Kristyn Vitale, PhD, CAAB
Kristyn Vitale is a researcher and educator in animal behavior, animal welfare, and human-animal interaction. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Animal Health and Behavior at Unity Environmental University and a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) through the Animal Behavior Society. Kristyn is an active public speaker and is frequently invited to speak to professional and academic audiences as well as public audiences of all ages.
Kristyn Vitale with her cats Cecilia (left) and Macy (right) in 2015.
Kristyn Vitale in 2018.
Biography
Kristyn Vitale received a Master’s in Environmental Science from Miami University and a Ph.D. in Animal Science from Oregon State University (OSU). During her graduate career she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Visiting Research Fellow at Kyoto University. She also served as a Maddie’s Postdoctoral Scholar and a Faculty Research Assistant in the OSU Human-Animal Interaction Lab.
Kristyn’s research interests include cross-cultural comparisons of human-animal interactions, factors that impact animal social behavior, human-animal attachment relationships, animal learning and training, and ways to improve the welfare of captive and companion animals.
Her main area of research is focused on cat social behavior, human-cat interactions, and the impact of life experiences, such as cat training and socialization classes, on cat cognition and the cat-human relationship. Her research and expertise in cat behavior has been internationally featured in media outlets such as National Geographic, Science Magazine, BBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and DER SPIEGEL. Her work has also been featured in film documentaries such as How the Cat Conquered the World (ARTE France) and Inside the Mind of a Cat (Netflix).
In addition to her work with cats, she has also supported research into dog-human and dog-dog attachment bonds, dog assisted interventions for children, and the impact of human socialization on domestic pig behavior.
In 2014, Kristyn started maueyes as a resource on cat behavior, cat science, and cat training. Kristyn’s goal is to apply science to increase cat welfare and improve human-cat relationships. Her research and expertise in cat behavior has been internationally featured in media outlets. Click on the media below to view select articles.
maueyes 