Mª Carmen Hernández González

During my thesis I focused on the study of rodent behaviour and physiological stress response depending on the perceived predation risk. However, my research interests have also included chemical communication in carnivores, primate colour preferences and olfaction in neotropical birds.  I aim to integrate my knowledge of other animal study models to address new behavioral questions in the spotless starling and red-legged partridge.

I have been deeply interested in animal behavior and welfare since I was a child. I studied Biology at the University of Salamanca and finished a Master's Degree in Ethology at the Pablo de Olavide University, where I became more attracted to the scientific career. During my Master's thesis, I studied the mobbing behaviour of the azure-winged magpies (awesome and beautiful creatures!). Shortly after that, I was granted a scholarship by the CSIC to work in the Natural History Museum Madrid, where I had the opportunity to study how citizen science can help us to understand crane biology. After that, I did my PhD in the Autonomous University of Madrid. Recently, I have obtained a postdoctoral contract co-funded by the JCCM and the FSE to join the Institute for Research in Game and Wildlife Research (IREC, CSIC-UCLM-JCCM)