PhD Program in Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior

Evelyn Neunteufel

College of Staten Island
email: ENeunteufel@gc.cuny.edu

My field of interest is animal behavior, especially of vertebrates. Though my interests are broad, more specifically I am fascinated by cognition, the possibility of thinking in non-human animals, intelligence, self-recognition (ex: as in mirror studies), problem solving, object manipulation, communication and many social behaviors. I often wonder about comparative behaviors between species, especially primates and cetaceans (whales/dolphins), but I have found that almost every species can be fascinating. Having taken some psychology courses, I try to integrate my knowledge of psychology and zoology in this overlapping field.

My research involves object manipulation and food washing behavior in North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) in a captive environment at Turtle Back Zoo in New Jersey. Whereas raccoons (Procyon lotor) were first thought to wash their food, most researchers now agree that they douse their food for reasons other than cleaning. Food washing behavior has been described in only a few animal species and for most cases, rigorous experiments on this type of behavior are lacking. My preliminary observations on 2 captive river otters seem to show that they, however, do carry food to water for the purpose of cleaning it.

I have found a large offering of courses in animal behavior/psychology at CUNY, and appreciate the flexibility that allows students a choice of courses to fulfill the requirements. While I have found interesting behavior research performed by CUNY faculty with various birds, naked mole rats, mormyrid electric fish, crayfish, nautilus, and others, my advisor, Dr. Richard Veit (CUNY-Staten Island campus) allowed me to freely choose my research topic. This requires a lot of independent work on my part, with less guidance than I would probably have otherwise, but enables me to taylor my research to my own interests. For anyone entering CUNY, I would suggest speaking to various CUNY faculty to find common fields of interest, and looking for an advisor that fits your personality.

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