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Reflecting this fact, a platypus protects its eyes and ears by automatically closing them underwater and instead relies on its bill to locate prey. Hearing and vision are therefore of little use in detecting the small aquatic invertebrates on which the animals primarily feed. This is a great video from Animalogic, describing some of the amazing features that make up the Duck-Billed Platypus. mammalian relatives for comparative genomics and developmental biology. Feeding behaviour The platypus hunts in the water, mostly at night. The African Cichlid Fishes have experienced an incredibly rapid recent and repeated evolutionary radiation that has resulted in thousands of closely related species that exhibit a wealth of morphological and behavioral diversity despite very low genomic sequence divergence. Abstract: The duck-billed platypus and short-beaked echidna are iconic species. By understanding the molecular basis of species-specific, and context-specific behaviors, I aim to determine the extent to which similar behaviors result from conserved, converged, and co-opted processes of evolution. Through the synthesis of comparative genomics with functional studies in behavior, physiology, and ecology, I aim to understand the genomic basis of behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Professor of Biology Reed College 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd Portland OR 50 CV Integrative Animal Behavior & Comparative Genomics The Evolution of Behavior in African Cichlid Fishes Lofty Goal