Bio: Sikha did her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Zoology from the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala and is a recipient of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Fellowship. Her curiosity for the natural world began with observing and photographing the tiny critters in her backyard. This continued on when she decided do an undergrad project on spider diversity. She later joined for an internship, during which her focus shifted to large mammals and primates.
Work interests: Sikha is most interested in the behavioural ecology of group-living mammals in their natural environment. Her previous work included mapping the distribution of lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) in study areas and interacting with communities living near these forests. She hopes to gain insights into the movement behaviour and ability of lion-tailed macaques to navigate across their home range in search of food resources by using them as a focus species. She enjoys spending her days following macaques in their natural habitat and observing their social interactions.
Current research: With her interest in understanding the natural behaviour of primates, she also wishes to investigate how human pressures influence these behaviours. Her research focuses on the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the space use and movement of the lion-tailed macaques at various scales. She is guided by Dr. Divya Vasudev and co-guided by Dr. Krithi K Karanth.
