Animal Behaviour

McMaster University is home to a large and interactive group of researchers who use evolutionary and psychophysical approaches to study animal behaviour. Members of our Animal Behaviour Group employ a wide variety of techniques to conduct laboratory and field experiments on animals, ranging from fruit flies to bats to mice to humans. Students have an opportunity to learn evolutionary analyses of behaviour, design and analyses of behavioural experiments, theoretical modeling, genetic analyses, and endocrine, physiological and neurobiological techniques.

Current Research Topics

• Evolution of parental care, sperm competition and cooperation
• Physiological, neurobiological and genetic mechanisms underlying behaviour in general and reproductive behaviour in particular
• Neuroethology of acoustic and auditory behaviour
• Adaptive significance of learning and other cognitive traits
• Evolutionary analyses of human cognition and behaviour
• Social learning of food and mate preferences
• Sexual selection effects of learning on physiological regulation