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Matthias Laska

Professor

Why do species differ in their sensory capabilities? Which role do genes, anatomy, behavior, and ecology play in this context?

Publications

2025

Jessica Smith, Jonas Verspeek, Matthias Laska, Marina Salas (2025) Effects of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of zoo-housed cinereous vultures Aegypius monachus JOURNAL OF ZOO AND AQUARIUM RESEARCH, Vol. 13, p. 96-107 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

Emma Pulkkinen, Ida Fischer, Matthias Laska (2024) Sour, but acceptable: Taste responsiveness to five food-associated acids in zoo-housed white-faced sakis, Pithecia pithecia Physiology and Behavior, Vol. 286, Article 114679 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Jules Dorschner, Laura Teresa Hernandez Salazar, Matthias Laska (2024) Serial visual reversal learning in captive black-handed spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi Animal Cognition, Vol. 27, Article 56 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Lena Ball, Tim Frey, Franziska Haag, Stephanie Frank, Sandra Hoffmann, Matthias Laska, Martin Steinhaus, Klaus Neuhaus, Dietmar Krautwurst (2024) Geosmin, a Food- and Water-Deteriorating Sesquiterpenoid and Ambivalent Semiochemical, Activates Evolutionary Conserved Receptor OR11A1 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol. 72, p. 15865-15874 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Quentin Martinez, Eli Amson, Matthias Laska (2024) Does the number of functional olfactory receptor genes predict olfactory sensitivity and discrimination performance in mammals? Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Vol. 37, p. 238-247 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research

teaser image Laska Group

The sensory world of mammals - Laska Group

We study the mechanisms underlying between-species differences in sensory capabilities. Which roles do genes, anatomy, ecology, and behavior play in this context? Further, we study lateralized behavior, e.g. limb preferences, in mammals.

Organisation

Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

Undergraduate teaching and research in the areas of biology, chemistry, materials and applied physics and theory and modelling are conducted at this department.
hatching chicken

Biology (BIOLO)

Research at the division of biology covers all aspects of life science, from subcellular molecular processes, via organisms to whole ecosystems.

News

spidermonkey in a tree

25 September 2019

Monkeys like alcohol at low concentrations

Fruit-eating monkeys show a preference for concentrations of alcohol found in fermenting fruit, but they do not seem to use alcohol as a source of supplementary calories, according to a new study.

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