Behavior and Cognition

Claudia Fichtel

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit
German Primate Center


Research Interests


  • Group coordination
  • Communication
  • Cognition
  • Phylogeny and biodiversity




Education and Employment

2010 -Group Leader, "Communication and Cognition", Department of Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, German Primate Center, Göttingen
2007 - 2009Post-doctoral Researcher and Coordinator of the Primate Biodiversity Project, German Primate Center, Göttingen
2004 - 2006Post-doctoral Researcher, Göttingen University and German Primate Center, Göttingen
2003Postdoctoral Fellow, MPI Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
2002Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. Biological Anatomy and Anthropology, Duke University and Duke Lemur Center, USA
2001Dr. rer nat. (Biology), Free University Berlin, Germany



Selected honours and awards

2002PhD Thesis award of the Förderverein des Deutschen Primatenzentrums e.V


Selected publications

Koch F, Signer J, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2016). The role of the residence-effect on the outcome of intergroup encounters in Verreaux's sifakas. Scientific Reports 6: 28457

Koch F, Signer J, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2016). Intergroup encounters in Verreaux?s sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi): who fights and why? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 70: 797-808

Rakotonirina H, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2016). The role of acoustic signals for spe-cies recognition in redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons). BMC Evolutionary Biology 16: 1

Huebner F, Fichtel C (2015). Innovation and behavioral flexibility in wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons). Animal Cognition 18: 777-87

Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2015). Eco-evo-devo of the lemur syndrome: did adaptive behavioral plasticity get canalized in a large primate radiation? Frontiers in Zoology 12 (Suppl 1): S15

Burkart JM, Allon O, Amici F, Fichtel C, Finkenwirth C, Heschl A, Huber J, Isler K, Kosonen ZK, Martins E, Meulman EJ, Richiger R, Rueth K, Spillmann B, Wiesendan-ger S, van Schaik CP (2014). The evolutionary origin of human hyper-cooperation. Nature Communications 5: 4747

Pasquaretta C, Levé M, Claidière N, van de Waal E, Whiten A, MacIntosh AJJ, Pelé M, Bergstorm ML, Borgeaud C, Brosnan SF, Croffot MC, Fedigan LM, Fichtel C, Hopper LM, Mareno MC, Petit O, Schnoell AV, di Sorrentino EP, Thierry B, Tiddi B, Sueur C (2014). Social networks in primates: smart and tolerant species have more efficient networks. Scientific Report 4: 7600

Schnoell AV, Dittmann MT, Fichtel C (2014). Human-introduced long-term traditions in wild redfronted lemurs. Animal Cognition 17: 45-54

Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2012). Female reproductive competition in Eulemur rufifrons: Eviction and reproductive restraint in a plurally breeding Malagasy primate. Molecular Ecology 21: 685-98

Schnoell AV, Fichtel C (2012). Wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) use social information to learn new foraging techniques. Animal Cognition 15: 505-16