Zhuoling Li - Department of Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation

I would like to thank Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang sincerely for funding the Schull Yang International Experience Awards which allowed me to do a summer internship at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University in Inuyama, Japan. My name is Zhuoling Li. I am a student majoring in Biodiversity and Conservation (Environment) with a minor in Biology. At McGill, since I have realized how fascinating the process of research is and how much I wish to devote my career to research, I have dreamt to have a chance to immerse myself in a research environment for a period of time focusing on one project. The Schull Yang International Experience Award supported me greatly in making this dream come true.  

Since I was a high school student, I have had a great interest in Conservation Biology. A lot of researchers have already dedicated their lives to wildlife conservation, while relatively few work to improve captive animal welfare, especially those raised for research purposes, and I have always been concerned about animal welfare; so I wanted to see how captive animals would behave differently under the influence of being in enclosures. Besides, in my U2 year, I developed a strong interest in neural circuits and how behaviors are initiated from neuronal activities. Therefore, in searching for a summer internship, I wanted to find an institute where there are scientists in several different fields conducting various projects addressing conservation, animal behavior, and neuroscience.  

I was very lucky to find the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, because there are different projects going on in different sections including ‘Social Systems and Evolution’, ‘Ecology and Conservation’, and ‘Systems Neuroscience’. The Primate Research Institute is also famous for Chimpanzee AI projects related to animal cognition. I was very excited to learn about this institute and I sent an email to Prof. Michael A. Huffman in the ‘Social Systems’ section to apply for a summer internship. I expressed my interests in animal behaviors and animal welfare in captivity. Then he introduced me to Josue Alejandro Pastrana, a PhD candidate who is conducting an ongoing project investigating how a culturally transmitted behavior of a group of captive Japanese Macaques is related to stress level.  

In this project, I was responsible for focal sampling and scan sampling focusing on 20 particular individuals in four categories (adult males, adult females, juvenile males, and juvenile females). For focal sampling, I divided each day into 4 time slots (early morning, late morning, early afternoon, and late afternoon) and randomized the observation of each category of macaques into each time slot. I also analyzed the data that I collected from behavioral observation. Furthermore, I analyzed the hormones in fecal samples from adult males doing bar hanging behaviors to see their cortisol level (stress hormone). By combining behavioral observation and hormonal analysis, we were able to learn what time, spots, and weather these macaques prefer for bar hanging, what would be the category (or categories) of Japanese Macaques doing this behavior the most, and whether this behavior is correlated with their stress level. Therefore, by conducting this project, I was able to do something for understanding more about the correlation between animal behaviors and their stress level, which is essential for enhancing animal welfare. 

Besides conducting this project, I was also able to attend conferences hosted in different sections of the Institute and learn about other interesting projects. One of the greatest highlights during my stay in the institute was chatting with Prof. Masahiko Takada and discovering how his research team investigates neural circuits in the ‘Systems Neuroscience’ section. I also visited his lab and watched a brain operation for investigating neural circuits.  

Through this international activity, I was able to participate in a project that I have been interested in for a long time. By being responsible for all aspects of the project from collecting data to analyzing data and samples, I was able to truly immerse myself into a research environment and experience how the process of research is like. Moreover, this was eye-opening as I could learn about more interesting research topics by attending conferences and meeting with professors with various backgrounds. This international activity helped me to have a deeper understanding in research and to further recognize how attractive and important research is, which in turn made me more determined in pursuing graduate studies and doing research in my future.  

In closing, I want to express my gratitude again for Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang's generous and kind help to facilitate me in conducting this project and becoming an intern at the Primate Research Institute.