Question: what animal if not the one you are studying would you like as a pet?

Renata Medeiros answered on 25 Jun 2013:

I really wouldn’t like to have one of the animals I study as a pet. They are seabirds and I love to see them in their own lives, flying free and living as they are supposed to live. They would not survive in a cage but even if they did it would be very wrong to have one for myself. I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to put a wild animal in captivity unless there are no other options, such as when an animal has been illegally taken from the wild and then found by the police. It is usually too late to return them back into to their environment as they would not survive there anymore.
I do love pets though. I have a dog called Indiana (after Indiana Jones) and an hamster called Bella. I would love to have a fish tank, I really like watching fish swimming around. I also like cats so I would be happy to have one too. I used to have perrikits as a child but since I started studying birds I find it really painful to see any birds on cages. Maybe I would find the same about the hamster if I studied small mammals, I’m not sure… the hamster can still run around in a cage but caged birds usually can’t fly at all, which seems a bit sad.