Ms Alice Dancer
PhD Student
Department: Pathobiology and Population Sciences
Campus: Hawkshead
Research Groups: Animal Welfare Science and Ethics, Brain Health and Behaviour
Research Centres: RVC Animal Welfare Science and Ethics
Alice is a PhD student in the Animal Welfare Science and Ethics group. Alice’s research is exploring whether cognitive stimulation reduces behavioural and neural measures of boredom in laboratory ferrets. The PhD is supervised by Dr Charlotte Burn, Dr Maria Diez-Leon and Prof Jennifer Bizley (UCL, Faculty of Brain Sciences).
Alice joined the Royal Veterinary College as a PhD student in October 2019.
Alice’s background is in zoology, having gained a BSc in Zoology from Imperial College London in 2012, and an MSc in Wild Animal Biology from the Royal Veterinary College and Zoological Society of London in 2015. Her multifaceted MSc project was supervised by Dr Charlotte Burn and explored the effect of visiting public on welfare relevant behaviours of zoo-housed Sulawesi crested macaques and explored options for mitigation via modulation of visitor behaviour.
Between completion of her MSc and commencement of her PhD Alice worked as a zookeeper at ZSL London Zoo to gain a greater understanding of the applied research needs of animal practitioners and to gain expertise in positive reinforcement training and enrichment design for a wide range of species.
Alice’s research is exploring whether cognitive stimulation, namely through provision of enrichment (e.g. puzzle feeders, scent trails, exploration of new environments) and training of new behaviours through positive reinforcement, reduces behavioural and neural measures of boredom in laboratory ferrets. The measures of boredom likely to be investigated include sensation-seeking behaviour, respiratory patterns, restlessness, awake inactivity, ‘clock-watching’ and aspects of brain activity including sensory specific adaptation and neural oscillations.
PUBLICATIONS
DANCER, A.M.M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J.K. & BURN, C.C. (2022) Pet Owner Perception of Ferret Boredom and Consequences for Housing, Husbandry, and Environmental Enrichment. Animals, 12(23): 3262.
DANCER, A.M.M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J.K. & BURN, C.C. (2022) Housing and Environmental Enrichment of the Domestic Ferret: A Multi-Sector Survey. Animals 12(9): 1065
DANCER, A. M. M. & BURN, C. C. (2019). Visitor effects on zoo-housed Sulawesi crested macaque (Macaca nigra) behaviour: can signs with ‘watching eyes’ requesting quietness help? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 211: 88-94
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2022). Zoo ferret housing, management, and welfare: insights from a multi-sector survey. 2022 BIAZA Research Conference. London, UK.
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2022). The effects of different environmental enrichment strategies on the sleep quality of laboratory ferrets. UFAW International Conference 2022: Advancing Animal Welfare Science. Edinburgh, UK.
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2022). Assessing and mitigating boredom in laboratory animals: a ferret model. 51st Seminar on Laboratory Animals and Animal Experimentation. Virtual, online. Invited speaker.
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2021). Are ferrets housed in conditions that help provide stimulation? Preliminary results from an international, cross sector questionnaire. UFAW Animal Welfare Conference, Recent advances in animal welfare science VIII: Virtual, online. (Poster presentation).
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2021). Boredom In the brain: Validating behavioural measures of boredom in laboratory ferrets using neuroscience. AWRN workshop on “cross-fertilization between neuroscience and animal welfare”: Virtual, online.
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2021). Ferret housing, management, and welfare: Preliminary results from a cross sector survey. Pan-London 3Rs Symposium: Virtual, online. (Poster presentation).
DANCER, A. M. M., DÍEZ-LEÓN, M., BIZLEY, J. K., BURN, C. C. (2021). Preliminary results of inactive but awake behaviour in relation to ferret boredom. Workshop: What do specific forms of inactivity tell us about non-human animal affective (welfare) states? Virtual, online.