This is a fantastic opportunity to engage in important conservation research and become an integral part of an exciting, established collaboration between Twycross Zoo, Butterfly Conservation, Natural England, Forestry England, Natural History Museum and the University of Leicester. This project aims to protect existing populations of the Kentish glory moth (KGM, Endromis versicolora) and to reintroduce it into England, initially the Wyre Forest.  

KGM is a phylogenetically important species being the only member of its subfamily of Lepidoptera (butterflies & moths), and the only member of its family which ranges into western Asia and Europe. Sadly, the species is extinct in England and Wales, with only small fragmented populations remaining in Scotland. In continental Europe, as well as the UK, populations are increasingly fragmented and, given the species’ limited dispersal, small population fragments potentially suffer the detrimental effects of localised inbreeding.   

This PhD will investigate the population and conservation genomics of KGM at a landscape scale with the explicit aim of informing the hands-on management of this species. It will also make general suggestions for the genetic management of insect species.

Questions of particular interest are: 

1. How does genomic differentiation relate to habitat availability and isolation? 

2. Is there evidence of a decline in genetic variation over the past 120 years? 

3. Are there populations with low genetic variation requiring genetic rescue to increase adaptability in the face of habitat / climate change? 

4. Which populations are potential sources for conservation breeding and reintroduction into England? 

5. Are there two species of Kentish glory moth in Europe?  

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Deadline: January 8, 2025

North Carolina State University (NC State) is offering a 2-year, funded graduate position to students interested in animal behavior research. The student will receive a Master of Science degree in Biology as they complete coursework at NC State-Raleigh and a research project in collaboration with the North Carolina Zoo animals and staff. Tuition and health insurance will be covered for eligible students, and the student will serve as a teaching assistant for each academic semester of the 2 years.

Students will work closely with PhD-level curatorial staff at the North Carolina Zoo as they design and conduct research, which may address a range of welfare-related topics, including but not limited to: enrichment, social behavior, space use, light cycles, diet, and seasonal or habitat changes. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to design, conduct, analyze, and disseminate research conducted at the North Carolina Zoo.  The degree conferred would be relevant for a career in animal behavior research, particularly in a zoo setting. 

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Deadline: January 15, 2025

Great apes held in captivity need resilience: the ability to ‘bounce back’ following setbacks. This is particularly true for apes entering sanctuaries or rehabilitation centres, as they have usually endured traumatic conditions, including killing of their mother and separation from their social group, which can have lasting psychological effects, impairing their resilience. This in turn threatens to reduce the effectiveness of conservation programs involving rehabilitation and release of ex-captive individuals, as reduced resilience may make it less likely that apes will be able to thrive in the wild. 

However, even zoo-housed apes may need to build their resilience. One of the factors contributing to low resilience is experiencing a lack of agency. This affects captive apes in all settings because they often have no choice about when to feed and forage, what to eat, or which individuals to socialise with. Routine management practices which are important for the apes’ health or their conservation may impose stressful or frustrating situations which they cannot escape or avoid (e.g., regular veterinary health checks or treatment involving capture and sedation/anaesthesia, temporary or longer-term separation from their social group during treatment and recovery). Collection management (such as species breeding programmes) may mean that individuals are moved between institutions and must integrate into a new social group. Unlike dispersal in the wild, captive apes have no control over when this occurs and which group they join.  

We will build on pilot research in our group on orangutans and gorillas housed in zoos, which has identified promising avenues for progress in addressing this problem. We have integrated research on fostering resilience in humans and other non-human animal species and used it to design interventions to build their resilience. In this project we aim to develop and test these techniques on great apes, as well as investigating how management techniques can be altered to provide apes with a sense of agency. As a result we hope to develop techniques which will build resilience, improving the welfare and conservation outcomes for great apes in zoos, sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres. 

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Deadline: January 8, 2025

Animal welfare is a multidimensional concept comprising animal feelings, behaviour, health, cognition, resources and husbandry. There are two distinct types of measurement in animal welfare: animal-based measures consider each individual’s response to their physical and social environment and indicate their physical and emotional state, whereas resource-based measures quantify the resources available to the animal and management practices, such as space allocation, housing facilities, bedding material, access to water, enrichment and food provision.  Many zoos rely on resource-based approaches for welfare assessments because these are easier to assess quantitatively and are quick to collect; allowing the welfare of many animals to be assessed fairly rapidly. They also play an important role in the implementation of zoo inspections and legislation. Nevertheless, a key issue is that there is very little consensus as to what measures prove good, or bad, welfare for great apes and whether it is sufficient to quantify welfare by assessing the resources provided or whether it is essential to quantify each individual’s actual welfare experience.  Moreover, identifying consistent and quantifiable indicators of their emotional state is extremely challenging. 

The vision underpinning this Studentship is to enable the UK zoo sector to access, implement and quantify the success of evidence-based captive care that meets the biological needs of captive great apes and optimises their welfare. We aim to achieve this through conducting and translating research into guidelines and procedures that improve welfare, support zoo management and planning, and enhance the robustness of the zoo inspection process. 

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Training in literature review techniques and the specialist methodologies required for behavioural data collection will be provided by Professor Susannah Thorpe, Dr Jackie Chappell (University of Birmingham) and Dr Kirsten Pullen (Plymouth University). Dr Cerian Tatchley (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) and Pullen will help the student become embedded in the zoo sector and train them in the broad range of issues that impact on the way zoos house and manage captive populations. All supervisors will support development of welfare assessment methods and skills development in delivering impact and engagement from the project with zoos, sanctuaries and the public. The student will work with BIAZA under a CASE partnership, meaning they will spend a significant period of time working with the BIAZA team to acquire relevant skills.  

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Deadline: January 8, 2025