Tim Guilford
Professor of Animal Behaviour
Tutorial Fellow in Zoology, Merton College
Research
Although I still maintain an interest in the evolution of animal signals, especially warning signals, which was the subject of my early research, I now concentrate on trying to unravel the mechanisms by which animals map the environments through which they travel. What cues do birds use to navigate home across familiar areas? What do their maps look like? How versatile is the spatial knowledge they store? The questions range from cognitive to ecological, homing pigeons are the principal model, and the techniques involve field experiments using miniature GPS loggers, on-board cameras, and analytical approaches borrowed from computational engineering. Most recently I have been extending my research group’s work to trying to understand how long distance wandering seabirds (many of which are of vulnerable conservation status) migrate, map and navigate across the open oceans.
Contact Details
Zoology Research and Administration Building
11a Mansfield Road
Oxford OX1 3SZ
