Does the stress axis mediate behavioural flexibility in a social cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher?

Behavioural flexibility plays a major role in the way animals cope with novel situations, and physiological stress responses are adaptive and highly efficient mechanisms to cope with unpredictable events. Previous studies investigating the role of stress responses in mediating behavioural flexibility were mostly done in laboratory rodents using stressors and cognitive challenges unrelated to the ecology of the species. To better understand how stress mediates behavioural flexibility in a natural context, direct manipulations of the stress response and cognitive tests in ecologically relevant contexts are needed.

Children's Relationships with a Non-Vertebrate Animal: The Case of a Giant African Land Snail () at School.

Employing living animals in educational settings is popular and may assist learning. Human-animal relationships are considered fundamental for the effects of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) on successful learning. Key studies on AAI emphasize dogs, or other large-brained vertebrates, while AAI with non-vertebrate species is a yet rather unexplored field.

Monitoring public awareness about the endangered northern bald ibis: a case study involving primary school children as citizen scientists.

Background: Citizen science has evolved over the past decades by motivating members of the public to interact with scientists and actively participate in scientific research and monitoring. For this purpose, a proficient communication is mandatory in order to efficiently convey messages and reduce the gap of knowledge between scientists and lay people. In the present study, we aimed at evaluating the multiplying effect of children, who were trained to communicate their knowledge on an endangered bird species in order to engage the local community in the long-term ornithological monitoring of the free flying and individually marked colony of northern bald ibis (NBI, ), which was established at the research station in 1997.

Primary pupils, science and a model bird species: Evidence for the efficacy of extracurricular science education.

Beyond subject matter learning, primary science teaching aims at encouraging positive attitudes toward, and lasting interest in, science. This study tested whether the learning and science commitment of 8- to 10-year old pupils was affected by extracurricular learning opportunities involving repeated interactions with free-living northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita; an endangered bird species) and professional researchers. To examine the project's efficacy, pupils' learning progress was monitored by repeated measures of knowledge (i) about northern bald ibises in specific, and (ii) of bird diversity in general.

Neural activation following offensive aggression in Japanese quail.

Aggression is a fundamental part of animal social behaviour. In avian species, little is known about its neural representation. In particular, neural activity following offensive aggression has not been studied in detail.