Current Studies

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN Project

The goals of this project are to investigate multiple questions of bottlenose dolphin behavior accomplished through long-term behavioral monitoring and use of Applied Behavior Analysis methodologies for charting changes in behavior and environment for their impact to individual dolphins. This developing dataset can also lead to multiple projects that can be analyzed to address related research questions.

Collaborators: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

rough-toothed dolphin Project

The goals of this project are to establish behavioral profiles for resident rough-toothed dolphins, which can be used to address multiple questions of communication, behavior use and function, and acoustic behavior in this species. This developing dataset can also lead to multiple projects that can be analyzed to address related research questions.

Collaborators: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

enrichment Project

The goal of this project is to encourage diverse use of Environmental Enrichment Devices (EEDs) with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's resident bottlenose and rough-toothed dolphins. EEDs designed and implemented by FAB Lab researchers will promote cooperation and the use of problem-solving capabilities amongst focal animals.

Collaborators: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Steno Association Project

I am conducting research on the social behavior of rough toothed dolphins, focusing on how and when individuals choose to associate with one another. The goal is to better understand the social structure of this species and the factors that influence their interactions.

citizen science Project

The Citizen Science Project aims to get guests at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium involved with the each of the animals and better understand them and their care. The guests will fill out surveys at each animal enclosure, answering questions regarding the welfare of the animals.

Collaborators: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

BEHAVIORAL Diversity And Animal Welfare

This project looks at Clearwater Marine Aquarium's resident dolphins' welfare through a behavioral diversity lens. Behavioral diversity in animal welfare is the measure of the variety and frequency of an animal's species-typical behaviors, used as an indicator of good welfare. This is measured quarterly with both bottlenose and roughtooth dolphins. This is a newer project in the lab and aims to answer questions such as how has behavioral diversity changed with new species introduction, what factors contribute to a changing behavioral diversity, and how can we show that behavioral diversity is linked to animal welfare.

Collaborators: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Amazon River Dolphin Project

The Amazon River Dolphin project is in collaboration with the Amazon River Dolphin Conservation Foundation (ARDCF) to analyze, interpret, and code audio recordings of Amazon River Dolphins collected by the ARDCF in the Rio Negro part of the Amazon River. The goal of this is to expand what we know about current populations and their acoustic behavior.

Collaborators: Amazon River Dolphin Conservation Foundation (ARDCF)

Dolphin Mouthing Project

In literature, it is commonly reported that mouthing behaviors in dolphins serve as aggressive signals, but recent evidence suggests that this may not always be the case. The aim of the present study seeks to determine the function of mouthing behaviors in a group of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins. FAB Lab researchers are working with the Roatan Institute of Marine Science (RIMS) and the Bimini field sites collected by the Dolphin Communication Project (DCP) to code the significance of this behavior and related acoustic signaling.

Collaborators: Roatan Institute of Marine Science (RIMS), Dolphin Communication Project (DCP)

Zebrafish Project

We are working on getting our zebrafish colony settled in. Once we do, we will begin research on different types of environmental enrichment, and how they might affect zebrafish cognition and welfare.

Collaborators:

PAST Studies

The following projects are not currently active.

Horseshoe Crab Behavior Project

The horseshoe crab behavior project developed an ethogram of horseshoe crab behavior, which was not previously available or complete in the literature. They ran a maze test to gain insight into horseshoe crab learning behaviors. Researchers from the FAB Lab and Professor Higgins Limulus Project helped to collect and code the data for this study. This work was presented at the 2023 IMATA-ABMA Conference in Atlanta, GA and the 2023 CO3 Conference in Melbourne, FL.

Human Attitudes on Conservation

This project sought to answer two main questions: How close do humans feel to animals that live so far away? How likely are we to promote their conservation? Researchers aimed to determine what engages people in animal conservation based on perceived distance.

Tiger King Impact and Media Perception

This study looked to investigate the impact that the docuseries "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness" had on a variety of variables related to big cat species welfare, management, and facility perception. The results from this study provided a better understanding of the role that media plays on public perceptions of animal welfare issues.

CARNIVORE PROBLEM SOLVING PROJECT

The goal is to investigate questions of problem solving and symbol discrimination in tigers. This type of project could then be both beneficial to the tigers as a form of enrichment and also contribute to research on feline carnivore problem-solving abilities, an area that is understudied. We additionally hope to expand this work to other carnivore species.

Collaborators: Elmira’s Wildlife Sanctuary

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