What invertebrates are available to feed nestlings in an agricultural landscape of varied complexity?

The oldest university in the Netherlands was founded on 8 February 1575 in the Pieterskerk in Leiden. This was at the time of the Eighty Years’ War with the uprising of the northern provinces against domination by the Spanish.

Does the presence of Ring-necked parakeets negatively influence feeding and feeding behaviour of native bird species on artificial bird feeders and if so, what are possible solutions?

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo

Is our musicality unique? To find out, the Bird Singalong Project brings together singing parrots from all over the world. Do you have a parrot that sings or whistles along to songs and would you like to help us? Sing up now!

When migrating from China to Siberia, a few intermediary food stops are not a luxury. For migratory birds, they are even crucial for their survival. However, climate change is altering the seasonal availability of food at these stops. Environmental scientist Yali Si has discovered that because of this,…

Female and male songbirds sing equally elaborate songs in some species, but in others, females do not sing like males or not at all. How did such pronounced differences in male and female communication evolve?

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo, Co-promotor: H.H. de Iongh, C.J.M. Musters

Innovation in nest building: bird nests made from anti-bird spikes. Researchers from Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Natural History Museum Rotterdam describe this behaviour in a publication.

Jinhua Wu defended his thesis on 5 January 2021

We study the link between the acoustic, behavioral and physiological health of birds and prominent pollution factors. We aim to explore causation through experimental studies on detrimental factors like traffic noise, particulate matter and chemical toxins. Our primary target is scientific progress…

The recently published book ‘Avian Cognition’ is the first multi-author book to provide a comprehensive treatment of the cognitive abilities of birds and how they compare to those of other animals. Carel ten Cate, professor of animal behavior at the Institute of Biology, and Susan D. Healy (StAndrews…

The NestWacht project is a Citizen Science collaboration between Science Centre Delft, Naturalis, and the Citizen Science Lab of Leiden University to engage individuals, families and primary schools in Leiden and Delft in scientific research on the impact of climate change on nature in their city, and…

For a long time, bird song was considered as a typical male trait. But over the last twenty years, research has shown that a lot of female songbirds sing as well. Female scientists turned out to be the key factor in these findings, amongst others from the Institute of Biology Leiden.

How does climate change affect the migration routes of birds? Mainly negatively, according to a new study from Yali Si from the CML. ‘It changes the timing of natural events differently in each region,’ she explains. ‘This can lead to a growing mismatch between the availability of food and the supposed…

How do young zebra finches learn to sing? A research team led by researcher Katharina Riebel has developed a ‘RoboFinch’ to study just that. She and colleagues in the 'Seeing voices' research consortium have spent the past four years designing the robotic bird. And with success: young zebra finches…

IBL-researcher Katharina Riebel, together with international collaborators, published a remarkable finding in Nature Communications on the prevalence of female birdsong.

Birds around airports are more aggressive and sing as if they have hearing loss. Collaboration between researchers of Manchester Metropolitan University and the Institute of Biology Leiden has led to surprising new findings about the impact of anthropogenic noise on birds around airports. Publication…

Last week Professor of Animal Behaviour Carel ten Cate was interviewed about intelligent birds, in response to the recent publication of his book 'Avian Cognition' by NPO1.

Population growth, economic expansion and the associated land use caused an increase in the number of bird species facing extinction and a reduction in carbon storage worldwide. These are the findings of an international team of scientists, also from the Leiden University Institute of Environmental…

Sufyan Al Karaimeh, a guest researcher at the Faculty of Archaeology, is currently involved in the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan (AAJ) Project. Over the past 25 years, the individuals involved in this project have not only compiled an expansive collection of photographs but have also helped discover…

Over 80 speakers from around 15 different countries came together to discuss the latest developments in multilingualism during the Conference on Multilingualism 2019 (COM2019). This year’s conference was hosted by Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL) at Leiden University.

On average, Dutch breeding birds have become more numerous in the period 1980-2010. The common species have even done better than birds in other European countries. Farmland birds are an exception: they declined sharply both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.

To eat or get eaten. It describes the evolutionary race of snakes versus the mammals and birds that prey on these snakes. Muzaffar Ali Khan devoted his PhD to investigating the molecular mechanisms play of the evolutionary arms race, and has his promotion 16 February. What makes mammals and birds successful…

It may well be that only male zebra finches can sing, but the females are faster at learning to discriminate sounds. Leiden researchers publish their findings in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour.

Leiden physicists Alexandre Morin and Samadarshi Maity study self-organisation and flocking phenomena. They shed light on flocking, which helps to understand how it is possible that birds in a flock don't collide. With plastic microbeads, they create an experimental setup and they developed a mathematical…

Anar Ahmadov is one of eleven Leiden University researchers that have been awarded a Vidi grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The 800.000 euro grant enables Ahmadov to start his own research group on western institutions, finding answers to the question: do they promote or preclude democracy?

‘I did not expect to receive the grant, but it will make an amazing research possible,’ Michelle Spierings says. The researcher of the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) got awarded a Veni-grant of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Anthropogenic noise negatively affects wildlife in a wide range of taxonomic groups.

Birds sing to be heard, but how do they cope with increasing noise levels? Which species persist in cities and why? And do they thrive or suffer in the urban soundscape?

As we are working very hard to make our University more green, it is of upmost importance that you join us in our battle and start increasing the local biodiversity from your own house! Every bit will help, it is beneficial for you own mental health and most importantly it is fun! We have created this…

In the research theme ‘Animal Sciences and Health’, we work with various animal species to gain insights into fundamental biological processes in both animals and humans.

The key characteristic of active matter is the motion of an emergent collection (such as a flock of birds), which is driven by the consumption of energy by its active components (i.e. individual birds).

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Evolution & Biodiversity research theme include evo-devo research, the evolution of cognitive and behavioural traits, and the evolutionary mechanisms of stress adaptation. This research involves both indoor and outdoor studies.

For some time blackbirds have been settling in towns as well as in woods. As a result, town blackbirds have now begun to develop differently from their counterparts in forests. These are the findings of the PhD research carried out by behavioural biologist Erwin Ripmeester who defends his dissertation…

How do animals choose their partners? The answer is simple: it’s all about quality. While humans tend to wear clothes that happen to be in fashion, animals do nothing without a reason. Behind beautiful plumage or a deafening roar is only one message: I am in great shape. The evolutionary courtship displays…

Can birds - like people- ‘see’ voices and learn how to sing by listening and watching?

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Development & Disease research theme include the mechanisms and evolution of embryonic development, the development of cognitive mechanisms, and animal models for understanding mechanisms of human disease.

NestWatch uses smart birdhouses to research how the city affects the development of young birds.

For the September 2024 intake, LUC The Hague selects 200 students. The deadlines for the September 2024 intake are stated below. LUC has two deadlines: an Early Bird and a Regular.

We have facilities for various research animals, all of which naturally comply with legal requirements. We take great care of the animals, and our enclosures are designed to meet the specific needs of the different species.

Exhibition, Exhibition

Humans and songbirds learn their vocalizations early in life by exposure to the vocalizations of adult conspecifics. Often, better learning outcomes are achieved with live, social, tutors than with audio-only exposure to vocalizations.