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Christina Hansen Wheat

Assistant Professor

Presentation

I am interested in how behaviour shapes the life of animals. My approach to studying animal behaviour generally aligns with Tinbergen's Four Questions of causation, ontogeny, adaptation and evolution, and my main research focus is on how behaviour develops and evolves over time. Within this framework I am also interested in how behaviour is affected by various factors, such as social environment, physiology, climate and habitat.

I enjoy using integrative methods to address my research questions and is a plus if this can be done through rewarding collaborations with colleagues in Sweden or abroad.

Over the years, I have studied the behaviour of diverse species, including swift foxes, leopards and birds. Currently, I am working with the domestic dog, and its closest living relative the grey wolf, as a model system to address questions on behavioural ecology and evolution, behavioural ontogeny and domestication.

More information

Publications

2025

Christina Hansen Wheat, Clive D.L. Wynne (2025) The unfulfilled potential of dogs in studying behavioural ecology and evolution during the Anthropocene Animal Behaviour, Vol. 219 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Christina Hansen Wheat, Wouter van der Bijl, Clive D. L. Wynne (2023) Rearing condition and willingness to approach a stranger explain differences in point following performance in wolves and dogs Learning & behavior, Vol. 51, p. 127-130 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Christina Hansen Wheat, Linn Larsson, Patricia Berner, Hans Temrin (2023) Commentary by Gácsi et al. (2023) highlights general misconceptions within the field of dog domestication and dog-wolf comparisons Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 13 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2022

Linda Laikre, Fred W. Allendorf, Jouni Aspi, Carlos Carroll, Love Dalén, Richard Fredrickson, Christina Hansen Wheat, Philip Hedrick, Kerstin Johannesson, Marty Kardos, Rolf O. Peterson, Mike Phillips, Nils Ryman, Jannikke Räikkönen, Carles Vilà, Christopher W. Wheat, Cristiano Vernesi, John A. Vucetich (2022) Planned cull endangers Swedish wolf population Science, Vol. 377, p. 162-162 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Christina Hansen Wheat, Linn Larsson, Patricia Berner, Hans Temrin (2022) Human-directed attachment behavior in wolves suggests standing ancestral variation for human-dog attachment bonds Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 12 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

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