Animal Behavior Research blog posts

16 Jul
animal behavior research
Gait and Locomotion
Behavioral effects of optogenetically induced myelination in mice
Myelination, the ‘ensheathment’ of neurons, is essential to the functioning of the central and peripheral nervous systems. So it is not surprising that problems with myelination can lead to a number of crippling diseases.

09 Jul
animal behavior research
Zebrafish Research
How to measure a zebrafish larva’s highly stereotyped response to water motion?
At the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, Groneberg and colleagues researched one of the neural bases for behavior in Danio rerio.

03 Jul
animal behavior research
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
How to study ataxia
Ataxia is a common problem in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and many early onset Alzheimer’s disease patients (AD) also deal with it. Now there is a non-invasive test for mouse models.

04 Jun
animal behavior research
Social Behavior
Bonobos not always as tolerant as generally believed: the plot thickens…
In Planckendael Wild Animal Park (Belgium), researchers have been observing a group of bonobos and have found that the differences between chimpanzees and bonobos are not always as black and white as generally believed.

07 May
animal behavior research
Anxiety, Depression and Fear
A new method to evaluate if dogs are suitable for IED bomb detection
Margaret Gruen and her colleagues recently investigated a new method to assess sound induced fear and anxiety in candidate IED-detection dogs – specifically, Labrador retrievers.

23 Apr
animal behavior research
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
Alzheimer's: prevent instead of cure?
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a huge public health issue as it affects a large part of the aging population. Neuropathology is studied primarily in the end stages of the disease. What about prevention?

21 Apr
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
Prof. Berry Spruijt says goodbye (but not really)
Prof. Dr. Berry M. Spruijt recently retired from his position at Utrecht University. I had the honor of attending the symposium that was organized to reflect on and celebrate his career.

17 Apr
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
Which head and neck positions are stressful for your horse during lunging?
Being a horse owner and a Noldus employee is the perfect combination when it comes to keeping track of the scientific background for my horseback riding hobby.

15 Apr
animal behavior research
Gait and Locomotion
Gait research: let your animals walk freely
Researchers use different ways to analyze gait in animals. In what instances would a study benefit from a system that is based on voluntary walking?

10 Apr
animal behavior research
Other (Animal)
Video-tracking the effect of influenza infection on ferrets
Ferrets are the ideal animal model to assess influenza virus infection and pathogenicity as they display similar clinical symptoms to humans such as sneezing, fever and lethargy.