Cooperative behavior in capuchin monkeys
Localization of the Genome of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) in the Brains of Honeybees
Behavior and Physiology of Hibernating Bats
Witnessing Reconciliation Reduces Anxiety in Baboon Bystanders
Veterinarian Tech, Ramsey Vet Clinic
Field Assistant, Pennsylvania Game Commission
Program Manager, National Environmental Education Foundation
Instructor, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo
Research Assistant, Yerkes National Primate Research Center
Animal Care Specialist, United States Military
KidScience Coordinator, Pittsburgh Zoo
National Science Foundation
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Number of faculty: 3 core, 4 affiliated
Average number of majors per class year: 10
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Dumond Conservancy / Monkey Jungle
New York Aquarium
Duke University
Dartmouth College
University of Pennsylvania
Columbia University
Medical University of South Carolina
University of Chicago
Emory University
Bucknell established the first undergraduate animal behavior program 40 years ago. It is a joint program of the biology and psychology departments.
The program balances scientific training with a strong liberal arts education.
Unlike animal science — a field associated with the use of animals for human needs — the study of animal behavior at Bucknell emphasizes the evolution of animal life.
In the last decade, three animal behavior students have received Marshall Fellowships for advanced study in the UK, three have received Rotary International Fellowships, nine have received National Science Foundation Fellowships and one has received a Truman Fellowship.
CORE FACULTY
Elizabeth Capaldi Evans, biology
Ph.D. Michigan State
Scholarly interests: ecology and behavior of social insects, neuroethology
Peter Judge, psychology
Ph.D. University of Georgia
Scholarly interests: primate social behavior and cognition
AFFILIATED FACULTY
Warren Abrahamson, biology
Ph.D. Harvard
Scholarly interests: conservation biology, plant-animal interaction, evolutionary ecology
Owen Floody, psychology
Ph.D. Rockefeller
Scholarly interests: neuroendocrine mechanism of communication and reproduction
Kevin Myers, psychology
Ph.D. Duke
Scholarly interests: animal learning, reward, appetite and eating behavior.
DeeAnn Reeder, biology
Ph.D. UC-Davis
Scholarly interests: stress physiology, hormones, behavior and energetics of wild mammals
Jennie Stevenson, psychology
Ph.D. University of North Carolina
Scholarly interests: hormone-neuropeptide interactions, stress physiology, autonomic nervous system, reward in prairie voles
Primates: Colonies of hamadryas baboons, lion-tailed macaques, squirrel monkeys and capuchins
Rodents: Rats, mice, paririe voles and other rodents available for the study of learning, motivation, communication, reproduction and stress.
Bats: Flight cage and hibernation chambers for insectivorous bats
Insects: Eight colonies of honey bees kept in standard deep Langstroth hives; specialized observation hive laboratory; beekeeping equipment; insect collection equipment; microscopy suite with Nikon stereomicroscopes with photography attachment and fiber optic lights; histology laboratory for analysis of insect anatomy, including an ice maker, slide warmers, microtomes, distiller, incubator and fume hood
Core Courses
Animal Behavior
Learning
Physiological Psychology
Research Methods in Animal
Behavior Biology
Research Methods in Physiological
Psychology
Research Methods in Learning
Introduction to Molecules and Cells
Organismal Biology
Genetics
Population and Community
Upper-level electives
Comparative Animal Cognition
Behavioral Ecology
Organic Evolution
Neuroetholgy
Community/Ecosystem Ecology
Tropical Ecology
Social Insects
Plant-Animal Interactions
Ornithology
Primate Behavior and Ecology
Conservation Biology
Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
Vertebrate Anatomy
Mammalogy
Comparative Physiology
Sensory Physiology
Appetite and Eating Behavior
Advanced Psychological Statistics
Neural Plasticity
Invertebrate Zoology
General Entomology
Systematic Biology
Topics in Animal Behavior
Independent Research
Abrahamson, W.G. and C.P. Blair. 2008. Sequential radiation through host-race formation: herbivore diversity leads to diversity in natural enemies. In: K. Tilmon, ed. Specialization, Speciation, and Radiation: the Evolutionary Biology of Herbivorous Insects. University of California Press, USA, pp. 188-202.
Capaldi, E.A., A.D. Smith, J.L. Osborne, S.E. Fahrbach, S.M. Farris, A.S. Edwards, D.R. Reynolds, A. Martin, G.E. Robinson, G. Poppy, and J.R. Riley. 2000. Ontogeny of orientation flight in the honeybee revealed by harmonic radar. Nature, 403: 537-540.
Floody, O.R. 2009. Effects on hamster vocalization and aggression of carbachol injections into the MPOA/AH. Physiology and Behavior, 96, 294-299.
Judge, P.G. and Mullen, S.H. 2005. Quadratic post-conflict affiliation among bystanders in a hamadryas baboon group. Animal Behaviour, 69, 1345-1355.
Myers, K.P. 2007. Robust preference for a flavor paired with intragastric glucose acquired in a single trial. Appetite, 48, 123-127.
Reeder, D.M., N.S. Kosteczko, T.H. Kunz, and E.P. Widmaier. 2006. The hormonal and behavioral response to group formation, seasonal changes and restraint stress in the highly social Malayan Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus) and the less social Little Golden-mantled Flying Fox (P. pumilus) (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). Hormones & Behavior, 49:484-500.
Stevenson, J.R., Schroeder, J.P., Nixon, K., Besheer, J. Crews, F.T., Hodge, C.W. 2008. Abstinence following alcohol drinking produces depression-like behavior and reduced hippocampal neurogenesis in mice. Neuropsychopharmacology, 34, 1209-1222.
Animal behavior majors most often select East Africa, Central America, New Zealand and Australia as environments that can augment their study of animal life. One student recently studied in Ecuador.