This past year, I have been working on a project with the Palmer Public Library called Nature Walks with Ruth. In it, I explore the outdoors and get to know the local wildlife (previously in coastal Massachusetts, now in Northern California). I tell stories about the creatures that I find, Read more…
This is my aunt’s favorite way to greet me after a long period apart. “Do I know you?” I’ll reply. “Have we met before?” We only first met when I arrived in Sweden a couple years ago, so a lot of our time together has been spent simply getting to Read more…
One week of data collection down! I’ve discovered that I love my daily commute, it’s a great excuse to listen to an episode of Dungeons and Daddies (I refused to give this podcast a chance for the longest time simply because of the name, but I just reached episode 10 Read more…
I met my study birds yesterday! The facility is in the process of its annual cleaning, so they have all been temporarily moved to outdoor enclosures. The limited space has led to some temporary mixing of groups. Still, upon stepping into the enclosure, you can quickly tell which red junglefowl Read more…
[This post refers to a whole bunch of published studies – I’ll provide links to them in the text so you can check them out yourself!] Domestication, the process that turned wolves into dogs, guanacos into llamas, ducks into…well, domestic ducks, comprises changes that help a species thrive in a Read more…
Biology is founded on observational research. Pivotal insights about our world were the result of some guy needing a hobby, so he traveled to new places, peered through homemade lenses, or grew pea plants in a garden. The research environment may have changed drastically since their time, but observation remains Read more…
Science is limited only by our imagination. An inspiring statement, but one that also contains a note of caution. By the same token, we can argue that the potential for scientific discovery is limited by our human experience. Back in undergrad, I was introduced to the German term “umwelt”, often Read more…
This summer, I’ve been working as an animal technician. It’s a part time position that was hastily thrown together to buffer the effects of a sudden resignation, meaning my whole job takes place in the area with highest priority, but minimum required qualification – the dishroom. I don’t see any Read more…
In an earlier post, I referenced the work of the Jensen lab at Linköping University. Guess who’s now a member of that lab? For the second year of my Applied Ethology and Animal Biology master’s program, I will be conducting a personal research project with the captive red junglefowl here Read more…
Linköping University is home to one of the very few breeding populations of red junglefowl that exists outside of the wild. Multiple labs within their biology department use the population to learn more about the physiology, behavior, and genetic background of the species, and to compare them to their descendant, Read more…