TECHlab, Georgia Tech’s laboratory for animal behavior, is a recently developed collaborative effort between the Georgia Institute of Technology and Zoo Atlanta. It functions as a think tank where graduate students in both psychology and architecture along with research affiliates from other institutions engage in research using advanced technologies in the areas of behavior, conservation, and education. Researchers at TECHlab currently use The Observer software on PCs, laptops, and handheld computers for the collection and preliminary analyses of behavioral data.

Topics

• Solitary behavior
• Social interaction
• Activity budgets
• Reproduction
• Infant development
• Behavioral management
• Enrichment
• Training
• Spatial distribution
• Conservation
• Visitor behavior
• Education

Species

• Gorilla
• Orangutan
• Drill, black & white ruffed lemur
• Black lemur
• Red panda
• Giant panda
• Lion
• Black rhino
• Sumatran tiger
• Flamingo
• Human

Projects

• Longitudinal study of social behavior of drills
• Behavioral management of drills in captivity
• Reproduction in the black and white ruffed lemur
• Regurgitation and reingestion in the lowland gorilla
• Integration of an all-male juvenile gorilla group
• Space use in red pandas
• Comparative ethology of black rhinos in captivity
• Reproductive parameters of the giant panda in China
• Visitor behavior at the zoo
• Others