MEMBERS
Lab members ranged from undergrads to postdocs with diverse backgrounds both culturally and academically. At some point or another, we've represented Canada, the USA, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, France, Chechia, Spain, the UK, Chile and Brazil. We investigated topics like the role of parasites in social systems evolution, wildlife health in anthropogenic landscapes, and the origins of disgust, under the framework of more general interests in behavior, ecology and evolution. All providing insight into animal behavior, health, welfare, & conservation.
current members
Andrew MacIntosh
Associate Professor
Wildlife Research Center
I'm a behavioral ecologist working predominantly on the intersection between animal behavior and parasitism. My work has taken me to field sites in Central America, West Africa, East and Southeast Asia and even Antarctica, where I've studied mainly primates but also seabirds (penguins) and a few other species over the years.
Katherine Majewski
Graduate Student (DSc)
MEXT Scholarship
With a background in Environmental Biology (University of Saskatchewan), my most recent research (Cardiff University and the Danau Girang Field Centre) focused on prey communities associated with Asian water monitor lizards in undisturbed forests and oil palm plantations in Malaysian Borneo. My research continues with a generalist species in a unique and biodiverse environment, examining the effects of invasive raccoon dogs on ecological communities on Yakushima, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, including their diet and associated parasitology.
Emi Tokushige
Graduate Student (DSc)
I am interested in the interactions between primates and other creatures (including different primates), especially their parasites. Detailed studies of the ecology and classification of primate parasites have only just begun, because of the difficulty of confirming adult parasites and the fact that they have long been considered the same as human parasites. I would like to investigate host specificity, such as whether the same parasite is really shared among different primates, and to clarify fundamental information point by point, such as the time required for the maturation of each parasite egg, its heat tolerance, etc. I believe that this will assist in the future understanding of ecosystem dynamics, conservation, and improvement of animal welfare in captivity.
Kenneth Keuk
Graduate Student (DSc)
MEXT Scholarship
Originally trained as a veterinarian, I've always been passionate about wildlife and conservation. I'm deeply interested in wildlife, disease ecology, and the intricate relationships and dynamics that structure ecosystems. Such research provides a foundation for efficient management and decision making for conservation, and an inexhaustible source of motivation for me.
Abdullah Langeng
Graduate Student (DSc)
MEXT Scholarship
Previously, I worked in the Little Fireface Project as a research assistant and later as a wildlife trade officer. Now, I study the relationship between hot spring bathing in Jigokudani Japanese macaques and their parasites and microbiome. Non-human primates fascinate me, and I have broad interests in their behavior, ecology, physiology, trade and conservation.
Negin Eslamibidgoli
Graduate Student (MSc)
MEXT Scholarship
Coming from a background in Biotechnology, I am looking to expand my knowledge in Behavioral Ecology and Primatology, and be trained to become a Wildlife scientist. Wild animals, especially non-human primates, and their behaviors are fascinating to me; I am particularly interested in social interactions, cultural behavior, and the evolution of such behaviors.
Khalid Mazid
Graduate Student (DSc)
MEXT Scholarship
I am a research student from India, currently pursuing my doctorate in studying primate avoidance of parasites. My focus is to identify various patterns and habits within the primate community that can help us understand and predict their response towards parasites.
past members
Mae Vergonzeanne
Graduate Student (MSc)
Strasbourg University
I've always been interested in discovering new species and knowledge, so I decided to study ecology. I studied species conservation in my bachelor's degree, where I worked with the Binturong in the Philippines and birds of prey in Spain; and I decided to specialize in ecophysiology for my master's degree, working on parasitology in deer in this laboratory. Later on, I'd like to continue my work on large mammals and birds of prey, particularly in terms of their responses to stress, population monitoring and well-being.
Melanie Duval
Graduate Student (MSc)
Strasbourg University
I am a master's student in Ecophysiology, Ecology, and Ethology in France, and I am joining the Zooentropy project to assess animal welfare in zoos. Passionate about wildlife and conservation, I am dedicated to develop new methods to assess animal welfare. This involves using artificial intelligence (AI) and developing reliable indicators to evaluate welfare and the conditions that influence their well-being.
Marie Gamaz
Graduate Student (MSc)
Strasbourg University
I am a master's student in ecology and ethology in France. I am particularly interested in the ecology of large carnivores and the human-animal conflicts that cohabitation with them can entail. I am proud to be part of the OkiTan project. My work involves determining the behavioral adaptations and public perception of raccoon dogs.
Magnus Monge
Graduate Student (MSc)
I am a graduate student at the Wildlife Research Centre studying the ranging behaviour of sea cows. I want to elucidate their habitat use to better help us in the conservation of these gentle giants. With my extensive teaching experience, I hope to continue to educate for sustainability.
Zhihong Xu
Graduate Student (MSc, DSc)
I'm a graduate student at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute studying the relationship between sociality and parasite transmission, and how parasites complete their life cycles in wild hosts. Methods exploration and improvement are also important in my work. I mainly study Japanese and rhesus macaques and their intestinal parasites, using them as a model to understand similar systems and ecological relationships.
Marie Sigaud
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow
I am interested in how human activities impact animal behaviour and physiology, and their consequences on ecosystems. This includes habitat disturbance but also wildlife trade. My research uses tools like movement ecology and non-invasive biomarkers to investigate human-wildlife co-existence. I've mostly studied free-ranging wild animals, but also animals rescued from trade. My research has always been oriented towards concrete topics to improve biodiversity conservation and management. I collaborate with government agencies, NGOs and academia.
Lucie Rigaill
Research Associate
My research focuses on animal sexual communication: how females and males exchange & perceive information through behavioral, visual, auditory, and olfactory traits to determine when and with whom they should mate to maximize their fitness. While my previous work has mostly taken me to study non-human primates, my latest project has focused on humans.
Yurika Garcia-Fumoto
Internship Student (BSc)
I’m an intern at the Primate Research Institute and an undergrad in Biomedical Science at the University of Kent. Anthropogenic disturbance in biological systems is an increasing issue for wildlife populations, largely concerning sudden environmental change. My studies approach this by looking at gastrointestinal parasites infecting wild Sika deer on Yakushima island.
Mii Tanaka
Graduate Student (MSc)
I am interested in a wood decaying process after trees die in the forest. One of the largest impacts for accelerated wood decomposition is its use by organisms as habitat. It is known that large mammals, including Japanese macaques, break wood into pieces when they eat insects in the deadwood. I want to study about the role of this behavior in the decomposition of forest deadwood.
On hygiene and disgust, my research investigates parasite avoidance strategies in primates and other animals through field and lab experiments, behavioral observations and parasitology. Better understanding infection-risk avoidance behaviors has implications for conservation and public health strategies by informing the design of interventions important in disease control, as well as mitigating human-wildlife conflict.
Mamiko Seki
Technical Assistant
Mamiko worked with us in the lab for a few months in 2021, processing and examining samples from animals like shika deer and Bornean primates. In her spare time, she worked toward learning social network analysis to apply to a master's project she hoped to start in the near future. Good luck, Mamiko-san!
Connor West
Internship Student (BSc)
I'm a Biological Anthropology undergraduate at the University of Kent investigating human-monkey interactions within the confines of a wild animal park in Japan's mountains. My work examines the daily activities of provisioned, wild monkeys that spend a substantial amount of time near humans, as well as the nature of the relationship between the two.
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Julie Duboscq (PD @University of Strasbourg Institute of Advanced Studies / JSPS PD @KUPRI: 2013-2017) - Connecting the dots: linking host behavior to parasite transmission and infection risk
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Barbora Kubenova (JSPS PD @KUPRI: 2017-2019) - Infant handling and social integration of infants and juveniles in wild Japanese macaques
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Valeria Romano (PhD Student @University of Strasbourg / JSPS PD @KUPRI: 2013-2019) - Primate Social Networks as a Trade-off between Information and Disease Transmission
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Liesbeth Frias (DSc Student: 2014-2019) - Host-Parasite Systems Dynamics in Human-Modified Habitats
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Jade Burgunder (PhD Student @University of Strasbourg: 2013-2018) - Complexity in Behavioral Organization: a novel approach to assessing clinical outcomes of parasitic diseases
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Xavier Meyer (PhD Student @University of Strasbourg / Research Associate @KUPRI: 2013-2018) - Does complexity in behavioral organization allow seabirds to adapt to changes in their environment?
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Surdensteeve Peter (MSc Student @Universiti Malaysia Sabah: 2018-2020) - The diversity and distribution of parasitic protozoa in primates of the lower Kinabatangan Flood Plain
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Elodie Thomas (MSc Student @University of Strasbourg: 2013) - Influence of nematode parasites on stress of Koshima macaques (Macaca fuscata)