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Brenda McCowan, PhD
Associate Professional Researcher/
Research Behaviorist

Department of Population Health & Reproduction 
California National Primate Research Center

University of California, Davis
Population Health and Reproduction
1114 Tupper Hall
Davis, CA 95616
E-mail: bjmccowan@ucdavis.edu

 

  

Research

McCowan Lab of Behavioral Management
Behavioral biology and ecology with an emphasis on both the basic and applied aspects of animal behavior and communication for enhancing wildlife health and conservation, captive exotic species management, and domesticated animal production, health and well-being.

Graduate Groups

Affiliations

 

 

Selected Publications

McCowan, B. (1995). A new quantitative technique for categorizing whistles using simulated signals and whistles from captive bottlenose dolphins (Delphindae Tursiops truncatus). Ethology 100: 177- 193. [PDF]

McCowan, B. and Reiss, D. (1995). Quantitative comparison of whistle repertoires from captive adult bottlenose dolphins (Delphindae Tursiops truncatus): a re-evaluation of the signature whistle hypothesis. Ethology 100: 193-209. [PDF]

McCowan, B. and Reiss, D. (1995). Whistle contour development in captive-born infant bottlenose dolphins: role of learning. Journal of Comparative Psychology 109 (3): 242-260. [PDF]

McCowan, B. and Reiss, D. (1995). Maternal aggressive contact vocalizations in captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): wide-band, low frequency signals during mother/aunt-infant interactions. Zoo Biology 14 (4): 293-310. [PDF]

Reiss, D., McCowan, B. and Marino, L. (1997). Communicative and other cognitive characteristics of dolphins. Trends in Cognitive Science 1 (4): 140-145. [PDF]

McCowan, B., Reiss, D. and Gubbins, C. M. (1998). Social familiarity influences whistle acoustic structure in adult female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Aquatic Mammals 24: 21-40. [PDF]

McCowan, B., Hanser, S. F. and Doyle, L. R. (1999). Quantitative tools for comparing animal communication systems: information theory applied to bottlenose dolphin whistle repertoires. Animal Behaviour 57: 409-419. [PDF]

McCowan, B., Marino, L., Vance, E., Walke, L. and Reiss, D.  (2000). Bubble ring play of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): implications for cognition.  Journal of Comparative Psychology 114: 98-106. [PDF]

McCowan, B. and Newman, J. D.  (2000). The role of learning in chuck call recognition by squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus).  Behaviour 137: 279-300. [PDF]

McCowan, B., Franceschini, N. V. and Vicino, G. A.   (2001). Age differences and developmental trends in alarm peep responses by squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). American Journal of Primatology 53(1): 19-31. [PDF]

McCowan, B. and Reiss, D. (2001). The fallacy of 'signature whistles' in bottlenose dolphins: a comparative perspective of ‘signature information’ in animal vocalizations. Animal Behaviour 62 (6): 1151-1162. [PDF]

McCowan, B. and Hooper, S. L. (2002). Individual acoustic variation in Belding’s ground squirrel alarm chirps in the High Sierra Nevada. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 111, 1157-1160. [PDF]

McCowan, B., DiLorenzo, A. M., Abichandani, S., Borelli,C.,  and Cullor, J. S.   (2002). Bioacoustic tools for enhancing animal productivity and management: Effects of recorded calf vocalizations on milk production in dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 77, 13-20. [PDF]

McCowan, B., Doyle, L. R. and Hanser, S. F. (2002). Using information theory to assess the diversity, complexity and development of communicative repertoires. Journal of Comparative Psychology 116, 166-172. [PDF]

Rabin, L., McCowan, B., Hooper, S. and Owings, D. (2003). Anthropogenic noise and its effect on animal communication: An interface between comparative psychology and conservation biology. International Journal of Comparative Psychology 16, 172-192. [PDF]

Yin, S. and McCowan, B. (2004) Barking in domestic dogs: context specificity and individual identification. Animal Behaviour 68, 343-355.  [PDF]

McCowan, B., Doyle, L. R., Jenkins, J. and Hanser, S. F. (2005) The appropriate use of Zipf’s law in animal communication studies. Animal Behaviour, 69, F1-F7. [PDF]

  
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