• Question: why do you think your work is helpful?

    Asked by 268anmh33 to Carrie, Cedric, Ellen, Ines, Rupert on 6 Mar 2017. This question was also asked by Jacko5517, Halsey.
    • Photo: Carrie Ijichi

      Carrie Ijichi answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      Because animals can’t tell us in words how they feel about things and what they need. We’ve got to work really hard to find that out for them and then make it happen where we can. When you think about all the animals in zoos, farms, homes, sport and tourist attractions, that’s a lot of animals that could use the answers we find for them.

    • Photo: Ellen Williams

      Ellen Williams answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      The aim of my work is to help to continue to ensure elephants in zoos are experiencing the very best welfare possible. This type of a study could be applied to any other animal species – it is in essence using studies of behaviour to help to improve welfare. As Carrie says animals can’t tell us what they are feeling so it is important for us to carry out research to identify what they want and need to ensure we are caring for them to the highest possible standard.

    • Photo: Rupert Marshall

      Rupert Marshall answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      It depends what you mean by “helpful”. I don’t study animal behaviour because it might cure cancer or bring world peace. I study animal behaviour precisely because I don’t know where it will lead. If we knew what the answers were going to be then it’s not really new. But by finding out something new in one area of science it can sometimes change how we think about in another area – of science or other topics. Here’s 2 examples:
      1) by studying birdsong we now that some birds sing 70 or more different whistles and tweets. We know that part of the brain deals specially with song. And we know that some of the links in the brain re-grow each year. But what about human brains – Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s? Can we apply what we know about bird brains to human brains? Possibly so.
      2) Imagine an aquarium with 2 long channels. The fish in one side can get food at one end of the aquarium and another fish gets theirs at the other end (and they can’t take each other’s food because there’s a glass divider running from one end to the other). They feel safer together: safety in numbers. But there is conflict – each wants to go a different way. What happens? They take turns. They both go to one end, then they both go to the other. They resolve their conflict by working together so they both benefit. Safer than going alone and better than fighting. From fish behaviour to conflict resolution.

    • Photo: Ines Goncalves

      Ines Goncalves answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      This is a really difficult question. I am never going to discover the cure for cancer or any other disease with my research. The sort of science I do likely won’t bring immediate benefits to society. But studying animal behaviour can provide valuable insights into our own behaviour, or the origins of human traits like intelligence or language. I like to think that my work contributes to that knowledge and that helps us understand the natural world better, as well as why we behave the way we do, and why we are capable of the things we are.

    • Photo: Cedric Tan

      Cedric Tan answered on 7 Mar 2017:

      Because human kind depend on nature and the relationship is very delicate. The forest is there as a water catchment area, the animals are a beauty and some villagers depend on them for food and the plants, there so much more to discover about them, like the medicinal properties.

      Therefore by doing research on the clouded leopard, we can better provide it and the forest it lives in and ultimately provide for the future generation like you.

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