KraMobil

"Crows in the zoo" is a Citizen Science project of the Department for Behavioral and Cognitive Biology of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Konrad Lorenz Research Station and the Zoo Vienna. The researchers aim to find out more about the species and subspecies of crows that use the Zoo area. All visitors of the Zoo Vienna are welcome to join in!

As typical cultural followers, corvids regularly profit from human settlements as places to stay and as a source of food. The birds often form flocks of varying sizes. Recent research results suggest that these groups are not completely anonymous aggregations of random composition, as several birds meet again and again. In the present study, participants are to investigate which species of crows are found in Zoo Vienna, where they prefer to be and what they do in different places. The project will significantly contribute to the study of crow behaviour in human environment.

The aim is to record which species/subspecies of crows are present at the Zoo Vienna and what behaviour they display. This will allow their group dynamics and the influence of ecological factors (e.g. availability of food or presence of zoo animals) to be investigated.

Team:
Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Thomas Bugnyar: Project leader and management
Dr. Dott.ssa. Didone Frigerio: Project leader and management
Dr. Palmyre Boucherie: management, Data evaluation and publication
Mag. Regina Kramer, MSc: Public relations, communication
Paulus Leidinger, BSc: Supervision of the app, communication with the participants, public relations

Contact:
Dr. Didone Frigerio
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This and other Citizen Science projects in Austria can also be found here