2025 Internship Project Overview

Through this internship, I helped with two primary projects: studying lion predation behavior and zebra fleeing behavior. We tested the dazzle effect hypothesis to see if zebra stripes impaired the ability of lions to catch prey. In addition, we recorded data to determine how lions lock on to their prey visually and what possible geometric laws may influence their approach.

At Lion Country Safari, a zoo in Florida, I helped work on the experimental design as well as the daily field work on-site. After field work was completed, I also helped label data collected from our lion experiment as well as the zebra data we had collected in Kenya last winter studying their escape dynamics.

In addition to data management, I completed a literary analysis on the overarching literature of lion behavior as well as zebra prey dynamics to aid in the process of completing an academic paper that encapsulates the two projects.

 

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

Rubenstein Lab, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University

LOCATION

Lion Country Safari, West Palm Beach, Florida

 

Interns

Alex Raymond Frias ’28
Major: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
"This internship strengthened my practical field skills, like drone work and experimental design. The most interesting aspects were working with animals in the field and completing literature reviews to help us better understand these beautiful animals."

Click to view the end-of-project presentation

 

Daniel Rubenstein
Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Emeritus, Senior Scholar

Mentors

  • Isla Duporge, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology