瀬口 瑛子

ヒト社会をめぐる人文・社会科学の問い、とりわけ「社会病理」と呼ばれる現象に着想を得て、動物を対象とした行動実験へと落とし込み、行動と生理基盤の両面から発生要因と回復過程を明らかにすることを目指しています。多様な社会生態を示す鳥類をモデルに、各種がもつ固有の生態・社会システムを解明しつつ、ヒトの概念を動物に直接当てはめるような擬人化は避けながら、ヒト社会を理解するための手がかりを得たいと考えています。これまでハシブトガラスを用い、オス同士の親和関係の形成・維持を支える行動・生理基盤について、３個体同居の実験系を構築して検討してきました。現在は東京農工大学・新村研究室にて、抱卵・育雛行動を示すウコッケイ（ニワトリの一品種）を用い、オス・メス・ヒナの３者関係を含む子育て行動、および孵化前の胚と親個体とのコミュニケーションに関する行動神経内分泌学的研究を進めています。

Inspired by questions in the humanities and social sciences about human society, particularly phenomena often described as “social pathology,” I aim to recast these questions in the form of animal behavioral experiments. I seek to understand both the factors that give rise to such phenomena and the processes through which they may be resolved, by examining both behavior and its underlying physiological mechanisms.

Birds provide an ideal model because they show diverse social ecologies. By clarifying the species-specific ecological and social systems that shape their behavior, I hope to gain clues that may also help us understand human society, while avoiding naive anthropomorphic projections of human concepts onto animals.

My previous work used large-billed crows to examine the behavioral and physiological mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of affiliative relationships between males. For this purpose, I established an experimental triadic cohabitation paradigm. I am currently based in the Shimmura Lab at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where I study Silkie chickens, a breed of domestic chicken that retains incubation and parental care behaviors. My current research focuses on parenting behavior involving triadic relationships among males, females, and chicks, as well as communication between pre-hatching embryos and their parents.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Akiko-Seguchi