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.
Social connections and their welfare implications in the wild
Grantee: Alex Thornton
Institutions: University of Exeter, University of Bristol
Project summary
This project seeks to understand the relationship between welfare and social interactions in wild bird populations. Using historical data, the researchers will also seek insight into how welfare varies among individuals in relation to the social system, early-life experiences, and interactions among individuals. They will also investigate whether social systems might play a role in helping to mitigate some of the negative anthropogenic impacts on welfare.
Grantee: Alex Thornton
Institutions: University of Exeter, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Project start date: September 2023
Grant amount: $157,962
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Jackdaws (Coloeus sp.)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal behavior, ornithology, animal welfare science
Research location: United Kingdom
Publications
Hahn, L. G., McDowall, J., Vanhussel, M., Mendl, M., & Thornton, A. (2026). Social information about others' affective states in a human-altered world. Journal of Animal Ecology, 00, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70208
Project summary
This project seeks to understand the relationship between welfare and social interactions in wild bird populations. Using historical data, the researchers will also seek insight into how welfare varies among individuals in relation to the social system, early-life experiences, and interactions among individuals. They will also investigate whether social systems might play a role in helping to mitigate some of the negative anthropogenic impacts on welfare.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because it addresses a fundamental question important for understanding wild animal welfare: how welfare relates to social interactions. The project could provide valuable insights into positive welfare and which interventions might be possible to enhance positive experiences in the wild. The project could provide data to accelerate the development of interventions to promote positive welfare in wild animals, possibly resulting in viable near-term interventions. The researchers will also use diverse metrics to assess welfare, and as such, the project also offers the potential to advance the measurement of welfare.
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Characterization of fecal oxytocin and immunoglobulin A in lions (Panthera leo): Exploring a multi-biomarker approach in animal welfare research
Grantee: Paula Serres Corral
Institution: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Project summary
This project will validate the measurement of oxytocin (OT) and secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA), markers of neuroendocrine and immune function, as biomarkers of wild animals’ welfare states. Both indicators have been measured in the saliva and urine of a limited set of wild mammalian species, but work on their analysis in fecal samples has been even more limited. This project will validate the measurement of OT and IgA in the feces of lions as a model for social carnivores, and evaluate their applicability as additional physiological indicators in wild animal welfare studies. The researchers will evaluate baseline levels for the species based on a small number of captive individuals and assess how these biomarkers are correlated with GCs and behavior.
Grantee: Paula Serres-Corral
Institution: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Project start date: March 2023
Grant amount: $25,385
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Lion (Panthera leo)
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Disciplines: Physiology, animal welfare science
Research location: Spain
Publications
Serres-Corral P., et al. Development of a Methodology for Measuring Oxytocin in Feces: Insights from a Preliminary Study in Captive Lions (Panthera leo). Animals. 2025; 15(16):2409. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15162409
Serres-Corral, P., et al. (2025). Exploring immunoglobulin A as a stress biomarker in lions (Panthera leo): Validation of an immunoassay for its measurement in feces. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2024.111762
Project summary
Glucocorticoids (GCs) remain the most common physiological indicators of stress and, by extension, of animal welfare. However, welfare means more than stress, and therefore there is a need to develop complementary biomarkers to expand our knowledge of animals’ overall welfare states, both positive and negative. This project will consider oxytocin (OT) and secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA), markers of neuroendocrine and immune function respectively, which have been proposed as potential indicators of positive affective states. So far, both indicators have been reliably measured in the saliva and urine of a limited set of wild mammalian species. However, previous work on their analysis in fecal samples has been even more limited. This project aims to validate the measurement of OT and IgA in feces of lions (Panthera leo) as a model for social carnivores and evaluate their applicability as additional physiological indicators in wildlife welfare studies. The researchers will evaluate baseline levels for the species based on a small number of captive individuals, and assess how these biomarkers are correlated with GCs and behavior.
Why we funded this project
With a multi-biomarker approach, these potential biomarkers, in combination with GCs, will enable a more robust interpretation of findings in welfare assessments. We are especially interested in the potential for these physiological indicators to support identification of positive welfare states in wild animals, considering the crucial role of oxytocin, for example, in social bonding. Although the project itself is limited to a small number of captive individuals, we expect that this project will represent a significant step towards validating these putative indicators of positive welfare thanks to the detailed behavioral monitoring that the captive environment allows, including a Quantitative Behavioral Assessment (QBA) approach.
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Developing a consensus profile of wild animal welfare: integrating non-invasive monitoring of the gut microbiome with stress physiology and behavior
Grantee: Sam Sonnega
Institution: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Project summary
This project will characterize the gut microbiome of white-footed mice and investigate its relationship with their stress physiology and behavior. Mice will be trapped and fecal samples collected to measure glucocorticoid concentrations and gut microbiome composition. Concurrently, open-field trials will be conducted to assess individual variation in cognitive bias. Perception of predation risk will also be experimentally manipulated by exposing mice to playbacks of predator noises. By correlating the gut microbiome with behavioral and endocrine metrics, a consensus profile of the mice’s welfare will be developed that reflects the complexity of their responses to environmental perturbations, and how those responses can scale up to population and ecosystem level changes via the demographic effects of stress in a “landscape of fear.”
Grantee: Sam Sonnega
Institution: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, United States
Project start date: June 2023
Grant amount: $29,130
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, animal welfare science, animal behavior
Research location: United States
Publications
Sonnega, S. and Sheriff, M.J. (2024). Harnessing the gut microbiome: a potential biomarker for wild animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1474028
Project summary
This project will characterize the gut microbiome of wild white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and investigate its relationship with their stress physiology and behavior, including how it changes in response to ecological pressures. While a growing literature from lab-based studies has demonstrated the link between the gut microbiome and regulation of host physiology and behavior, the generality of these findings in ecological contexts remains largely untested. As part of this project, mice will be trapped during different seasons and fecal samples will be collected from which to measure both glucocorticoid concentrations and gut microbiome composition. Concurrently, open-field trials will be conducted to assess individual variation in cognitive bias towards optimism or pessimism (a well-established behavioral indicator of affective state). The mice’s perception of predation risk will also be experimentally manipulated by exposing free-living mice to playbacks of predator noises. By correlating the gut microbiome with both behavioral and endocrine metrics, a consensus profile of the mice’s welfare will be developed that reflects the complexity of their responses to both predictable and unpredictable environmental perturbations, and how those responses can scale up to population and ecosystem level changes via the demographic effects of stress in a so-called “landscape of fear.”
Why we funded this project
We are interested in the development and validation of the gut microbiome as a welfare indicator. Every additional indicator strengthens the interpretation of others, but understanding the gut microbiome may be especially important because it is part of the causal chain linking what is going on in the animal’s brain to fecal metabolites, which are often analyzed as a non-invasive and time-integrated record of physiological stress. This project also links and builds on other gut microbiome research we have funded (by Melissa Bateson, Pablo Capilla-Lasheras, and Davide Dominoni).
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Development of octopus mind in the wild: a behavioral, ecological and evolutionary investigation into sentience and emotional states in Octopus insularis juveniles
Grantee: Michaella Andrade
Institution: Federal University of ABC
Project summary
There is evidence that evolutionary pressures can cause behaviors with opposite meanings to develop opposite forms, the way a frown is the opposite of a smile. One way to understand the expression of emotion in animals may therefore be to identify pairs of behaviors that are opposites. In octopuses, which are increasingly being recognized as sentient, colors can be signals of emotional valence during conflict and other situations. Yet no study has tested whether octopuses have opposite pairs of color signals. This project will produce descriptions of evolutionary and behavioral patterns that reflect the emotional states and sentience of juvenile octopuses, which may contribute to the welfare of octopuses and other invertebrates.
Grantee: Michaella Andrade
Institution: Federal University of ABC, Brazil
Project start date: April 2022
Grant amount: $37,959
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Octopuses (Octopoda sp.)
Conservation status: Data deficient
Disciplines: Sentience, animal behavior
Research location: Brazil
Publications
Andrade M.P., et al. (2023). Assessing Negative Welfare Measures for Wild Invertebrates: The Case for Octopuses. Animals, 13(19), 3021. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13193021
Project summary
Welfare refers to the quality of life of animals that possess sentient capacity and emotional states. Although the precursors of sentience were possibly present on the planet as early as 890 million years ago, the evolution of sentience is still poorly understood. However, cephalopods are increasingly being recognized as sentient, yet we do not know about this phenomenon in juvenile wild animals. In this sense, studies with wild animals can be beneficial for finding a wider range of ecological triggers and their relationship with behaviors.
There’s evidence that evolutionary pressures can cause behaviors with opposite meanings to eventually develop opposite forms, the way a frown is the opposite of a smile. One way to understand the expression of emotion in animals therefore may be to find pairs of behaviors that are opposites. In octopus, colors can be a signal of emotional valence during conflict and other contexts. Although researchers began to see this dimension in octopuses, no study has tested whether opposite pairs of color signals are present in octopuses. This project will produce descriptions of evolutionary and behavioral patterns that reflect the emotional states and sentience for juvenile octopuses, which may contribute to the welfare of octopuses and other invertebrates.
Why we funded this project
Although octopuses are widely assumed to be sentient at the adult stage, no studies that we are aware of have examined sentience at earlier life stages. As the vast majority of octopuses alive at any one time are juveniles, and octopuses have enormously high juvenile mortality, the question of when in their development sentience arises is particularly important. This project is also interesting because it will teach us about what the lives of juvenile octopuses are like and the extent to which welfare effects are mediated by personality traits.
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It takes guts to grow in the city: the role of the gut microbiome in the welfare of juvenile urban birds
Grantee: Pablo Capilla-Lasheras
Institution: University of Glasgow
Project summary
Approximately 30 million blue tits hatch every year in UK cities, but around 63% die as juveniles. One reason for this may be that juvenile birds in urban habitats tend to have low-quality diets, causing stunted growth and increased early-life mortality. Research suggests that gut microbiome composition may contain indicators of an animal’s welfare, but this has received little attention in a wild animal context. This project will combine telomere attrition, begging behavior, and other health metrics with a study of juvenile birds’ gut microbiomes to investigate how to improve the welfare of juvenile blue tits in urban areas. It will also test the potential for gut microbiome enrichment to improve the life experience of juvenile birds in urban habitats.
Grantee: Pablo Capilla-Lasheras
Institution: University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Project start date: April 2022
Grant amount: $59,052
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, population ecology, animal welfare science, ornithology, animal behavior
Research location: United Kingdom
Publications
Reid, R., et al. (2024). The impact of urbanization on health depends on the health metric, life stage and level of urbanization: a global meta-analysis on avian species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 291(2027). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.0617
Project summary
Amongst the novel stressors that wildlife face in cities, shifts in diet are prevalent and have negative consequences for welfare, particularly in juveniles. Research clearly shows that juvenile birds in urban habitats have low-quality diets, causing stunted growth and increased early-life mortality. For example, in the UK alone, approximately 30 million blue tits hatch every year in cities, but around 63% of them die as juveniles. This project will study juvenile blue tits and investigate how to improve their welfare in urban areas using an integrative approach that will combine metrics of animal welfare with the study of gut microbiomes. Human and captive animal studies suggest that the gut microbiome composition may contain indicators of an animal’s welfare, but this has received little attention in a wild animal context. This study will combine a physiological welfare indicator (telomere attrition), a behavioral welfare indicator (begging behavior), and other health metrics with a study of juvenile birds’ gut microbiomes to link poor-quality urban diets, gut microbiome composition, and welfare. The project will also test a potential near-term dietary intervention (gut microbiome enrichment) to improve the life experience of juvenile birds growing in urban habitats.
Why we funded this project
Welfare is shaped by, and in turn influences, numerous aspects of an animal’s phenotype. Individual welfare indicators offer only limited insights, but combining indicators across multiple domains is thought to be extremely important for triangulating affective state, or “true” welfare. Because the gut microbiome represents a partially distinct domain, understanding how it relates to welfare could therefore strengthen all of our other indicators when they are used in combination. We were especially interested in this project due to the inclusion of an intervention experiment that could be implemented in the near future. Finally, this project will support an early-career researcher with an interest in wild animal welfare.
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The impact of anthropogenic stressors on the affective state of juvenile Murray cod
Grantee: Rafael Freire
Institution: Charles Sturt University
Project summary
Many freshwater fish populations have severely declined as a result of human-caused changes in their environment. Population decline often results from an increased mortality rate experienced on the individual level, with likely implications for the welfare of individuals living through a period of population decline. This study will examine how differences in water quality and the presence of potential predators affect a behavioral indicator of welfare — judgment bias — in juvenile Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii). In the future, data about how juvenile fish respond to these factors could guide interventions for helping juvenile fish survive to adulthood in the wild.
Grantee: Rafael Freire
Institution: Charles Sturt University, Australia
Project start date: April 2023
Grant amount: $21,500
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii)
Conservation status: Critically endangered
Disciplines: Animal behavior, sentience, ichthyology
Research location: Australia
Publications
Freire, R. and Nicole, C.J. (2024). A novel method to measure the impact of water quality on judgement bias in wild juvenile fish. Global Ecology and Conservation, 54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03086
Project summary
Many freshwater fish populations have severely declined as a result of human-caused changes in their environment. Population decline often results from an increased mortality rate experienced on the individual level, with likely implications for the welfare of individuals living through a period of population decline. This study will examine how differences in water quality and the presence of potential predators affect a behavioral indicator of welfare — judgment bias — in juvenile Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii). In the future, data about how juvenile fish respond to these factors could guide interventions for helping juvenile fish survive to adulthood in the wild.
Why we funded this project
The vast majority of wild fish do not survive to adulthood, but little is known about their welfare as juveniles and how that might affect their survival. This project will address that by investigating the effects of multiple aspects of habitat quality on the affective state of juvenile Murray cod. An additional factor in us funding this project was that it would be integrated into ongoing fisheries policy work by the PI, which should ultimately lead to advice for the regional government.
