Science Daily: UC research sheds light on animal aggression

Science Daily highlighted work by a University of Cincinnati biologist into how social networks inform animal aggression.

Elizabeth Hobson, an assistant professor of biology in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, is studying the behavior of monk parakeets, a colonial nesting bird from South America that has established itself across the United States.

Monk parakeets, like many other animals, live in dominance hierarchies where animals fight for status. But the parakeets have a sophisticated understanding not only of their social network but their place within it, Hobson said.

This helps the parakeets know which potential rivals upon which to unleash their aggression to maintain or improve their status, she said in a new paper published in the journal Current Opinion in Psychology.

"This paper is setting up a perspective I want to push in my research program," Hobson said.

Featured image at top: UC postdoctoral researcher Annemarie van der Marel watches monk parakeets through binoculars from a bird blind. Photo/Provided