Understanding fishy behaviour
O'Connor, recipient of the 2011 E.B. Eastburn Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The McMaster University researcher is using a two-year fellowship to study the genetic makeup of cichlids, a social fish native to Lake Tanganyika in east Africa. The hope is that they will provide clues about whether there’s some kind of social common denominator among species.
The E.B Eastburn Postdoctoral Fellowship is valued at $80,000 and was awarded in September.
O’Connor, 28, went to McGill University for her undergraduate degree in biology and English literature, but she always knew she wanted to work with animals in some capacity. She took a behavioural ecology course to learn about why animals behave the way they do. She was hooked.
After she completed her PhD, O'Connor came to McMaster. The Spectator talked to her about her fishy research.
