Biography

Olivier Cheneval did his undergrad in Montreal (Quebec) at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), where he studied biology with a specialisation in ecology. Before that, he lived in Switzerland, where he received a pre-university degree and high-school degree in "pure sciences."
He is currently working on the foraging behavior of Steller sea lions. He has the opportunity to study in detail these behaviours thanks to three captive juveniles at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center. This study has several goals, such as:
· Observe how sea lions chase and handle prey, as well as identify whether predators consistently use a defined hunting technique.
· Evaluate the metabolic costs during the foraging period by measuring the oxygen consumption of the animals.
· Determine whether the dominance of a certain prey species in wild sea lions diet is a function of the ease of capture.
· Determine whether sea lions modify their food intake when faced with prey of different energetic values.