Communication

Graduate students in the lab are studying various aspects of olfactory and acoustic communication in the spotted hyena. The dissertation research of Kevin Theis inquires about what information is conveyed when hyenas engage in “pasting” behavior (see figure). His work also inquires about how the microbial fauna inhabiting a hyena’s paste glands affect the scent deposited by that individual when it pastes. In her dissertation research, Sarah Benson-Amram is conducting a series of play-back experiments designed to inquire, among other things, about whether there are sex differences in what hyenas know about their social worlds (see also the brief description of our work on social cognition).

A hyena pasting : scent marking their territory by depositing a secretion from the anal gland onto grass stalks