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.

Discovery, Austria, United States, Ecuador, Birds, Least concern, Physiology, Animal behavior, Ornithology, Infectious disease, 2025, Not published Wild Animal Initiative Discovery, Austria, United States, Ecuador, Birds, Least concern, Physiology, Animal behavior, Ornithology, Infectious disease, 2025, Not published Wild Animal Initiative

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.

Read More