Meghan Holst defends her thesis by Zoom
Congratulations to Crook Lab MS student Meghan Holst, who successfully defended her thesis titled “Behavioral and neural indicators of welfare in senescent giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini”. Meghan’s project involved a multi-site behavioral study of GPOs in zoos and aquariums across the USA, along with analysis of histological samples from euthanized GPOs. Her data indicate significant new concerns for animal welfare at the early stages of senescence, and raise many new questions about how and when the nervous system declines to the point that these animals are no longer experiencing acceptable quality of life in captive settings.
Her wonderfully successful defense was a great way to cap off a year that has been exceptionally challenging both for research labs like ours and for public zoos and aquariums across the country where her research subjects were housed. Meghan has already started her PhD work at UC Davis and continues to work at Aquarium of the Bay, so we look forward to many more great things from her as she continues her research career.