Our Blog
Our first "informed bird" has fledged!
At the end of November, Victoria Franks passed her viva with examiners Joah Madden (Exeter) and Bill Sutherland (Cambridge). We’re very proud of our first “fledgling”! Here Vix describes her main findings:
Older and wiser? What we now know about age & learning in hihi
One big problem young animals face is finding food, particularly when they have little experience to help them. Even human teenagers can struggle when there’s no one else around to do the shopping, and for wild animals, making the best foraging decisions is even more crucial for their survival. Victoria Franks is investigating how juvenile birds overcome this challenge during her PhD. Read about her latest results here on age differences in learning strategies by adult and juvenile hihi.
Two papers in one week: how birds learn (and why it matters!)
Highlights! A quick summary of our two papers out this week on associative learning by hihi, and the coevolutionary consequences of social transmission among predators.
Hihi translocation in progress
Translocations are an exciting time for hihi conservation - we're starting a new population, and also learning how the birds' social environment influences success.
Do mothers bias offspring sex ratios in carotenoid-rich environments?
2nd hihi paper for 2016 out @ Behavioral Ecology!