Meet our grantees
Wild Animal Initiative funds academic research on high-priority questions in wild animal welfare.
The goal of our grants program is to fund research that deepens scientific knowledge of the welfare of wild animals in order to better understand how to improve the welfare of as many wild animals as possible, regardless of what causes the threats to their well-being.
We showcase our grantees and their projects here and continuously update this page as new projects are added.
Assessing the Impact of Ectoparasites on Nestling Welfare: Validating Behavioral and Physiological Indicators in Darwin’s Finches
Grantee: Sabine Tebbich
Institution: University of Vienna
Project summary
Nestling finches are particularly vulnerable to blood-sucking ectoparasites because they lack the ability to preen, dust-bathe, or escape infested nests. Invasive parasites are especially detrimental to bird welfare because naïve hosts lack behavioral adaptations such as nest sanitation or preening, and hosts often suffer from exceptionally high parasite loads. This project aims to integrate behavioral (breathing rate and sleep duration) and physiological (haematocrit, baseline corticosterone, oxidative stress and telomere length) indicators to assess the welfare impact of the bloodsucking larvae of the avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi) on nestlings of Galápagos finches.
Grantee: Sabine Tebbich
Institution: University of Vienna, Austria
Grant amount: $42,000
Grant type: Discovery grants
Focal species: Green warbler-finches (Certhidae olivacea) and small ground finches (Geospiza fuliginosa)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, animal behavior, ornithology, infectious disease
Research locations: Austria, United States, Ecuador
Project summary
Nestling finches are particularly vulnerable to blood-sucking ectoparasites because they lack the ability to preen, dust-bathe, or escape infested nests. Invasive parasites are especially detrimental to bird welfare because naïve hosts lack behavioral adaptations such as nest sanitation or preening, and hosts often suffer from exceptionally high parasite loads. This project aims to integrate behavioral (breathing rate and sleep duration) and physiological (haematocrit, baseline corticosterone, oxidative stress and telomere length) indicators to assess the welfare impact of the bloodsucking larvae of the avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi) on nestlings of Galápagos finches.
Why we funded this project
We appreciate the diversity of welfare indicators this project will bring to bear on an important threat to the welfare of juveniles (an especially abundant and neglected life stage) in this species. By examining correlations between these putative welfare indicators, the project will contribute to understanding their validity, both individually and as a combined index, with potential transferability to other species and research questions.