Behavioural research

Euro I.D. systems and special antennas support many scientific institutes in the field of behavioural research.

The animals range from mice, minks and guinea pigs, which are to be released back into the wild, to kingfishers, tits, swifts and terns, through to geckos, lemurs and bats, whose breeding, hunting and flight behaviour is to be observed.

The Department of Applied Zoology and Conservation at the University of Greifswald, headed by Prof. Dr Gerald Kerth, uses an integrative approach that combines behavioural, ecological and molecular methods to investigate questions at the interface of evolutionary, behavioural and conservation biology. Currently, they are mainly studying bats and the species they interact with (from viruses, fungi and arthropods to plants).

Below you will find more keyword examples. Tell us about your problem and we will be happy to advise you.

- In transgenic mice, it was found that they do not develop Alzheimer's if they are not kept in laboratory cages but are given sufficient exercise in larger units with tubes, walkways and different levels.

- Observations of terns over many years have shown that "experienced" parent pairs have significantly better breeding results than "newlyweds".

- Geckos have been found to have a second period of increased activity at sunrise, which was overlooked in earlier purely visual studies.

- A study with swifts is currently investigating the extent to which hens and cocks participate in brood care.

- More and more rivers and streams are being renaturalised in order to create optimal spawning grounds for fish. Here it is interesting to know in which direction the fish migrate and whether they return to the spawning waters after their time in the sea.

- The water quality can be determined, among other things, by analysing the water quality of kingfishers. This involves recording exactly which waters the bird is fishing in.

A typical example is the doctoral thesis by Yann Gager. He investigated the relationship between group living and the ecological niche of the tropical bat species Molossus molossus. We carried out our fieldwork in the village of Gamboa on the Panama Canal in the middle of the tropical rainforest. All bats (several thousand so far) were marked with transponders during the first interception of the many roosts we monitored in Gamboa. By recognising them on subsequent interceptions, we were able to calculate, for example, the probability and duration of survival depending on various variables. In addition, several roosts are equipped with automatic readers, which, in combination with a scale, allow us to determine how long and efficiently the bats hunt and how this is related to group size and stability.