Mgr. Iveta Štolhoferová, Ph.D.

Area of expertise: Rodent ethology, the impact of urbanization on behavioural changes in wild animals, emotions elicited by animals, eye-tracking, cross-cultural psychology.

Research Focus: Within the "rodent" research team, my colleagues and I primarily study spatial behaviour and preferences, personality ontogeny, intraspecific interactions, and behavioural changes associated with the transition to a synanthropic lifestyle. The main rodent species I focus on are the black rat (Rattus rattus) and spiny mice of the genus Acomys. In collaboration with colleagues from the "human" research team, we explore the emotions different animals evoke in people, how these emotions influence attitudes towards animals and nature in general, and how these perceptions vary across Europe, Africa, and other parts of the world.

Teaching: I am involved primarily in practical courses, including Ethology and Sociobiology, Ethological Methods, Vertebrate Zoology, and Zoological Fieldwork. Additionally, I contribute a lecture to the courses Fundamentals of Ethology and Sociobiology and Behavioural Ecology I. In 2024, I co-edited the university textbook "Ethology: Mechanisms, Ontogeny, Functions, and Evolution of Animal Behaviour".