shape in domestic dogs: disparity and modularity. The American Naturalist, 175(3), 289-301.

Drake, A. G., & Klingenberg, C. P. (2008). The pace of morphological change: historical transformation of skull shape in St Bernard dogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1630), 71-76. http://www.skidmore.edu/biology/faculty/ProcRSoc2008.pdf

Links

Abby Drake: ResearchGate Profile

Abby Drake on Twitter: @AbbyGraceDrake

Daily Mail (UK): 30,000 year-old fossil of the oldest dog turns out to be a wolf

CBS News: When did dogs become man’s best friend?

Biologist Drake helps answer key question in canine history: Skidmore College News

Categories
Animal Welfare Cognition Management Research Wildlife

Do fish feel pain? Diving in to the deep end of fish welfare

Do fish really feel pain?

You might assume yes, but you’d be wrong.

Kind of.

You see – it’s complicated.

Dr. Ben Diggles has worked with government, aquaculture industry, recreational fisheries, and commercial fisheries throughout New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Ben’s core work includes import risk analysis, fish and shellfish health, fish welfare, development of feeding attractants for aquaculture, and development of medicated feeds for aquacultured finfish.

In his spare time Ben studies the effects of declining water quality on our estuaries, and is active in his local community developing solutions to these problems, like Oyster Reef Restoration.

In this episode, we catch up on the latest scientific findings relating to fish pain and learn more about the Ikijime  method for killing fish captured for eating.

So let’s find out if fish feel pain.

Podcast

Publications

How to ikijime fish with Dr. Ben Diggles
Dr. Ben Diggles – How to ikijime fish

Rose, J. D., Arlinghaus, R., Cooke, S. J., Diggles, B. K., Sawynok, W., Stevens, E. D., & Wynne, C. D. L. (2014). Can fish really feel pain?. Fish and Fisheries, 15(1), 97-133

Diggles, B. K., Cooke, S. J., Rose, J. D., & Sawynok, W. (2011). Ecology and welfare of aquatic animals in wild capture fisheries. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 21(4), 739-765.

Diggles, B. K. (2013). Historical epidemiology indicates water quality decline drives loss of oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) reefs in Moreton Bay, Australia. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 47(4), 561-581.

See more of Dr Ben Diggles’ publications here

Ben also writes monthly columns on fish biology for the Australian Anglers Fishing World Magazine (since 1995) and Sport Fishing Magazine (since March 2003)

Ikijime tool Australia

Ikijime Tool app via iTunes

Ikijime Tool app for Android via Google Play

Links

Ikijime website

DigsFish Services (Dr Ben Diggles) website

Grey matter matters when it comes to feeling pain (University of Queensland) – do fish feel pain?

Video – How to ikijime fish

How to care for your catch – ikijime & do fish feel pain?

Header image: Flickr/phwff-nova

Categories
Behaviour Cognition

Emotions, memory and social networks – of Goats

“Do goats have emotions?” is something rarely searched for on Google, but if you think about it, it’s a very good question.

The answer is yes, goats do have emotions.

Believe it or not, they also have social networks, puzzle solving skills, and impressive long term memories?

We’re not even kidding! Alan McElligott is based at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the Queen Mary University of London, where he and his team research cattle, fallow deer, and goats.

In this episode, we talk about their recent work, and how it contributes to improved understanding of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology, raising important considerations for animal husbandry and welfare of goats in companion animal, livestock and pest contexts.

It’s time to learn about the emotions of goats!

Podcast

Publications

Dr. Alan McElligott - Do goats have emotions?
Dr. Alan McElligott

Briefer, E. F., Tettamanti, F., & McElligott, A. G. (2015). Emotions in goats: mapping physiological, behavioural and vocal profiles. Animal Behaviour99, 131-143.

Briefer, E. F., Haque, S., Baciadonna, L., & McElligott, A. G. (2014). Goats excel at learning and remembering a highly novel cognitive task. Frontiers in zoology, 11(1), 20.

Briefer, E. F., & McElligott, A. G. (2013). Rescued goats at a sanctuary display positive mood after former neglect. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 146(1), 45-55.

Briefer, E. F., de la Torre, M. P., & McElligott, A. G. (2012). Mother goats do not forget their kids’ calls. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0986.

Alan McElligott: Google Scholar profile with further publications

Links

Alan McElligott: research website

Alan McElligott on Twitter

Goats, the boffins of the farmyard (BioMed Central)

Happy goats: How animal rehab works (BBC News)


Header image: Flickr/tcmorgan

Categories
Health

Zoobiquity: connecting the health of humans and animals

Have we forgotten that people are animals too?

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in the United States.

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, author of Zoobiquity
Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

In addition to patient care, she is actively involved with medical education and research.

Kathryn Bowers is a Fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C and an experienced journalist, editor, writer, producer and teacher of writing at UCLA.

In 2012, they co-authored the New York Times bestselling book, Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health.

In this episode we talk about how they entered this field of one health, and what they researched to connect the physical and mental health of humans and animals.

Kathryn Bowers
Kathryn Bowers

Podcast

Publications

Zoobiquity, by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz
Zoobiquity, by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

Horowitz, B. N., & Bowers, K. (2012). Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us about Being Human. Random House.

Currier, R. W., & Steele, J. H. (2011). One Health—One Medicine: unifying human and animal medicine within an evolutionary paradigm. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1230(1), 4-11.

Video – What veterinarians know that physicians don’t

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz at TEDMED 2014

Links

Zoobiquity website: zoobiquity.com

Zoobiquity Facebook

Zoobiquity Twitter

Zoobiquity Tumblr

Evolutionary Medicine Program at UCLA


Header photo: Flickr/furryscalyman

Categories
Management Research Technology Wildlife

A Game of Drones: Using Drones in Conservation

When someone turns a fun hobby into a game changing tool for good, it’s inspirational!

That’s exactly what Lian Pin Koh has achieved in bringing affordable drone technology to aid conservation scientists.

A tropical ecologist by training, Associate Professor Lian Pin Koh received his PhD from Princeton University, where he studied the environmental and policy implications of oil-palm development in Southeast Asia.

He then spent several years researching key scientific and policy issues concerning tropical deforestation and its impacts on carbon emissions and biodiversity while based in Zurich.

Lian Pin currently leads the Applied Ecology & Conservation group at The University of Adelaide in South Australia, where they ultimately seek to do good for society.

In this episode, we speak with Lian Pin and learn about his exciting work using drones in conservation.

Podcast

Videos

Lian Pin Koh – A drone’s eye view of conservation
Using drones in conservation

Images

Publications

Lian Pin Koh - Using drones in conservation
Assoc. Prof. Lian Pin Koh

Koh, L. P., & Wich, S. A. (2012). Dawn of drone ecology: low-cost autonomous aerial vehicles for conservation. Tropical Conservation Science, 5(2), 121-132. [PDF]

Koh, L. P. (2013, June). Brave new world of drone technology for biodiversity research and conservation. In New Frontiers in Tropical Biology: The Next 50 Years (A Joint Meeting of ATBC and OTS). Atbc. [PDF]

Paneque-Gálvez, J., McCall, M. K., Napoletano, B. M., Wich, S. A., & Koh, L. P. (2014). Small drones for community-based forest monitoring: an assessment of their feasibility and potential in tropical areas. Forests, 5(6), 1481-1507.

See more:

Lian Pin Koh on Google Scholar

Lian Pin Koh on Research Gate

Links

ConservationDrones.org official website

Conservation Drones on Flickr (images)

Conservation Drones on Facebook


All images used with Permission: Lian Pin Koh

Categories
Anthropology Cognition Research Wildlife

Gestures & communication: chimpanzees have a point

Imagine deciphering the first form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom, such as how chimpanzees communicate.

That’s exactly what Dr. Catherine Hobaiter has done after years of following wild chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest of Uganda, Africa.

She studies the evolution, acquisition and flexibility of communication and social behaviour, in particular through long-term field studies of wild chimpanzees.

For the past seven years, Cat has been working as a primatologist at a forest research-station in Uganda to better understand chimpanzee communication and behavior.

She hopes to to advance our understanding of great ape communication, and in addition, by looking at areas of overlap or species specific traits, she hopes to also gain an understanding of the evolutionary origins of language.

In this episode, we learn from Cat about her exciting observations of a communication system where animals don’t just share information through behaviour, but deliberately send messages of meaning to each other.

Listen in, and you’ll find out exactly how how chimpanzees communicate.

Podcast

How chimpanzees communicate

How chimpanzees communicate
How chimpanzees communicate

Publications

Dr. Catherine Hobaiter - Studying how chimpanzees communicate
Dr. Catherine Hobaiter – Studying how chimpanzees communicate

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2011). The gestural repertoire of the wild chimpanzee. Animal cognition, 14(5), 745-767. [PDF]

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2011). Serial gesturing by wild chimpanzees: its nature and function for communication. Animal cognition, 14(6), 827-838.

Hobaiter, C. L., & Byrne, R. W. (2012). Gesture use in consortship: wild chimpanzees’ use of gesture for an ‘evolutionarily urgent’purpose. Developments in Primate Gesture Research. [PDF]

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2013). Laterality in the gestural communication of wild chimpanzees. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1288(1), 9-16. [PDF]

Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2014). The meanings of chimpanzee gesturesCurrent Biology24(14), 1596-1600. [PDF]

Links

University of St Andrews Profile: Cat Hobaiter

Follow Cat Hobaiter on Twitter: @NakedPrimate

Budongo Conservation Field Station

School of Psychology & Neuroscience at St Andrews University in Scotland

All images and media by Catherine Hobaiter, used with permission.

Categories
Animal Welfare Community Research

Horse racing’s big hit: why use whips on horses?

Why are whips used in horse racing?

Do whips make horses run faster or win races?

Are jockeys using whips to steer and stay safe, or are they simply whipping tired horses?

These are questions that prompted Professor Paul McGreevy of the University of Sydney to research the use of whips in horse racing.

Paul is recognised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as a specialist in Veterinary Behavioural Medicine.

His research focuses on the behaviour and welfare of horses and dogs, and he is the author of six books and over 120 peer-reviewed articles on animal behaviour.

Paul’s award-winning research examining the use of whips in horse racing aims to further our awareness of the experience of horses, extending to a recent experiment capturing the thermographic effects of his own leg being hit with a padded whip.

As the Spring horse racing carnival hits its peak in Melbourne, Australia this week, we asked Paul to discuss his findings and what it means for horses, beyond the glamour and excitement of race day.

Podcast

Publications

Paul McGreevy - Why are whips used in horse racing?
Paul McGreevy – Why are whips used in horse racing?

Thomson, P., Hayek, A., Jones, B., Evans, D., McGreevy, P. (2014). Number, causes and destinations of horses leaving the Australian Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing industriesAustralian Veterinary Journal, 92(8), 303-311.

McGreevy, P., Caspar, G., Evans, D. (2013). A pilot investigation into the opinions and beliefs of Australian, British, and Irish jockeys. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: clinical applications and research, 8(2), 100-105.

McGreevy, P., Hawson, L., Salvin, H., McLean, A. (2013). A note on the force of whip impacts delivered by jockeys using forehand and backhand strikes. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: clinical applications and research, 8(5), 395-399.

McGreevy, P., Ralston, L. (2012). The distribution of whipping of Australian Thoroughbred racehorses in the penultimate 200 m of races is influenced by jockeys’ experience. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: clinical applications and research, 7(3), 186-190.

McGreevy, P., Corken, R., Salvin, H., Black, C. (2012). Whip Use by Jockeys in a Sample of Australian Thoroughbred Races – An Observational Study. PLoS One, 7(3), 1-6. [Open Access]

Evans, D., McGreevy, P. (2011). An Investigation of Racing Performance and Whip Use by Jockeys in Thoroughbred RacesPLoS One, 6(1), 1-5. [Open Access]

McGreevy, P., Oddie, C. (2011). Holding the whip hand – a note on the distribution of jockeys’ whip hand preferences in Australian Thoroughbred racing. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: clinical applications and research, 6(5), 287-289.

Paul McGreevy: Google Scholar profile with further publications

Links

Paul McGreevy: University of Sydney

The Conversation:  Whips hurt horses – if my leg’s anything to go by

RSPCA Australia position on racehorse whips

Header image used with permission © Liss Ralston

Categories
Behaviour Research

The importance of bees: more than honey

Ever wondered why you should care about bees?

Here’s a fact: bees are responsible for the successful production of around a third of the food you eat.

As one of our oldest domesticated animals, bees and people share an amazing history.

But the future is uncertain, with devastating global declines in both feral and managed populations.

Boris Baer and Barbara Baer-Imhoof, in conjunction with their colleagues at the Centre for Integrative Bee Research at the University of Western Australia, are researching many aspects of honey bees, in the field and in the lab.

In our first episode featuring an invertebrate species, we learn more about our relationship with bees, what would happen if they vanish and ways we can help them thrive.

Podcast

Video – More Than Honey Trailer

Bees! More than Honey trailer

Publications

Boris Baer & Barbara Baer-Imhoof – The importance of bees. Photo: Andrew Ritchie

Stuerup, M., Baer-Imhoof, B., Nash, D. R., Boomsma, J. J. & Baer, B. When every sperm counts: factors affecting male fertility in the honeybee Apis mellifera, . Behav. Ecol. 24(5): 1192-1198. View online at Behavioral Ecology.

Baer, B. (2009) CIBER: A new research initiative for the study of honeybees in Western Australia. The Australian Beekeeper. 111:16-17. 

Imhoof B., Schmid-Hempel, P. 1999. Colony success of the bumble bee, Bombus terrestris, in relation to infections by two protozoan parasites, Crithidia bombi and Nosema bombi. Insectes Sociaux 46: 233-238.

Links

Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER)

CIBER on Facebook


Header image: Flickr/StephenBegin

Categories
Psychology Therapy

Serious fun: animal assisted play therapy

Most of us know that playing with dogs and horses can be fun, but have you ever considered how important animal-assisted play might be in psychological therapy for people?

Dr. Risë VanFleet is the Founder of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center in the United States, an organisation specialising in the training and supervision of child, family, and play therapy professionals, as well as the provision of mental health services for children and families.

She is a psychologist and author of several books, who focuses on strengthening family relationships through play, and has specialties in chronic medical illness, disaster mental health, child and family trauma and attachment interventions using play therapy, filial therapy, and the training and involvement of animals in assisted play therapy.

It’s this area of using animals, particularly dogs and horses, in play as a mode of therapy for people that we learn about with Risë in this episode.

Podcast

Publications

Dr. Risë VanFleet - Animal assisted play therapy
Dr. Risë VanFleet

VanFleet, R. (2008) Play Therapy with Kids and Canines: Benefits for Children’s Developmental and Psychosocial Health. Professional Resource Press (Book)

VanFleet, R. & Faa-Thompson, T. (2012) The power of play, multiplied. Play Therapy, 70, 7-10. (PDF)

VanFleet, R., & Faa-Thompson, T. (2010). The case for using animal-assisted play therapyBritish Journal of Play Therapy6, 4-18. (PDF)

Thompson, M. J. (2009). Animal-assisted play therapy: Canines as co-therapistsCompelling counseling interventions: VISTAS, 199-209. (PDF)

Odendaal, J. (2000). Animal-assisted therapy—magic or medicine? Journal of psychosomatic research49(4), 275-280.

Links

Risë VanFleet’s website: www.risevanfleet.com

Playful Pooch animal-assisted therapy website

The Clothier Animal Response Assessment Tool (CARAT)


Header image: Flickr/Matteo Paciotti