I’m an organismic biologist with an interest in vertebrate evolution, behavior, and sensory physiology. My research is largely devoted to mammals but also touches on birds and reptiles. I’m teaching at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf as a lecturer in zoology.
My main scientific interests:
Zoo research
I am convinced that zoological gardens hold a great, though still largely untapped, scientific potential. This is especially true for the field of compa-rative cognition research. I am proudly involved in the open science colla-borations ManyBirds and ManyPrimates by contributing data from zoo-housed animals.
African mole-rats
These peculiar rodents were the subject of my PhD thesis at the University of Duisburg-Essen and still fascinate me today. My work on these underground-dwelling mammals concerns their sensory adaptations to subterranean life as well as their social behavior. I am coordinating the “common mole-rat specialist group” in the BAG Kleinsäuger.
Primates
I study the behavior and communication of zoo-housed gibbons, which remain one of the most neglected primate groups. Furthermore, I am interested in the history of gibbon research.
Other primatological projects focus on the evolution of handedness and eye pigmentation in this group of mammals.
