PROJECTS

Communication in a social environment is important, and one way to do so is through facial displays. Certain facial expressions have a different meaning according to the social context and group structure. One of the most common facial displays in primates is the Silent Bared-teeth, which is similar to the human smile.

With this project we trying to understand the meaning of the bared-teeth display in bonobos and chimpanzees, 2 great ape species with different social structures.

Dolphins are extremely vocal species, and have a wide acoustic repertoire. One of the most common whistles are signature whistles, which are unique to each dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins in the Cedar Keys show a specialized foraging tactic called driver-barrier.

Finding signature whistles in this population is important: we can match them to each dolphin, identifying vocalizing individuals and understanding more about the communication during this complex foraging behaviour.

Many animal behaviour students struggle to use R during their research projects for statistical analyses. Considering we had our own difficulties during our masters at Utrecht University, Lise and I decide to make a step-by-step manual to use R for statistics, based on our trial-and-errors.

With this project, we hope to make it easier for students, without them having to search hours for answers online. This manual will primarily focus on primate examples, and will be a continuous work in progress.