Josefina Zidar, Ph.D. – Researcher in Ethology and Animal Welfare

Josefina earned her Ph.D. in ethology from Linköping University, where her research focused on personality and cognition in chickens. She has previously worked with animal welfare issues as an administrator at the Swedish 3R Centre and the National Centre for Animal Welfare. She is currently a researcher in animal welfare at the Department of Animal Environment and Health at SLU.

Josefina is the course coordinator for the master's course Animal Science – a Scientific Approach, which is part of the Animal Science master's programme. She also teaches on several other courses within the Ethology and Animal Welfare programme.

Josefina is the project leader for PosHen, a research project aimed at improving the rearing environment for laying hens. Read more about the project here

PosHen project

Weber EM, Zidar J, Ewaldsson B, Askevik K, Udén E, Svensk E, Törnqvist E. Aggression in Group-Housed Male Mice: A Systematic Review. Animals. 2023; 13(1):143. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13010143

Lagisz M, Zidar J, Nakagawa S, Paul ES, Bateson M, Mendl M, Løvlie H. 2020. Optimism, pessimism and judgement bias in animals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 118, 3-17.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.012

Zidar J, Weber E, Ewaldsson B, Tjäder S, Lilja J, J Mount J, Svensson C, Svensk E, Udén E, Törnqvist E. 2019. Group and Single Housing of Male Mice: Collected Experiences from Research Facilities in Sweden. Animals, 9, 1010. doi:10.3390/ani9121010 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9121010

Neville V, Nakagawa S, Zidar J, Paul ES, Lagisz M, Bateson M, Løvlie H, Mendl M. 2020. Pharmacological manipulations of judgement bias: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 269-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.11.008

Zidar J, Balogh A, Leimar O, Løvlie H. 2019. Generalization to a novel cue covaries with behavioral flexibility in red junglefowl chicks. Behavioural Ecology 30(5), 1375–1381. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arz088

Zidar J, Balogh A, Favati A, Jensen P, Leimar O, Løvlie H. 2018. The relationship between learning speed and personality is age- and task-dependent in red junglefowl. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 72(10): 168. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00265-018-2579-2  

Sorato E, Zidar J, Garnham L, Wilson A, Løvlie H. 2018. Heritabilities and co-variation among cognitive traits in red junglefowl. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences 373(1756): 20170285. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0285

Zidar J, Campderrich I, Jansson E, Wichman A, Winberg S, Keeling L, Løvlie H. 2018. Environmental complexity buffers against stress-induced negative judgement bias in female chickens. Scientific Reports 8(1): 5404. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23545-6

Zidar, Josefina. The relationship between personality and cognition in the fowl, Gallus gallus. Dissertation No. 1818. Datum 22/09/2017. Ämnesområde Etologi https://doi.org/10.3384/diss.diva-140361

Zidar J, Balogh A, Favati A, Jensen P, Leimar O, Løvlie H. 2017. A comparison of animal personality and coping styles in the red junglefowl. Animal Behaviour 130: 209-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.06.024

Zidar J, Sorato E, Malmqvist A-M, Jansson E, Rosher C, Jensen J, Favati A, Lovlie H. 2017. Early experience affects adult personality in the red junglefowl: a role for cognitive stimulation? Behavioural processes 134: 78-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2016.06.003

Favati A, Zidar J, Thorpe H, Jensen P and Løvlie H. 2015. The ontogeny of personality traits in red junglefowl, Gallus gallus. Behavioural Ecology 27(2): 484-493. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arv177

Løvlie, H. Zidar, J and Berneheim C. 2014. A cry for help: female distress calling during copulation in context dependent. Animal Behaviour92: 151-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.04.002

Zidar J. and Løvlie, H. 2012. Scent of the enemy: behavioural responses to predator faecal odour in the fowl. Animal Behaviour. Animal Behaviour84(3): 547-554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.06.006

https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0002-1622-5752