Talk - and Listen - to the Animals at W&M

By Amber Lester Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The College of William and Mary is opening its doors to animal behavior experts this week, from dog whisperers to cat communicators and beyond.

The college is hosting the Animal Behavior Society’s 47th annual meeting with a four-day conference that started Sunday and ends Thursday. More than 600 professional ecologists and evolutionary biologists are congregating in Williamsburg for the first time to talk about the study of animal behavior.

The ABS approached WM biology professors John Swaddle and Dan Cristol about hosting the event two years ago. The event will bring hundreds of professionals, some with their families, to the Historic Triangle. On the event website, attendees were encouraged to stay at the Williamsburg Hospitality House, eat at the sandwich shops and high-end restaurants within walking distance and explore the tourist attractions nearby.

“This is a big international conference for the primary professional organization of people who study the behavior of animals,” Swaddle said. “This is a huge event for William and Mary to host. Having all of the world’s experts here in one place for our students and faculty to interact with gives our biology program a big boost.”

The presentations will explore hundreds of animal behavior issues, from communication to mating to foraging. Sample presentation topics include “Predator-prey communication between ground squirrels and rattlesnakes” and “Effects of diet manipulation on coyote feeding behavior and morphology.”

“The single holy grail of animal behavior is to try to trace a complex behavior, such as choosing a mate, all the way back to the brain and then even beyond that to the molecules in the brain that are making it happen,” Cristol said in a release. “We are trying to see if we can really understand behavior at that level.”

Both professors say that hosting the conference will boost William and Mary’s profile in the animal behavior research community. “We are gaining international exposure and it also helps us to recruit new faculty and graduate students to William and Mary,” Swaddle said. He added the conference will receive media coverage from the BBC and Discovery Channel, which will boost its exposure outside academia.

The Animal Behavior Society was founded in 1964 to promote the study of animal behavior. Members’ research includes experimental psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, zoology, biology, applied ethology and human ethology. The majority of members hail from North and South America. To learn more about the Animal Behavior Society, click here.