[EDUC Research] LECD platform: Ethology Cognition Developpement Laboratory

General presentation

The LECD platform: Ethology Cognition Developpement Laboratory  is articulated around two main topics entitled: “communication: from vocal to multimodal behaviour” (topic#1) and “developmental and cognitive bases of social life“(topic#2).

Research in our laboratory’s platform is exclusively performed on birds. Although previous research has been largely centred on vocal communication in the past decades, we now include other sensory modalities such as visual and multimodal displays. We also have developed or used robotic devices to interact with individuals in order to explore the multimodal aspects of communication. Regarding our second topic, we explored prosocial behaviours, personality and rhythmicity in longitudinal studies.

Animal facilities (about 240 sqm) are located on the same floor of the building where the members of the LECD have their offices. Dedicated staff take care of birds of three different species on a daily basis: canaries (Serinus canaria), zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus). For the academic staff of the LECD who conduct experiments with birds from these facilities, this situation is ideal because it permits an easy and daily contact with the animal caretakers together with the possibility of performing and/or supervising experiments during days when teaching or other administrative duties are also scheduled.

 

Location

Laboratoire Ethologie Cognition Développement,
Bâtiment Charlotte Delbo, 200 Avenue de la République, F92000 Nanterre France.

 

Equipment

There are 23 rooms in the animal facilities: stock rooms (8 of which are aviaries), a quarantine room, and experimental rooms (3 of which with technical equipment such as soundproof chambers to record and to analyze continuously the vocal activity of birds). Among the three species of birds hosted in the animal facilities, two are bred in situ: zebra finches and canaries.

Currently, the animal facilities of the LECD hosts about 100 zebra finches and 100 canaries (Fife fancy strain). Breeding birds in situ is necessary since several of our research projects deal with developmental aspects of behaviour from early stages of ontogeny to seasonal aspects of behaviour.