Addressing biases in the field of animal behavior

Photo courtesy of Pioneer Works © Walter Wlodarcyzk

Researchers in animal behavior gather for a conference in Edinburgh on December 12-13 in order to address biases in their field. At this conference, Örebro University’s evolutionary biologist and gender researcher Malin Ah-King will give a public outreach plenary. She will talk about her recent book, The Female Turn – how evolutionary science shifted perceptions about females, which traces the history of how evolutionary biology transformed its understanding of females from being coy, reserved and sexually passive, to having active sexual strategies and often mating with multiple males. Why did it take so long to discover female active sexual strategies? What prevented some researchers from engaging in sexually active females, and what prompted others to develop this new knowledge? This study about how knowledge and ignorance is produced in interaction with societal change provides an illustrative example of how inclusion of new perspectives has led to more comprehensive knowledge in animal behavior. A group of high school and college students will attend the lecture as well as discuss it with Malin afterwards.