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.
Acoustic indicators of welfare in neotropical frogs: Calls as early-warning signals of sublethal suffering related to infection and environmental stress
Grantee: Erin Wall
Institution: Wavelength Animal Communication Science and University of Texas at Austin, United States
Project summary
Emerging evidence indicates that frog call characteristics are modulated by environmental and physiological conditions, offering the potential for rapid insights into an individual’s welfare. This project will examine the relationship between environmental conditions, physiology, and behavior to connect indices of welfare to variation in acoustic signals in neotropical frogs in Panama. By linking these measures to natural levels of sublethal infection and variation in environmental conditions, the researchers will aim to identify acoustic signatures of welfare and develop a rapid, non-intrusive welfare detection tool for thousands of species of vocalizing frogs.
Grantee: Erin Wall
Institution: Wavelength Animal Communication Science and University of Texas at Austin, United States
Grant amount: $180,000
Grant type: Fellowship
Focal species: Túngara frog (Engystomops pustulosus), hourglass treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus), leaf-litter toad (Rhinella alata), and others
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Herpetology, physiology, animal behavior
Research locations: Canada, Panama, United States
Project summary
Climate change, habitat loss, and infectious disease are creating compounding challenges for frogs, yet we have limited tools to monitor the behavioral and physiological consequences of those challenges, assess frog welfare, or detect sublethal suffering. Emerging evidence indicates that frog call characteristics are modulated by environmental and physiological conditions, offering the potential for rapid insights into an individual’s welfare. This project will examine the relationship between environmental conditions, physiology, and behavior to connect indices of welfare to variation in acoustic signals in neotropical frogs in Panama. By linking these measures to natural levels of sublethal infection and variation in environmental conditions, we aim to identify acoustic signatures of welfare and develop a rapid, non-intrusive welfare detection tool for thousands of species of vocalizing frogs.
Why we funded this project
Along with supporting an early-career researcher, this grant will deliver a behavioral assessment framework and acoustic classifier tool for anurans to deepen our understanding of welfare in this diverse taxon and address the need for evidence-based, scalable welfare assessment methods.
Developing, testing and validating indicators of wild insect welfare
Grantee: Carl Soulsbury
Institution: University of Lincoln, United Kingdom
Project summary
This project aims to develop and validate practical indicators of welfare in wild insects. Working with three common model species — Dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), two-spotted crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus), and carrion beetles — it will measure a suite of behavioral and physiological stress responses including oxidative stress markers, fat reserves via NMR, and movement patterns tracked using AI-assisted video analysis. These measures will be validated against cognitive bias testing to identify which indicators reliably reflect negative welfare. The most field-accessible measures will be applied to wild carrion beetle populations, testing whether lab-derived welfare indicators hold up under natural conditions.
Grantee: Carl Soulsbury
Institution: University of Lincoln, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $92,148
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Carrion beetles (Nicrophorus vespilloides) and others
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Entomology, physiology, animal behavior, cognition
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
This project aims to develop and validate practical indicators of welfare in wild insects. Working with three common model species — Dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), two-spotted crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus), and carrion beetles — it will measure a suite of behavioral and physiological stress responses including oxidative stress markers, fat reserves via NMR, and movement patterns tracked using AI-assisted video analysis. These measures will be validated against cognitive bias testing to identify which indicators reliably reflect negative welfare, and the most field-accessible measures will be applied to wild carrion beetle populations, testing whether lab-derived welfare indicators hold up under natural conditions. The goal is a generalizable welfare assessment toolkit that researchers can use across insect taxa in both captive and wild settings.
Why we funded this project
This project provides the first systematic, cross-taxa proof of concept for measuring welfare in wild insects, moving beyond the captive-only focus that has dominated invertebrate welfare research to date. Invertebrates make up the vast majority of animal life on Earth, yet almost nothing is known about their welfare in the wild, so the knowledge generated by this project has the potential to facilitate large-scale impact. Funding this project also deepens our work with an existing grantee.
Find Carl’s other project, studying red foxes and Eurasian hedgehogs, here.
Towards welfare-centered prescribed fire
Grantee: Dale Nimmo
Institution: Charles Sturt University, Australia
Project summary
This project will investigate how prescribed burning affects wild animal welfare, and whether welfare state helps determine survival and harm suffered. The team will study bush rats (Rattus fuscipes) in forest blocks scheduled for prescribed burns and in control sites, combining behavioral, body-condition, injury, and non-invasive physiological measures to infer welfare changes. Lightweight telemetry will enable tracking of survival and severe harm, while fire-severity mapping, refuge measurements, and camera traps will help identify the mechanisms involved. The goal is to generate evidence to help burns be planned and implemented in ways that reduce avoidable suffering.
Grantee: Dale Nimmo
Institution: Charles Sturt University, Australia
Grant amount: $98,700
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Bush rats (Rattus fuscipes) and others
Conservation status: N/A: Multiple focal species
Disciplines: Climate science, physiology, animal behavior, mammalogy
Research location: Australia
Project summary
This project will investigate how prescribed burning affects the welfare of wild animals, and whether an animal’s welfare state before exposure to fire helps determine survival and harm suffered. The research team will study bush rats (Rattus fuscipes) in forest blocks scheduled for prescribed burns and in control sites, sampling individuals before fire, shortly after fire, and during early recovery, combining behavioral, body-condition, injury, and non-invasive physiological measures to infer changes in affective state and welfare. Lightweight telemetry will enable tracking of survival and severe harm through the burn window and post-fire period, while fire-severity mapping, refuge measurements, and camera traps will help identify the mechanisms involved. The goal is to generate practical evidence for welfare-centered prescribed fire: burns planned and implemented in ways that retain refuges, maintain escape options, and reduce avoidable suffering.
Why we funded this project
By combining welfare indicators with telemetry, fire-exposure metrics, refuge measurements, and predator activity, the project helps move wild animal welfare beyond descriptive assessment toward identifying the mechanisms and management choices that could reduce suffering.
Environmental drivers of welfare in urban rats: A multimodal field study of micro-habitat conditions and affective behavior
Grantee: Emily Mackevicius
Institution: Basis Research Institute, United States
Project summary
This project will investigate how urban micro-habitat conditions shape the affective and social lives of brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). Better tools for understanding rat behavior could support both wild animal welfare science and integrative management practices. The project will first test whether indicators developed in laboratory rodents such as ultrasonic vocalizations, posture, movement, social behavior, and surface temperature can be used to infer affective state and social experience in urban field settings. The team will then model how environmental features predict these indicators, with the goal of identifying urban conditions associated with positive or negative experiences.
Grantee: Emily Mackevicius
Institution: Basis Research Institute, United States
Grant amount: $100,000
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and others
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Wildlife management, physiology, animal behavior
Research location: United States
Project summary
This project will investigate how urban micro-habitat conditions shape the affective and social lives of free-ranging brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). Rats are highly social, intelligent, and abundant animals, and better tools for understanding their behavior could support both wild animal welfare science and integrative management practices. The project will first test whether indicators developed in laboratory rodents such as ultrasonic vocalizations, posture, movement, social behavior, and surface temperature, can be used to infer affective state and social experience in urban field settings. The team will then model how environmental features predict these indicators, with the goal of identifying urban conditions associated with positive or negative experiences.
Why we funded this project
This project addresses a neglected but important question: how fine-scale features of human-built environments shape the subjective experiences of abundant urban animals. The resulting methods could support future welfare studies across sites, cities, and taxa, and provide tools for welfare-aware, evidence-based urban management.
Feeling salty: A welfare framework for estuarine fishes
Grantee: Samantha Levell
Institution: New College of Florida, United States
Project summary
Estuaries are highly dynamic environments in which salinity can change rapidly. This project will study how short-term, ecologically realistic salinity shifts influence welfare in estuarine fishes using non-invasive measures such as waterborne cortisol, metabolic rate, exploration, shoaling behavior, and decision making. The project will focus on two common estuarine species: the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) and the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna). By comparing juveniles and adults, the project aims to develop practical tools for assessing fish welfare in the wild and to better understand how environmental variability shapes the experiences of aquatic animals.
Grantee: Samantha Levell
Institution: New College of Florida, United States
Grant amount: $26,200
Grant type: Discovery grants
Focal species: Sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus), sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna), and others
Conservation status: N/A: Multiple focal species
Disciplines: Ichthyology, physiology, animal behavior
Research location: United States
Project summary
Estuaries are highly dynamic environments in which salinity can change rapidly. This project will study how short-term, ecologically realistic salinity shifts influence welfare in estuarine fishes using non-invasive measures such as waterborne cortisol, metabolic rate, exploration, shoaling behavior, and decision making. The project will focus on two common estuarine species: the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) and the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna). By comparing juveniles and adults, the project aims to develop practical tools for assessing fish welfare in the wild and to better understand how environmental variability shapes the experiences of aquatic animals.
Why we funded this project
Most previous work on estuarine fishes has focused on survival and physiological tolerance rather than the animals’ lived experiences or affective states. By integrating non-invasive physiological and behavioral indicators, this project will help validate a practical framework for assessing fish welfare under ecologically realistic conditions.
Comparative assessment of capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) welfare in protected, semi-anthropized, and anthropized environments in Argentina
Grantee: Débora Silvia Racciatti
Institution: Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Project summary
This project will assess how different levels of human disturbance are associated with behavioral, physiological, and health-related welfare indicators in capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Using camera traps, direct observations, non-invasive fecal sampling, and body condition assessments, the team will evaluate a suite of indicators and test not only whether they vary in predicted directions across environments, but how consistently they converge across welfare domains, identifying which measures most reliably discriminate conditions of higher versus lower welfare in free-ranging populations.
Grantee: Débora Silvia Racciatti
Institution: Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Grant amount: $45,400
Grant type: Discovery grants
Focal species: Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Human-wildlife conflict, physiology, animal behavior, mammalogy
Research location: Argentina
Project summary
This project compares capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) populations living in protected, semi-anthropized, and highly anthropized environments in Argentina to assess how different levels of human disturbance are associated with behavioral, physiological, and health-related welfare indicators. Using camera traps, direct observations, non-invasive fecal sampling, and body condition assessments, the team will evaluate a suite of indicators and test not only whether they vary in predicted directions across environments, but how consistently they converge across welfare domains, identifying which measures most reliably discriminate conditions of higher versus lower welfare in free-ranging populations. By integrating validated measures into a comparative welfare assessment framework, the project aims to advance the empirical foundations of wild animal welfare science and generate evidence to inform welfare-aware wildlife management and coexistence strategies.
Why we funded this project
This project addresses a critical but underexplored question in wild animal welfare science: how anthropogenic landscape transformations affect not just population-level metrics, but also the welfare of individual wild animals. It provides a methodological proof of concept by evaluating a multi-domain suite of non-invasive behavioral, physiological, and health-related indicators that can be validated under real-world field conditions, explicitly assessing their sensitivity, directionality, and cross-domain convergence across contrasting anthropogenic contexts.
Validating behavioral, acoustic, and physiological indicators of welfare in urban birds
Grantee: Miriam Soledad Vazquez
Institution: Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
Project summary
This project will evaluate whether behavioral, acoustic, and physiological indicators consistently reflect welfare-relevant experiences in two urban thrush species. Welfare will be assessed by combining focal behavioral observations (vigilance, aggression, displacement, foraging activity, and tolerance of conspecifics and heterospecifics), passive acoustic monitoring (focal activity rates and calling patterns), and feather glucocorticoid analyses across urban sites that differ in vegetation cover and human disturbance. These indicators will be interpreted together to evaluate whether they show concordant, biologically meaningful responses across urban environments, while recognizing that different indicators may capture different temporal or contextual dimensions of affective state and welfare.
Grantee: Miriam Soledad Vazquez
Institution: Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
Grant amount: $9,600
Grant type: Seed grants
Focal species: Patagonian thrush (Turdus falcklandii), Rufous-bellied thrush (T. rufiventris)
Conservation status: N/A: Multiple focal species
Disciplines: Ornithology, animal behavior, physiology
Research location: Argentina
Project summary
This project will evaluate whether behavioral, acoustic, and physiological indicators consistently reflect welfare-relevant experiences in two urban thrush species that have recently expanded their ranges into Argentine cities. Welfare will be assessed by combining focal behavioral observations (vigilance, aggression, displacement, foraging activity, and tolerance of conspecifics and heterospecifics), passive acoustic monitoring (focal activity rates and calling patterns), and feather glucocorticoid analyses across urban sites that differ in vegetation cover and human disturbance. These indicators will be interpreted together to evaluate whether they show concordant, biologically meaningful responses across urban environments, while recognizing that different indicators may capture different temporal or contextual dimensions of affective state and welfare.
Why we funded this project
The study provides a proof of concept for integrating behavioral observations, passive acoustic monitoring, and physiological measures within a multidimensional welfare assessment framework applied under natural conditions. It also addresses whether commonly proposed welfare indicators remain informative across different species and environmental contexts, including urban environments shaped by human disturbance and novel biotic interactions.
Assessing behavioral and physiological welfare indicators for the Kashmir loach (Triplophysa kashmirensis)
Grantee: Misba Rehman
Institution: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, India
Project summary
This project aims to develop and validate non-invasive behavioral and physiological welfare indicators for the Kashmir loach (Triplophysa kashmirensis). The researchers will use underwater cameras to record behaviors like activity, refuge use, foraging, and abnormal swimming patterns. Physiological welfare will be assessed using mucus sampling to measure cortisol concentrations and supplementary indicators including oxidative stress and immune markers. The team will validate indicators by testing their correlation with key water quality parameters. The project aims to establish the first field-based welfare assessment framework for this species and develop a transferable model for wild freshwater fishes inhabiting mountain stream ecosystems.
Grantee: Misba Rehman
Institution: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, India
Grant amount: $6,500
Grant type: Seed grants
Focal species: Kashmir Loach (Triplophysa kashmirensis)
Conservation status: Critically endangered
Disciplines: Ichthyology, physiology, animal behavior
Research location: India
Project summary
This project aims to develop and validate non-invasive behavioral and physiological welfare indicators for the Kashmir loach (Triplophysa kashmirensis), a small benthic freshwater fish endemic to Himalayan streams. Fish will be observed under natural stream conditions, with underwater cameras recording behaviors like activity, refuge use, foraging, and abnormal swimming patterns. Physiological welfare will be assessed using mucus sampling to measure cortisol concentrations and supplementary indicators including oxidative stress and immune markers. Indicators will be validated by testing their correlation with key water quality parameters. By integrating behavioral, physiological, and environmental data, the project aims to establish the first field-based welfare assessment framework for this species and develop a transferable model for wild freshwater fishes inhabiting mountain stream ecosystems.
Why we funded this project
This project contributes to wild animal welfare science by developing and validating a field-applicable, non-invasive framework for assessing welfare in free-living freshwater fishes, a group that remains highly understudied in welfare research.
Decoding aquatic mollusk welfare: an investigation of potential physiological and cognitive indicators
Grantee: Laura Webb
Institution: Wageningen University, Netherlnads
Project summary
This project aims to explore physiological and cognitive indicators of welfare in two species of aquatic mollusk: highly mobile cuttlefish (dwarf cuttlefish; Ascarosepion bandense) and sessile (blue) mussels (Mytilus edulis). Valid indicators of mollusk welfare can help us better understand their welfare in changing environmental conditions, such as those associated with climate change. The researchers will explore heart rate variability and respiratory variability as possible physiological indicators, and optimism in a judgment bias test as a cognitive indicator of welfare. Following this, successful metrics can in turn be used to explore the impact of environmental changes on these species' welfare.
Grantee: Laura Webb
Institution: Wageningen University, Netherlands
Grant amount: $10,000
Grant type: Seed grants
Focal species: Bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi), dwarf cuttlefish (Ascarosepion bandense), blue mussel (Mytilus edulis)
Conservation status: Not evaluated
Disciplines: Malacology, cognition, physiology
Research location: Netherlands
Project summary
This project aims to explore physiological and cognitive indicators of welfare in two species of aquatic mollusk: highly mobile cuttlefish (dwarf cuttlefish; Ascarosepion bandense) and sessile (blue) mussels (Mytilus edulis). Valid indicators of mollusk welfare can help us better understand their welfare in changing environmental conditions, such as those associated with climate change. The researchers will explore heart rate variability (mussels) and respiratory variability as possible physiological indicators, and optimism in a judgment bias test as a cognitive indicator of welfare (cuttlefish). Following this, successful metrics can in turn be used to explore the impact of environmental changes on these species' welfare.
Why we funded this project
This project is highly innovative and exploratory in nature, focused on neglected species in welfare research, with sentience accepted for cuttlefish in EU law but not yet for mussels. This work will raise attention to the topic of aquatic mollusk welfare and possible assessment methods in these species.
Does DNA methylation reflect environmental and social adversity?
Grantee: Daniel T. Blumstein
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Project summary
This project will investigate the welfare effects of early cumulative adversity in free-living yellow-bellied marmots. It will look for associations between the adversity index and behaviors that indicate general wariness (flight initiation distance, time allocated to vigilance while foraging, the propensity to emit alarm calls while foraging); biomarkers that indicate physiological stress (fecal glucocorticoid levels, neutrophil:lymphocyte ratios); and two measures of aging (telomere length and DNA methylation). By quantifying these behavioral indices of wariness and the suite of biomarkers that culminate in telomeres and epigenetic state in pups throughout their first year and in older animals throughout their lives, the project will determine whether adverse environmental experiences have immediate and lasting effects on welfare.
Grantees: Daniel T. Blumstein, Emily Renkey
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles, US
Grant amount: $219,900
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventer)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Population ecology, genetics/genomics, ecological modeling, physiology
Research locations: United States
Project summary
In humans, early cumulative adversity has demonstrable consequences for health, welfare, and longevity. The welfare consequences of early adversity in wild animals is less well understood, possibly reflecting insufficient measures for assessment. Using a recently validated approach to quantifying cumulative adversity in free-living yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer), this project will investigate the welfare effects of early cumulative adversity. It will look for associations between the adversity index and key behaviors that indicate general wariness (flight initiation distance, time allocated to vigilance while foraging, and the propensity to emit alarm calls while foraging), biomarkers that indicate physiological stress (fecal glucocorticoid levels, neutrophil:lymphocyte ratios), and ultimately, two measures of aging (telomere length and DNA methylation). By quantifying these behavioral indices of wariness and the suite of biomarkers that culminate in telomeres and epigenetic state in pups throughout their first year and in older animals throughout their lives, the project will determine whether adverse environmental experiences have immediate and lasting effects on welfare.
Why we funded this project
This project will add welfare to the research portfolio of a long-running study system of a free-living mammal. It will contribute to understanding the validity of biological aging as a welfare indicator by pairing it with other indicators and a comprehensive dataset of the animals’ adverse early-life experiences.