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As humans, we all have our own interests, talents, places, and people, right?
Why, then, do so many of us assume that members of any other species will be a copy-paste of each other?
This is what then-Ph.D. candidate and Queer behavioral ecologist Weliton Menário Costa questioned in his own research, resulting in a thesis titled, "Personality, Social Environment, and Maternal-Level Effects: Insights from a Wild Kangaroo Population."
To examine the eastern grey kangaroo's unique "animal personalities," Costa tracked a population for over two years:
"I repeatedly measured the behaviour of several hundred marked eastern grey kangaroos in their natural habitat, considering the social context, and responses to a series of experiemental tests."
"Statistically, I dissected the relative importance of individual personality versus the social environment on the behavioural traits, and tested for other causes and consequences of behavioural variation at the individual and group levels."
To a fellow scientist, this would sound like an important project, but laymen might find it unapproachable.
So when he heard about the annual "Dance Your Ph.D." contest, Costa decided to drum up a plan to enter his thesis.
In his resulting music video, Costa showed clips of the kangaroos he had studied, as well as several groups of people dancing in the Australian Outback. There was one group of elaborately dressed drag queens, a small group of salsa dancers, and several other groups dancing in their own styles.
The message was clear: Just like humans, kangaroos each present with their own personalities and preferences, and they seek out groups of like-minded people... or kangaroos.
But the most important message was this:
"Differences lead to diversity. It exists within any given species; it is just natural."
You can watch the winning video here:
WELI - Kangaroo Time (Club Edit) (From Dance Your PhD 2024 - OVERALL WINNER)www.youtube.com
The comments on the YouTube video were overwhelmingly supportive.
"I'm a drag queen who just finished my PhD as well, and now I feel inspired to do something like this. Fantastic work with a great ending message!" - @TheAwesomenessOfJay/YouTube
"'Differences lead to diversity. It exists within any given species. It is just natural.' Thank you for that!" - @foxman2137/YouTube
"I heard about you, Dr. Weli, from NPR. Your story brought tears to my eyes! I'm so happy you are again dancing! Loved the video. Thank you for sharing!" - @myjdetcetera/YouTube
"Not only the content of the song but the joyful dancing is extremely inspiring! Thank you very much for sharing." - @Gammelgard16/YouTube
"You're also brave. Getting heels stuck in a gopher hole most of us would face-plant. Leave it to the queens to ace this in a cow pasture. Beautiful." - @daneb.mcfadhen9896/YouTube
"So much unfettered joy! Thank you, Dr. Weli, for sharing this!" - @annkramer3704/YouTube
"This is really good! Both the costuming and the additional on-screen text really helped me understand your work." - @StardustScribe/YouTube
"This spoke to my heart. The world needs more Kangaroo Time." - GeekyGram/YouTube
"'Kangaroos adjust to each other democratically without bias towards gender, age, or extreme personalities.' If only everyone could channel their inner kangaroo." - @dianesullenberger5425/YouTube
"Oh wow! Best PhD production EVER!" - trufflehunter
It's so heartening to see someone's hard work and research being made accessible by presenting it through an artistic medium.
But the coolest thing has to be what we can learn about animals through the study of people, and also how we can take inspiration from animals. It's natural for us to seek out who we truly are.