Shana M. Caro | Faculty Profiles

Diplomas/Degrees

DPhil, University of Oxford (2017)

BA, Harvard University (2007)

Professional Experience

Stengl-Wyer Scholar, The University of Texas at Austin (2020-2022)

Simons Junior Fellow, Columbia University (2017-2020)

Postdoc, Wageningen University (NL, 2017)

Personal Statement

I study animal behavior and cognition through the twin lenses of behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary biology. I have a particular fascination with how stress and evolutionary conflicts shape decisions. Most of my research uses birds either in the lab or in the field, although I also conduct research with insects in the lab and conduct meta-analyses.

Some recent and current work in the lab includes:

--Metacognition in non-human animals (great tits and chickens)

--Personality effects on chickens' cognitive abilities

--How food stress changes which offspring parent birds choose to feed and how offspring beg for food

--Sex differences in how (neuroscience) and why (evolution) mother and father birds respond to offspring begging signals

--Maternal manipulation of offspring behavior through hormones in eggs

--Fitness effects of ultra-processed food on non-humans

--How anthropogenic noise pollution affects bird song

Recent Courses

Animal Behavior

Guided Research Animal Behavior

Guided Research Behavioral Neuroscience

Guided Research: Capstone Animal Behavior

Honors Colloquium

Introduction To Neurobiology

Neurobiology

Special Research Problems Urban Behavioral Biology

Courses Previously Taught

Research Interests

Research areas: animal behavior, behavioral ecology, communication, parental care, urbanization, urban biology, ultra-processed food, behavioral neuroscience, cogntion, metacognition

Masters students and undergraduates who are interested in joining my lab should email me at SCaro@adelphi.edu.

International Experience

I did my DPhil at the University of Oxford in the UK, from 2013 to 2017.

I have conducted research on superb starlings in Kenya (2018-2019), great tits in The Netherlands (2017), white-faced capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica (2012), and chimpanzees in Uganda (2010).

Articles

Caro, S.M., Wu, K. & Hofmann, H. In prep. Sex differences in parental response to offspring begging are associated with pair bond strength across birds. Behaviour.

Caro, S. M., Velasco, A. C., van Mastrigt, T., van Oers, K., Griffin, A. S., West, S. A., & Hinde, C. A. 2025. Parental control: ecology drives plasticity in parental response to offspring signals. Behavioral Ecology, araf058.

Morisseau, S. D., & Caro, S. M. 2025. Birds Foraging on Human-Derived Foods in Suburban Areas. Ardea, 113(1), 1-8.

Levin, S. R., Caro, S. M., Griffin, A. S. & West, S. A. 2019. Honest signaling and the double counting of inclusive fitness. Evolution Letters 3, 428-433, doi: 10.1002-evl3.138

Wild, G.,* Caro, S. M.*, & West, S. A. 2017. Signaling about information that is neither cryptic nor private. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 30, 806-813, doi: 10.1111-jeb.13049. *Joint first authors

Caro, S. M., West, S. A. & Griffin, A. S. 2016. Sibling conflict and dishonest signalling in birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113, 13803–13808, doi: 10.1073-pnas.1606378113

Caro, S. M., Griffin, A. S., Hinde, C. A. & West, S. A. 2016. Unpredictable environments lead to the evolution of parental neglect in birds. Nature Communications 7, 1–10, doi:10.1038-ncomms10985

Theses Advised

Masters Theses:

Scholarly Paper, by M Berotti: "Progesterone Before, During and After Pregnancy: Hormonal mediation of offspring development" (2024)

Undergraduate Theses:

Capstone in Biology, by Shanya Morisseau: "Dietary Effects on Nauphoeta cinerea Fitness" (2025)