brian j. greco, Ph.D.
Location
I am an academic who is passionate about helping students learn skills in critical thinking, creative problem solving, and empathy. My pedagogical philosophy merges inclusive design and critical pedagogy with my expertise in animal behavior, cognition, and learning theory.
Credentials
Education
Expertise
- Animal behavior
Post-Doctoral Training
Research
Current research
My current research focuses gaining a better understanding of the welfare and cognitive skills of zebrafish. I also continue to collaborate with zoos and aquaria on in-situ assessments of welfare and applications to exhibit design.
Selected publications
Meehan C.L., Greco B.J., Lynn, B.L., Morfeld, K., Vicino, G., Orban, D., Gorsuch, C., Quick, M., Ripple, L., Fournier, K. Moore, D. (2019) The Elephant Welfare Initiative: a model for community-driven evidence-based zoo animal-welfare monitoring, assessment, and enhancement. International Zoo Yearbook, 53. DOI: 10.1111/izy.12222
Greco B. J., Meehan, C.L., Heinsius, J. L., Mench J.A. (2017) Why Pace? The influence of social, housing, management, life history, and demographic characteristics on locomotor stereotypy in zoo elephants. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 194 104-111. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.05.003
Rossman R.T., Hart, B.L., Greco B.J., Young D., Padfield C., Weidner L., Gates J., Hart L.A.(2017) When yawning occurs in elephants. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 4:22. DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2017.00022
Greco B.J., Meehan C.L, Miller L.J., Shepherdson D.J., Morfeld K.A., Posta B., Andrews J.A., Baker A.M., Carlstead K., Mench J.A. (2016) Elephant management in North American zoological facilities: environmental enrichment, feeding, exercise, and training. PLoS One. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0152490
Greco B.J., Meehan C.L., Hogan J.A., Leighty K.A., Mellen J.D., Mason G.J., Mench J.A.(2016). The days and nights of zoo elephants: using epidemiology to better understand the factors that contribute to stereotypic behavior. PLoS One. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0144276
Greco B., Brown T., Swaisgood R., Andrews J., Caine N. (2013). Social Learning in Captive African Elephants (Loxodonta africana africana). Animal Cognition, 16:3 445-458. DOI 10.1007/s10071-012-0586-7
Research interests
I am an ethologist who addresses theoretical and applied topics using interdisciplinary approaches. Over the course of my 14-year academic career, I focused most of my efforts toward zoo animal research, within three interrelated themes: welfare epidemiology, animal cognition, and in-situ assessments of welfare, and how those can be applied to exhibit design.