Dr. Maria Maust-Mohl is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Manhattan College, in Riverdale, NY. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Master’s degree from Columbia University in Conservation Biology. She obtained her PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience where her dissertation focused on the behavior and acoustic signals of hippopotamus and their evolutionary relationship with cetaceans. Maria’s primary research focus is animal behavior and communication and she has published several papers on studies involving hippos, manatees, and human perceptions of animals.