We are an international team of behavioural and evolutionary biologists based at Leibniz-IZW in Berlin, Germany, and the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. We do our research in close collaboration with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and various international research teams. We also take part in various science communication and outreach initiatives. Within our core team and through our collaborations, we embrace diversity in ideas, skills, scientific disciplines and approaches as well as cultural background. If you want to join our team, please go to our Job offers page.
Oliver Höner. Senior scientist. Co-director, Administrative head and Database manager since 1996. Oliver studies the
eco-evolutionary processes shaping the social behaviour, life history and fitness of spotted hyenas. These include
mate choice, sexual conflict, social dominance, sex roles, cultural inheritance, and dispersal. His current work focuses on three topics: (i) how
demographic, kinship and ecological dynamics impact the social organisation and fitness of hyenas, (ii) how the social and genetic properties of groups impact population
demographic resilience and responses to
climate change, and (iii) the socio-ecological determinants of
humans-carnivores conflicts and coexistence. Member of the
IUCN Hyena Specialist Group. Swiss and Brazilian.
Eve Davidian. Postdoctoral research associate. Co-director & Scientific head since 2020. Eve joined the project in 2010. She applies concepts and theories from
behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology and socio-endocrinology to study the determinants and fitness consequences of individual
strategies and decisions to acquire resources, mates, social allies, and power in group-living animals. For this, Eve primarily uses the long-term empirical data on the Crater spotted hyenas but also tackles questions using comparative approach. Her current work explores two main topics: (i) the eco-evolutionary determinants of
male-female power relationships and (ii) the impact of
demographic and kinship dynamics on social evolution. French, US-American, Armenian, Lebanese, with a Mexican sprinkle.
Philemon Naman. Field assistant since 2015. He collects
demographic, behavioural and genetic data for the long-term monitoring of the Crater hyena population. Philemon also conducts monthly
prey surveys inside the Crater to monitor seasonal changes in prey abundance in hyena territories, and
call ups to quantify fluctuation in hyena distribution in Ngorongoro Area. He plays a key role in
maintaining ties with local authorities, stakeholders and community of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. He assists us with the maintenance of research equipment and vehicles, and with permit applications. He graduated (BsC) from the College of African Wildlife management in Mweka (Tanzania) in 2014. Tanzanian, Iraqw tribe.
Alexandre Courtiol. Senior scientist. Head data analyst and statistical adviser since 2013. He oversees the development of a handy
R package {hyenaR} which many of us use to extract demographic and ecological data from the Ngorongoro hyena database. Alex chips in when it comes to all things
mate choice, sexual selection and demography. He is the head of the
Data Zoo Gang, a research group from the Leibniz-IZW who specialises in wildlife quantitative biology and in
R package development for ecology and conservation. French.
Liam Bailey. Postdoctoral research associate since 2018. He is a
climate change ecologist and an advocate for the use of
data science techniques for wildlife conservation. His scientific interests focus on understanding the impact of changes in the biotic and abiotic environment on natural systems, in particular wild populations of birds and mammals. His current work aims to quantify the
demographic responses of the hyena clans in the Crater to climate change. He is responsible for the
weather data management and
knowledge transfer (through on-site practical workshops). Liam is a member of the
Data Zoo Gang. He developped several R packages, including {hyenaR} and
{climwin}. DAAD & DFG fellowship. Australian.
Larissa Arantes. Postdoctoral research associate since 2022. Larissa specializes in applying
genomic tools for biodiversity conservation. She is generating high‐density genomic marker data for thousands of individual samples spanning 8 generations to quantify the
genetic diversity as well as the evolutionary and ecological impact of current
environmental change on the Crater hyena population. Her work is done in tight collaboration with
Dr. Camila Mazzoni from
BeGenDiv and
Prof. Loeske Kruuk from the University of Edinburgh. ERC fellowship. Brazilian.
Arjun Dheer. Doctorate candidate (Freie Universität Berlin) since 2017. He studies
human-carnivore coexistence and the responses of spotted hyenas to anthropogenic activity in Ngorongoro Conservation Area. His work aims to assess
local perceptions towards large carnivores and management strategies by the local Maasai community – using questionnaires – and to monitor the
demographic response of spotted hyenas to human activity and prey density inside and outside the Crater. Arjun also collaborates on projects focused on the
applied ecology and conservation of other large mammals in Africa and Asia. He is the Red List Authority for the
IUCN SSC Hyaena Specialist Group and a
National Geographic Explorer. Leibniz-IZW fellowship. US-American and Indian.
Ella White. Doctorate candidate since November 2022. Ella specializes in the modelling of
ecological processes and demographic responses of natural populations to disturbances. She will assess the
resilience to socio-ecological disturbances of the spotted hyenas in the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. Ella’s overarching goal is to
develop a new analytical approach to quantify such demographic responses, and to provide tools for
applied conservation. She is co-supervised by Oliver and Drs Viktoriia Radchuk and Sarah Benhaiem from the Department of
Ecological Dynamics (D6, Leibniz-IZW) and collaborates tightly with Dr. Julie Louvrier (D6) and Prof
Adam Clark (University of Graz). Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Kiwi (aka New Zealander).
Leonie Walter. Master’s student (Freie Universität Berlin) since October 2022. She studies the impact of
female mate choice on the
relatedness among individuals and the
genetic diversity within and between hyena clans. Leonie combines empirical data from the Crater hyenas and simulations using
individual-based modelling. Supervised by Alex and Liam from the
Data Zoo Gang. German.
Zimai Li. Master’s student (University of Munich) of MEME Erasmus program in 2020-2021. For his thesis, Zimai studied the impact of
female life history and male social rank on female
mate choice and inbreeding avoidance, using the Crater hyena dataset. Supervised by Oliver, Eve and
Prof. Wolfgang Goymann (University of Munich). Now conducting a Doctorate project on the “Immune division of labour in ants” in
Dr. Yuko Ulrich’s team (Max-Planck ICE). Lehre @LMU Student Research Award & SOPA Society stipend. Chinese.
Loltogom Oltumo,
Tegela Karya and
Jose Karya. Watchmen & Station assistants since 2007. Guard the research cabin, contribute to equipment maintenance, and assist with daily chores. They also help communicate and set up collaborations with Ngorongoro rangers and Maasai from nearby villages. In 2020, Jose replaced Tegela who, after training in a local culinary school, was employed as “Pastry” Chef in a nearby
Lodge. Tanzanian, Maasai tribe.