Previous student projects at the Behavioural Ecology Group

Are you currently finishing your MSc and looking for internship opportunities within Behavioural Ecology group? You can find here a list of previous internships at BHE divided by research domains.

Behavioural Ecology

Organisation	Project title	Supervisor
NIOO-KNAW	Differences in executive functions in great tits, blue tits and marsh tits	Kees van Oers
ARK Natuurontwikkeling	Carcass use and the role of social recruitment in juvenile ravens on the Veluwe	Lysanne Snijders
Copenhagen University (Denmark)	The biological underpinnings of pied babbler combinatorial communication	Marc Naguib
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (Trinidad)	Social cognitive testing of high-predation schools of Poecilia reticulata	Alexander Kotrschal
Ouwehands Zoo	Regrouping, Recovery, and Welfare of Captive Brown Bears (Ursus arctos)	Bonne Beerda
Stichting AAP	The effect of ecologically relevant sounds on the behavioural patterns of captive Japanese macaques	Marc Naguib
Leiden University	Chimpanzee’s attention to dominant and subordinate roles in third-party grooming and aggression	Marc Naguib
Apenheul	Monitoring adaption to novel situations with indicators of stress-related behavior and space use	Bonne Beerda
University of Antwerp (Belgium)	Local enhancement in lizards of the Greek Naxos island	Alexander Kotrschal
NTNU (Norway)	Population flock structures of house sparrows in the Åfjord region	Alexander Kotrschal
NIOO-KNAW	Personality differences in city and forest great tits	Kees van Oers
Diergaarde Blijdorp	Stereotypic behavior in polar bears	Filipe Cunha
Uppsala University (Sweden)	The hybrid system of pied and collared flycatchers	Sjouke Kingma
University of Vienna (Austria)	Do ravens take the opportunity? Foraging decisions in unfamiliar and unpredictable environments	Alexander Kotrschal
IFAW	The influence of wild animal behaviour on disaster response activities	Bonne Beerda
Ouwehands Zoo	Social inequity aversion in polar bears	Bonne Beerda
Diergaarde Blijdorp	The effect of a change in feeding regime on behavioural complexity in captive giraffes	Filipe Cunha
GAIA Zoo	Social networks of Ibises in a zoo setting	Bonne Beerda
Black wheatear project (Spain)	A comparison of catching strategies for the Black wheatear (Oenanthe leucura) in the non-breeding season	Gretchen Wagner
Regelink Ecologie & Landschap	An analysis of the moments when tree falcons feed prey to their young	Sjouke Kingma
Nature Conservation Egypt (Egypt)	Stop-over sites of White Stork in Egypt	Marc Naguib
Lined Seedeater Project (Brasil)	Factors influencing territory size in Lined Seedeaters (Sporophila lineola)	Filipe Cunha
Diergaarde Blijdorp	The behavioral impact of carcass feeding on captive Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica)	Filipe Cunha
Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca (Argentina)	Dietary flexibility in two groups of hooded capuchins (Sapajus cay)	Bonne Beerda
PWN	Effects of herbivory on flora richness and insect populations	Bonne Beerda
Diergaarde Blijdorp	Creating the best practice guidelines of the Tufted Deer	Sjouke Kingma
Ouwehands Zoo	The social structure of the African elephants in Ouwehands Dierenpark	Bonne Beerda
NIOO-KNAW	Exploratory behaviour in House Sparrows	Kees van Oers
Diergaarde Blijdorp	Visual contact with conspecifics positively affects pacing in captive tigers	Filipe Cunha
Kea Lab (New Zealand)	Material preferences in keas (Nestor notabilis)	Bonne Beerda
GAIA Zoo	Visitor effect on the behaviour and enclosure use of zoo-housed black crested mangabyes (Lophocebus atterimus)	Bonne Beerda
NIOO-KNAW	DNA methylation in relation to exploratory behaviour and cognition	Kees van Oers
NIOO-KNAW	Investigating beak size variation in Passer sparrows	Kees van Oers
Safaripark Beekse Bergen	Environmental choice in zoos: welfare effects on large carnivore	Alexander Kotrschal

Companion Animals

Organisation	Project title	Supervisor
EquInnoLab	The use of heart rate (variability) to assess how horses experience dressage training	Bonne Beerda
Hulphond	How to improve the habituation of an assistance dog from foster family to a kennel?	Bonne Beerda
Wolf Science Center (Austria)	Cooperation between humans and canines	Bonne Beerda
NVWA	Ethological needs of kennelled dogs; expanding and evaluating the FIDO-tool	Bonne Beerda
Hondenschool Fair Play	Which factors influence the learning speed of dogs during dog training?	Bonne Beerda
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Austria)	Social learning strategies in free-ranging dogs	Bonne Beerda
Koninklijke luchtmacht	Learning and training in the military working dog	Bonne Beerda
Hulphond	Effect of workload on stress levels in therapy-dogs	Bonne Beerda

Conservation Biology

Organisation	Project title	Supervisor
Blijdorp Zoo	Project design for a study on the effectiveness of nature conservation education in Blijdorp Royal Rotterdam Zoo	Filipe Cunha
Picchio Wildlife Research Center (Japan)	Olfactory strategies for Asiatic Bear Conflict Mitigation: Investigating responses to different odours	Lysanne Snijders
Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit	Exploring views on animal welfare: Comparing animal welfare perspectives of livestock farmers and other professionals	Bonne Beerda
Natuurmonumenten	Prevention of negative effects of new (mountain bike) roads on the local fauna	Lysanne Snijders
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (France)	Determining the genetic status of Indian Ocean island birds for conservation purposes	Sjouke Kingma
Bushy Park Sanctuary (New Zealand)	Bird conservation New Zealand	Marc Naguib
Hendrix Genetics	Automatic tracking of individual traits in trout and salmon in land-based aquaculture systems	Bonne Beerda
Landcare Research (New Zealand)	Interactions between native lizards and introduces predators in New Zealand's drylands	Marc Naguib
WWF	Welfare implications of halal slaughter with and without stunning among cattle.	Bonne Beerda