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.
A bird’s eye view to the five domains of welfare: a quantitative framework and proof-of-concept evaluation in a cetacean, Orcinus orca
Grantees: Saana Isojunno, Eve Jourdain
Institutions: University of St. Andrews, Norwegian Orca Survey
Project summary
This project will carry out body condition and welfare assessments for inshore-foraging killer whales in the northeast Atlantic. The researchers will use the Five Domains model to categorize likely factors influencing killer whale welfare and quantify some of those factors using aerial photography from drones. They will gather data on foraging time and feeding rates, group composition and surface behavior, body shape as a proxy for body condition and blubber reserves, and reproductive success. The researchers will then develop a proof-of-concept statistical model to infer latent motivational states beneath the observable data. The project will also utilize data from known cases of poor welfare to help define their welfare scale.
Welfare monitoring 2.0: steroid profiling in wildlife hair
Grantee: Lynn Vanhaecke
Institutions: Ghent University and Institute for Research and Innovation in Health
Project summary
Hair hormone measurement is becoming a widely-used tool to measure welfare in wild mammals because it can differentiate acute adaptive stress responses from chronic maladaptive ones (distress). This project aims to address knowledge gaps that remain about steroid incorporation into hair. Researchers will identify which steroid hormones increase in concentration in response to chronic stress, and explore how to address the potential for overestimated glucocorticoid levels.
Impacts of land-use on social networks in mixed-species bird flocks, with implications for the short-term and long-term welfare of Himalayan birds
Grantee: Akshay Bharadwaj
Institution: Indian Institute of Science
Project summary
This project will use mist-netting and bird-banding, followed by standardized observations of behavior and body condition, to examine the relationship between individual-level social behavior, bird health, and survival within mixed-species bird flocks (MSFs) in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Feather corticosterone level, ectoparasite load, and other morphological parameters will be used to measure the health of each banded individual. The researcher will also take advantage of a long-term bird-banding dataset, spanning 12 years, to examine the linkages between inter-individual differences in social behavior and the survival of each individual, comparing survival rates and reproductive success in primary and logged forest.
Mapping welfare for conservation management
Grantee: Lisa Olivier
Institution: Game Rangers International
Project summary
This project will monitor behavioral and physiological parameters in African elephants over one year to map their perception of their environment. The aim is to test this approach’s potential as a leading indicator that is easy to measure, responds quickly to ecosystem changes, and highlights potential detrimental impacts. These measures will be aggregated to define a scale representing the animals’ perceptions of threat that can be estimated for a given time and place. The researchers will then project this data onto maps to identify areas of high and low welfare. The project will help conservation practitioners create management plans to protect wild animals by providing a head start in assessing changes in their surroundings.
Every breath you take, I‘ll be watching you: Automated measurement of breath rate from mobile phone videos as a severity assessment parameter in wild great tits
Grantee: Caroline Deimel
Institution: Max Planck Institute
Project summary
This project aims to provide a validated reference tool for standardizing breath rate (BR) measurements following capture and physical sampling protocols in wild birds. The researchers will use computer vision capabilities and other recently developed software improvements to estimate BR metrics from mobile phone videos, enabling the collection of objective, reproducible, and comparable data, and providing institutions tasked to oversee animal welfare with objective and feasible monitoring requirements. The project will also evaluate BR as a welfare indicator in great tits by analyzing an existing five-year dataset to test whether BR corresponds to simultaneous glucocorticoid measurements from free-living great tits. This data will provide reliable baselines and ranges for glucocorticoids and BR, and benchmarks for video recording lengths.
City living – assessing the welfare costs of urban living in spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta)
Grantee: Emma Stone
Institutions: Carnivore Research Malawi, University of the West of England
Project summary
Networks of green spaces and river corridors support a population of urban spotted hyenas in Lilongwe City, Malawi. However, human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is frequent. Using non-invasive techniques, this project will measure and compare the fecal and hair cortisol levels, mean body condition, tooth ware, hematological parameters, and disease in urban and rural populations of spotted hyenas. Behavioral experiments (exposure to novel objects and threatening scents) will also be used to assess individual boldness in urban and rural populations as a risk factor, which may increase propensity for HWC and therefore mortality and stress. Results will be used to inform policies to reduce HWC and implement welfare considerations as part of the population’s conservation management plan.
From rehabilitation centers to the wild: Evaluating brown bear stress using blood and scat parameters
Grantee: Morteza Naderi
Institution: Koç University
Project summary
Brown bears play a prominent role in the ecosystems of northern and eastern Turkey. However, there are serious long-term threats to their welfare and viability that are common to other large omnivores, such as habitat fragmentation and increasing contact with humans. For example, open garbage dumps are located across the bear’s distribution and affect behavioral patterns in bears, including seasonal migration habits, whereby the bears would normally move into different areas to exploit seasonal resources. This project will involve a collaboration with KuzeyDoga, one of the only nature conservation NGOs in Turkey, to monitor the behavior and stress physiology of individual free-living bears using GPS collars, camera traps, and blood and fecal glucocorticoids (GCs).
Investigating ways to assess and improve the welfare of leopards captured in response to conflict, in Nepal
Grantee: Jessica Bodgener
Institutions: University of Kent, Wildlife Vets International
Project summary
In Nepal, the successful recovery of tiger populations is displacing leopards from protected parks and forcing them into urban areas. This has caused an increase in conflict with people and farmed animals. Organizations responding to conflicts have limited resources and must attempt to balance animal welfare and conservation aims with public safety and sociopolitical demands. This has resulted in an ad hoc approach, with frequent interventions but little opportunity to evaluate their success. This project will focus on validating non-invasive post-release monitoring techniques, including photogrammetric assessment of body condition and measurement of hair cortisol from fecal samples, to monitor the welfare impact of translocation of leopards away from conflict areas.
WellSeal: Non-invasive quantification of welfare in lactating harbour seals
Grantee: Jess Harvey-Carroll
Institution: University of Gothenburg
Project summary
Limited availability of harbor seal birthing sites leads to intraspecific competition, forcing mothers to choose when and for how long to forage, and resulting in trade-offs between maternal and offspring welfare. These trade-offs may be exacerbated by fishing, as harbor seals swim large distances to obtain food. This project will use camera trap footage and 3D modeling to assess the influence of maternal welfare on time spent away from pups, and pup welfare during periods of maternal absence. Welfare will be assessed based on body condition, an index of the optimality of haul-out position, and a record of positive and negative interactions. The assessment will be aggregated at colony level to compare welfare between colonies with varying access to food.
Pre- and Post-release Welfare Indicators for Recovery Programs
Grantee: Laney Hayward Nute
Institution: University of Mississippi
Project summary
Captive-raised animals translocated to the wild often suffer high mortality. This project seeks to identify a set of pre- and post-release indicators of welfare to target released Attwater’s prairie chickens for management interventions. Pre-release, the coping styles of birds will be identified during routine cage transfers and handling. Following release, the fine-scale movements of released birds will be traced using customized data loggers. Investigating the association of pre- and post-release behaviors with body condition, daily environment changes, and survival, will identify which birds from future releases will need special attention to aid their survival. The researchers hypothesize that individuals with a more proactive personality will disperse further post-release and suffer higher mortality rates compared to more reactive individuals.