Animal Behavior Research Blog Posts

How autistic fruit flies behave

The number of children diagnosed with developmental disorders has increased exponentially in the past 20 yearschemicals such as BPA have been under investigation lately.

How to measure the social behavior of Fragile X mice

The treatment of Fragile X syndrome is limited to the symptoms. One of the factors currently holding back drug development is the difficulty of finding a reliable behavioral test for neurobiological studies.

Side effects of L-DOPA investigated in parkinsonian rats

These studies specifically investigate the long-term effects of L-DOPA or levopoda, a common clinical treatment for Parkinson's disease, with which many patients struggle.

Parkinson’s & gait impairment: comparing rats and humans

Gait impairment is one of the most prominent symptoms of Parkinson's disease. For good research you need good models and good tests.

How males and females are different: can this explain autism?

Women and Venus, men and Mars, right? In mice, the establishment of social hierarchies is sex-dependent.

How young zebrafish cope with stress

Stress is a natural thing, and how we cope with it differs from person to person. In research, we use the term coping style, something that emerges early on in life for zebrafish.

Zinc deficiency, depression and electrical signals in the brain

Depression has a dramatic effect on quality of life because it results in a persistent low mood that is accompanied by a low self-esteem and a loss of interest in things that give pleasure.

Fearful chicken: Fear affects stress, behavior patterns, and other individuals

Elske de Haas, Ph.D. studied the effects of fearfulness on the chickens' own behavior and physiology, but also what it did to other individuals.

Ladybugs and lacewings do not spy on their prey’s alarm pheromone

Leaf sucking creatures like plant aphids are common and can cause considerable damage to plants. Therefore, quite a lot of effort is made to control these tiny creatures.

How to really challenge mice cerebellar plasticity

Jan-Willem Potters used the ErasmusLadder in his thesis research to study the role of specific mutations of plasticity in the cerebellar microcircuit of mice.

Picky cats and tasty food – sniffing is an indicator for tastiness

Cats can be extremely picky when it comes to food. If the cat doesn’t like it, it will refuse to eat. Reason enough for the pet food industry to try to find out what cats really like.

A high-throughput method to screen natural behavior of mice

Traditional standard tests with rats or mice are carried out immediately after human interference. Therefore, the behavior of the animals may not be natural and spontaneous.