My PhD explored how 'cognitive challenges' (i.e. providing relevant and motivating problem-solving opportunities) can be used to enhance the psychological well-being of large-brained mammals. For this, I used great apes and cetaceans as model taxa and drew from human psychology.
This research contributed to our understanding of how large mammals solve problems within social groups, how they communicate during problem-solving, and how behavioural asymmetries indicate when an animal is challenged.