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Project properties |
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| Title | Animal Cooperation: Why do birds help each other? |
| Group | Behavioural Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 30-36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Sjouke Anne Kingma
Kat Bebbington Miriam Kuspiel |
| Examiner(s) | Marc Naguib |
| Contact info | sjouke.kingma@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2020/03/10 |
| End date | 2023/03/10 |
| Description | In some birds species individuals forego own reproduction in order to help others in raising their offspring. Since evolutionary theory predicts selfish behaviour, how can we explain such seemingly selfless behaviour? We catch and ring birds and monitor their behaviour and reproductive attempts to answer this question. There are plenty of opportunities to explore, and several species to work on! |
| Used skills | Fieldwork, behavioural observations, fieldwork technology, statistics, potentially labwork (e.g. PCR) |
| Requirements | The fieldwork takes place in the savanna of Eswatini in Southern Africa; an adventurous attitude is an advantage: the fieldsite is beautiful but remote and accommodation is basic. |