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Meredith J BashawProfessor of Psychology

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717-358-4425

Education

 Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with a minor in Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology

B.S. in Biology and Religion, Duke University

 

Research

I’m an animal welfare scientist who uses behaviour and hormone analyses to understand and improve the lives of animals in human care. I collaborate with scientists and animal caretakers around the world - including F&M undergraduate researchers - to develop tools & techniques that can improve the daily lives of animals who live in human care without having been selectively bred to do so. While I am best known for giraffe research, our lab now studies a wide variety of species including lizards, snakes, rodents, big cats, red pandas, and human and non-human primates. Some of our study animals live on F&M’s campus and others live at our accredited zoo, wildlife, and rehab center partners’ facilities. 

What are we up to now? Our lab’s focus is on animal-centered management and human-animal interactions. Current projects include:

  • reframing how scientists think about stress and glucocorticoids, 
  • developing non-invasive measures of health and reproduction, 
  • advancing behavioral monitoring to facilitate animal management, 
  • refining preference testing approaches to better understand what animals want, and
  • examining how positive reinforcement training contributes to animal welfare. 

 

Selected Publications

Edited Book

Kaufman, A., Bashaw, M.J., Maple, T.L. (Eds.). (2019).  Scientific Foundations of Zoos and Aquariums: Their role in conservation and research.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108183147

Peer-Reviewed Publications (student co-authors appear in italics)

Florent, S.N., Clarke, J., Bashaw, M.J., Hamede, R., Jones, M.E., & Cameron, E.Z. (2023). Faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels of intensive captive, free-range captive, and wild Tasmanian devils. Journal of Zoology, 320, 282-291. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.13072

Arena, P.C., Bashaw, M.J., Grant, R., Howell, T., Martinez-Silvestre, A., & Warwick, C. (2023). Miscellaneous factors. In C. Warwick, P.C. Arena, G. & Burghardt (Eds.), Health and Welfare of Captive Reptiles (2nd Ed, pp. 561-582). New York: Springer Nature. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-86012-7

Ramis, F., Mohr, M., Kohn, G., Gibson, Q., Bashaw, M., Maloney, D., & Maple, T. (2022). Spatial design of guest feeding programs and their effects on giraffe participation and social interactions. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 25, 224-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2020.1824787

Brando, S., Basom, L., Bashaw, M., Druyor, C., Fonte, E., & Thompson, R (2021). Individualized target training facilitated transfer of group housed Capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) to test cubicles and discrimination of targets on computer touch screens. Animals 11(7), 2070. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072070

Hardt, B.M., Ardia, D.R., Bashaw, M.J., & Rivers, J.W. (2018). Experimental brood enlargement differentially influences the magnitude of the corticosterone stress response in closely related, co‐occurring songbirds. Functional Ecology, 32, 2008-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13116

Fanson, K.V., Best, E.C., Bunce, A., Fanson, B.G., Hogan, L.A., Keeley, T., Narayan, E.J., Palme, R., Parrott M.L., Sharp, T.M., Skogvold, K., Tuthill. L., Webster, K.N., & Bashaw, M.J. (2017). One size does not fit all: Monitoring faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in marsupials. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 244, 146-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2015.10.011

Bashaw, M.J., Gibson, M.D., Schowe, D.G., Kucher, A.S. (2016). Does enrichment improve reptile welfare? Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) respond to five types of environmental enrichment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 184, 150-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2016.08.003

Bashaw, M.J., Sicks, F., Palme, R., Schwarzenberger, F., Tordiffe, A.S.W, & Ganswindt, A. (2016). Non-invasive assessment of adrenocortical activity as a measure of stress in giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). BMC Veterinary Research, 12, 235. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-016-0864-8

Tarou, L.R. & Bashaw, M.J. (2007). Maximizing the effectiveness of environmental enrichment: Suggestions from the experimental analysis of behavior. Applied Animal Behavior Science, 102, 189-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.05.026



Course Information

PSY300 Research Design & Statistics

PSY/WGS270 Hormones and Behavior & PSY/WGS303 Hormones & Behavior with Lab

CNX180 Animal Welfare

BFB279 Experiential Learning: Animal Husbandry & Enrichment

BFB371 Experiential Learning: Primate Training