A permanent position is available at the PEGASE (Physiology, Environment and Genetics for the Animal and Livestock Systems) research unit in the vicinity of Rennes, for an ethologist working on pig social behaviour .
The successful candidate will study inter-individual relationships in young reared pigs and will determine the underlying cognitive and emotional bases. They will explore the inter-individual variability and will search for the existence of typical profiles in the pig’s capacity to establish links with their fellows. The causes of this inter-individual variability must be studied, in particular the influence of early experiences, epigenetics and genetics. In the long term they will explore the possibility of improving the adaption of the animals to their rearing conditions using the mechanisms of emotional and behavioural contagion in the herd, imitation or social learning. In the course of their work they will identify the key factors that promote animal welfare.
Further information is available here.