The Comparative Behavior And Research Lab conducts longitudinal studies of animal behavior, social relationships, and environmental change. Through systematic field and zoo-based observations, investigators and observers examine how animals forage, form social groups, compete, and use their habitats over time.

Our river otter study on Whidbey Island, established in 2018, examines diet, pathogen load, and optimal foraging strategies across bay and lake habitats. In Clallam Bay, research follows the fission–fusion dynamics of a bachelor sea otter raft, investigating how males join, leave, and maintain associations within a changing social group. At Jewell Meadows, the Roosevelt elk project examines the social dynamics of the rut, focusing on how male competition, courtship, female responses, and changes in group composition shape access to potential mates. Additional projects investigate social behavior in African spotted-necked otters at the Oregon Zoo and relationships among aggregation size, agonistic behavior, health, and seasonal haul-out use in California sea lions in Yaquina Bay. Together, these studies build a story of our wild spaces and the natural world that connect comparative psychology, behavioral ecology, conservation, and assessment.