CICASP | Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology

I am interested in how individuals develop and maintain good relationships in their social environments, and what kinds of communication are used while they interact with each other. Currently, I am focusing on behavioral synchrony and body movement matching in chimpanzees with respect to how these behaviors affect their social relationships. I'm also interested in the evolutionary origins of human musical activities such as dancing and singing. 

How are emotions and moods embodied in the brain? And how has this evolved in animals and humans? These are interesting reserch questions to explore for many reasons. My research aims to explore the biological mechanisms underlying emotion and its related disorders, and its evolution in primates. My current research investies the underlying neural mechanisms (or neural networks) of grief and mourning using near-infrared spectroscopy brain imaging techniques in humans and non-human primates.

My main research interest is non-human animal’s understanding of death. Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives and that makes them an important subject to study the evolutionary origins of traits we might assume uniquely human, like thinking about death. Do they wonder about dying and what happens after? Do they understand the irreversibility of it? While observing primates in the wild is a great way of studying their interaction with dead and dying animals, experimental research is necessary to control as many variables as possible. Still, studying such abstract subjects in non-linguistic animals is very challenging. I am currently working with chimpanzees staying at Ehub and my goal is to help our understanding of what they know and feel about death.

Several psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, addiction, and major depressive disorder have been suggested to involve cognitive biases in their symptoms, but their mechanistic relatioships have remained largely unclear. To provide insights on the issue, I investigate social and affective aspects of cognitive biases. In particular, I examine how affective states of subjects may influence their habits, and its relevance to addiction in order to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of psychiatric disorders.

I am 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 have studied mainly primates but also seabirds (penguins) and a few other animal species over the years. Students in my lab almost always combine field and laboratory work to enrich their experiences. I teach a variety of courses related to behavioral biology and am a strong proponent of critical thinking, analytical reasoning and the communication of science. I'm always looking for good people in my team, so don't hesitate to contact me or other members of my team if interested.

My research examines aspects of the behaviour, ecology and conservation of mammals in forest habitats. Although I spent many years working on macaques, my current research focuses on insectivorous bats. I am interested in the effects of habitat disturbance on the distribution and population dynamics of forest bats, and how secondary forest habitats can be managed to protect and enhance bat communities. I am also investigating social systems of bats and specifically the role of vocal communication in social interactions within and between groups. 

My main research interest is the use of non-invasive endocrinology in non-human primates to understand how the environment influences welfare and reproductive fitness. My previous studies included health evaluation of captive owl monkeys and measurement of adrenal hormones in captive Japanese macaques. I believe that it is important to study the behavior and physiology of wild primates in order to improve the condition of those living in captivity, and to provide them an environment as closer as possible from their natural habitat. 

What makes it possible for us to take care of infants? Given that it requires a lot of cost on caretakers, there could be physiological and/or psychological mechanisms that drive us to do so. I'm studying cognition in both human and non-human primates. My research interest is how primates recognize infants of their own species versus those of other species. I am investigating it by studying attention, preference, face recognition ability, etc. in humans and apes. I hope my work will contribute to revealing the evolutionary basis of infant care.

I am a doctoral student interested in animal behavior and evolution. I have been investigating mate choice and divergence in secondary sexually-selected traits, particularly how they may affect mating partner recognition in an Amazon fish. Amazon has the highest freshwater faunal biodiversity in the world, and now I am trying to answer the following question: why does the Amazon have such high biodiversity? I am focused on how divergent selection can shape biodiversity in Amazonian rivers and how environment quality (different types of water) affects visual communication, especially sexual communication.

Past effects of insularity on non-human primates have been a subject of my interest since the discovery of spectacular island effects on fossil humans. Comprised of a galaxy of islands and known as the home of various living non-human primates, the Southeast Asian Archipelago is my study area for investigating how non-human primates evolved, adapted, and survived throughout the islands since 2 million years ago. I have developed geometric-morphometrics analysis on craniodental elements of Macaca, Presbytis, Trachypithecus, Hylobates, Symphalangus, and Pongo, covering both living and fossil specimens.

Everyone at CICASP is friendly and warm, and I am happy to be a member of the team. I am surrounded by people from many different countries and enjoy getting to know them. If you are feeling anxious about starting a new life in an unfamiliar environment, please do not worry! I understand how hard it can be to adjust and settle into a new place, and I will be here to assist you so that you can concentrate on your work or study. I look forward to welcoming you at CICASP.

My main interests are in animal psychology and animal welfare. My research focuses on understanding how non-human primates perceive faces and facial expressions using computer-based tasks (e.g., matching-to-sample, dot probe and visual search). I am also interested in whether facial expressions can be used to assess emotional and welfare states in animals. I lecture on Comparative Psychology, Primate Behaviour and Cognition, and Science Communication at the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kyoto University.

Primates are important herbivores in many ecosystems. They are not only influenced by the plants they eat but also influence the ecosystem through eating plants. I am interested in how the properties of food influence the digestion of primates. Meanwhile, I am also interested in the ecological impact of primates. I was focusing on the effects of diet composition, and dietary toughness on chewing and digestion in Japanese macaques when I was a graduate student in PRI/Inuyama campus. 

• Evolution of social behavior • Behavioural ecology • Agent/Individual-based modelling • Social network analysis • Complex systems • Wildlife epidemiology • Animal conservation

Currently, I am investigating facial expressions and behaviors associated with pain in Japanese macaques and marmosets

• Anesthesia and analgesia of domestic and nondomestic species
• Animal Welfare - study on pain expressions
• Pharmacology of anesthetic drugs
• Evolution of nociception 
• Conservation Medicine

The various research interests and fields I have played a role in pioneering, inspired by the primates I have observed and the people I have worked with, include cultural primatology, female mate choice, primate host-parasite ecology, and animal self-medication. These studies have led to work in ethnobotany, reproductive physiology, behavioral endocrinology, phylogeography, and historical primatology. Along with investigations on free-ranging and captive Japanese macaques for over 40 years, I studied wild chimpanzees at four field sites in Tanzania and Uganda between 1985 and 2004. Since 2004, I've been working mostly on macaques and langurs across Asia, with field studies in Sri Lanka, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.