Looking behind the behaviours of animals with Prof. Zegni Triki
In February this year, Prof. Zegni Triki has taken a chair in behavioural physiology at the University of Neuchâtel, as well as within the NCCR Evolving Language. Her team has been slowly growing, as she welcomed in April a PhD student and a lab technician with duties attached to the NCCR research, and received an NCCR Innovation Grant.
Physiology, behaviour and language
Though she started as a veterinary surgeon, Zegni Triki decided to pursue a career in academia. She studied physiology and ecology at the University of Neuchâtel before finding her niche as a behavioural physiologist. “The big question behaviour physiologists ask themselves is how,” she explains. “So, what are the mechanisms involved behind behaviours.” This speciality mixes a lot of disciplines, from genetics to neurosciences to endocrinology.
During the first phase of the NCCR Evolving Language, it has been shown that cooperative breeding, i.e. the characteristic of raising offsprings as a group, is linked to the evolution of language. “When I discovered this, I wanted to know if there was a physiological reason for this,” the researcher shares.
Comparing animal species
In her work, Zegni Triki will collaborate with many NCCR researchers, as well as the zoos part of the CiRI network. “Ideally, we would like to include around 40 target species of primates and carnivores to our study,” she says. “We will compare species that are cooperative breeders and species that aren’t, to find characteristics that separate them.”
For this purpose, Zegni Triki and her group will develop non-invasive methods to collect biological samples from animals. “We can for instance make the animal chew on something, and collects its saliva without harming it,” explains the researcher. The samples can then be analysed to see the metabolites or hormones inside. “For example, analysing the level of cortisol hormone in the sample can give us an insight into the stress the animal is experiencing,” she adds.
Professor Zegni Triki is a behavioural physiologist.
What about fishes?
Outside the NCCR, Zegni Triki is interested in ectotherms, like fishes and lizards, and especially species that can change sex during their lifetime. “It’s like a natural experiment, where we can see behaviour adjustments in the same individual as they assume their new role,” the researcher says. In the future, she would like to add fishes to her work on cooperative breeding within the NCCR, as some species also show this feature. “Nowadays, mostly mammals are studied, but it is really important to consider other taxa of animals, like fishes and birds in our research,” she concludes.
