Simone Pika
Simone has spent over a decade studying the diversity of animals' communicative systems and underlying cognitive mechanisms in captive and natural settings with a special focus on primates and corvids. Recently, she extended this research avenue to include behavioral plasticity (e.g., cultural behaviors, tool-use, medical behaviors), medical cognition, multi-modal communication, phenomena of convergent evolution, and turn-taking.
Secretary's office:
Dorothee Möllmann
Dorothee works since August 2019 as personal assistant to Simone Pika in the Comparative BioCognition Group.
Phone: +49 (0) 541 969-3133
E-mail: office-cbc[at]uos.de
Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday: 09:00 - 16:00 o'clock
Friday: by appointment
Guest researchers:
Tobias Deschner
Tobias joined the CBC in 2021 and has been researching Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire for more than fifteen years. His research focuses on the social and ecological factors impacting on chimpanzee behavior, behavioral endocrinology but he also studied other great ape species, including humans, monkeys and more distantly related species such as dogs and wolves. Since 2014, Tobias has been leading the main fieldsite of the CBC, the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project in the Loango National Park in Gabon.
E-mail: tdeschner[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Postdoctoral staff:
Leonardo Chaves
Leo joined the CBC in April 2024. He finished his PhD in Ethnobiology and Nature Conservation in 2020 and worked subsequently at the University of Pernambuco in Brasil. His current research focuses on the origins of medical systems in human and nonhuman primates and the factors influencing the utilization of medicinal plants.
E-mail: leonardo.chaves[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Filipa Abreu
Filipa started at the CBC in June 2021. She carried out her PhD in Ethnobiology and Nature Conservation at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil, and investigated spatial cognition and spatial navigation in common marmosets (Callitrix jacchus). Her research at the CBC group focuses on the complexity of turn-taking in Caatinga and Atlantic Forest common marmosets.
E-mail: Filipa.Abreu[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
PhD staff:
Harshith Koppa Guruswamy
Harshith joined the CBC in March 2025 after completing his Master's in Molecular Biology from the University of Mysore in India. His interest lies at the intersection of self-medication and cognition. In his PhD, he is investigating why chimpanzees apply insects to their wounds and potentially uncover the therapeutic benefit of this behaviour.
E-mail: Harshith.KoppaGuruswamy[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Alessandra Mascaro
Alessandra joined the CBC in 2022, after studying Evolutionary Biology at the University of Padova, Italy. In her PhD, she investigates wound care behaviours and involved cognitive complexity of central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) living in the Rekambo community, Loango National Park in Gabon.
E-mail: Alessandra.Mascaro[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Pharisemène Tibesar
Pharisemène began her PhD in the CBC group in October 2021, after carrying out a Masters in Biology of Organisms and Ecology at Université de Liège in Belgium. In her PhD, she examines the role of turn-taking in sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) at the Taï National Park in Côte D’Ivoire.
E-mail: Fanny.Tibesar[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Jolinde Vlaeyen
Jolinde started in the CBC in September 2021, after completing a Masters in Animal Behaviour at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Her PhD focuses on the development of turn-taking in bonobos (Pan paniscus), Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, DRC and its role during cooperative foraging behaviour in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Cedar Keys, Florida, USA.
E-mail: Jolinde.Vlaeyen[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Kayla Kolff
Kayla started her PhD in the CBC group in August 2020. Her project centers on the impact of social and demographic factors on turn-taking interactions of Eastern chimpanzees living in the Ngogo community, Kibale National Park, Uganda.
E-mail: Kayla.Kolff[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Lara Southern
Lara started her PhD in the CBC group in November 2019. Her thesis examines the role of turn-taking in central chimpanzees, Loango National Park, Gabon with a special focus on vocal interactions, linkage to ecological factors and turn-taking usage in the cooperative context of grooming.
E-mail: Lara.Southern[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Other scientific staff:
Frauke Olthoff
Frauke started in the CBC in 2023 and has a background in biochemistry and biobanking. She works as a fundraiser and research coordinator with a special focus on grant writing, data management, development of the CBC and 1000PAN database, and the support and coordination of tasks at the Ozouga Chimpanzee field site in Gabon.
E-mail: fraolthoff[at]uni-osnabrueck.de
Alumni:
Bas van Boekholt
Bas worked as a PhD candidate in the CBC group from March 2020 to March 2024 after he had completed a Masters in Behavioural Ecology, University of Utrecht, Netherlands. In his thesis, he investigated the complexity of turn-taking interactions in mother-infant dyads of chimpanzees in the Ngogo community, Kibale National Park, Uganda.
Samuel Cosper
Sam worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the CBC group from November 2020 to August 2022. He helped to set up the Interaction Island and investigated developmental aspects of turn-taking in human infancy. He now works at the Department of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, TU Dresden, Germany.
Simone Pika
Simone erforscht seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt die Vielfalt der kommunikativen Systeme von Tieren und die ihnen zugrunde liegenden kognitiven Mechanismen von Tieren in Gefangenschaft und in der freien Natur. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt hier auf Primaten und Rabenvögeln. In jüngster Zeit hat sie diesen Forschungsbereich auf Verhaltensplastizität (z.B. kulturelles Verhalten, Werkzeuggebrauch, medizinisches Verhalten), medizinische Kognition, multimodale Kommunikation, Phänomene konvergenter Evolution und Turn-Taking ausgeweitet.