• Dinets' early zoological studies were conducted in remote areas of the
USSR,
China and
South America; he also participated in a number of conservation projects in
Russia,
Mongolia,
Israel and
Peru. In 1992 he solved the mystery of the ability of
rock ptarmigans to winter on Arctic islands in total darkness: they survive by feeding on rich vegetation on sea cliffs where seabird colonies are located in summer. • In 1996-1999 Dinets conducted a study of international trade in endangered
insects and consulted the governments of
Nepal and
Sikkim on the issue, providing a set of recommendations for improving anti-poaching and anti-traffic control. • In 2000-2005 Dinets participated in studies of
marine mammals, as well as the natural circulation of
plague on the
Great Plains (at
University of Colorado) and
Sin Nombre hantavirus in the
American Southwest (at the
University of New Mexico). He also conducted a number of solo expeditions in
North America,
South America,
Asia and
Africa, and studied a few species of birds and mammals never before observed by scientists, such as
bay cat on
Borneo,
woolly flying squirrel in the mountains of
Pakistan, and
Cameroon scaly-tail in
Central African Republic. • In 2005-2013 Dinets conducted a comparative study of
social behavior of
Crocodilians, working in 26 countries. By 2010 he elucidated the roles of many signals used by
Crocodilians, and proposed their possible evolutionary history. In 2009-2013 he documented the ability of
crocodiles and
alligators to use coordination and role separation during cooperative hunting and to use sticks as lures for hunting birds looking for nesting material. He also conducted the first scientific studies of play behavior in
crocodilians and on coordinated hunting in snakes. • In 2011 Dinets took part in
WWF expedition to
Vietnam to study
saola, and became the first zoologist to find and photograph saola tracks in the wild. • In 2012-2013 Dinets was a research associate at
Louisiana State University, working on
whooping crane reintroduction to
Louisiana and studying
behavioral ecology. • Since 2011 Dinets is a research assistant professor at the
University of Tennessee, where he is studying
behavioral ecology and its applications to
conservation. He also worked on predicting the effects of possible invasions of
brood parasites from
Eurasia into
North America. • In 2017-2021 Dinets was a science and technology associate and later a visiting researcher at
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, working on behavior, ecology and conservation of birds and mammals in Asia. During that time he participated in
OKEON Project conducting a long-term study of Okinawa ecosystems, and discovered the first case of permanent endothermy in an invertebrates (semi-sessile lanternflies); that discovery has important implications for paleontology, evolutionary physiology, and invasive species control. • Since 2022 Dinets is teaching mathematics at
Rutgers University., while continuing research on behavioral ecology and conservation. ==Books==