Kelsey McCune
Why do some species evolve complex cognitive behaviors while others do not? One hypothesis is that social species need more advanced cognitive abilities than asocial species to deal with the unpredictable behavior of other animate beings. Therefore, sociality may co-evolve with cognitive traits that ease navigating social interactions to increase survival and fitness within a social group. However, most research that has tested this hypothesis compares species using general proxies of cognition (like brain size) and sociality (like social group size). These proxies are particularly poor measures of cognitive ability and social behavior in birds. The sizes of bird brains are constrained by the need to fly, and social group sizes can change with age, time of day or time of year.
In this presentation I will talk about my dissertation research where I directly tested this hypothesis by measuring and comparing the social behavior and cognitive ability of two congeneric jay species that differ in social behavior, the social Mexican Jay and the asocial California Scrub-Jay.
Kelsey McCune completed her PhD in animal behavior from the University of Washington in 2018. Her dissertation compared asocial California scrub-jays and social Mexican jays on social behavior, learning ability and personality traits. Currently, Kelsey is a postdoctoral scholar at UCSB, and part of the Grackle Project research group started by Dr. Corina Logan.
DETAILS ON JOINING THIS ZOOM MEETING
You must register (no cost) in advance for this meeting.
An account with Zoom is NOT necessary to join a meeting. Zoom limits the number of participants to 100. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Registrants will receive email updates about this online event, as well as periodic email updates about Yolo Audubon’s conservation work and how you can help birds. (you can unsubscribe at any time.)
During the presentation, you will be able to ask questions via Zoom’s chat feature for the Q&A afterwards.
Please note: Participants must have the Zoom desktop client downloaded on their computer or on their Apple or Android mobile phone or tablet to access the meeting.
Visit to learn how to join a Zoom meeting. You may email Yolo Audubon Program Chair Ken Ealy before the meeting if you need assistance.