Arnout Lindeman

My master study was in Wageningen, which was in Biology (specialisation Ecology; 2020-2023). Most of my courses were free choice, so I largely focused on animal behaviour and welfare, behavioural ecology, statistics and some genetics. At the end of my study, I did two theses (each about 6 months). The first was on the alarm calls and social behaviour of wild Eurasian magpies (Pica pica) in the Netherlands. The second was on the foraging behaviour of wild ravens (Corvus corax) in the Austrian Alps. My bachelor study was in Rotterdam, which was in Biology Education (2015-2020). The study largely focused on a broad knowledge of biology and the modern fundamentals of teaching. As part of the study, I was also a parttime teacher at secondary schools for about three years (to students between 11-18 years old).

Since 2021, I have been a self-taught wildlife artist using acrylic paint. My work mostly focuses on birds, but I have also drawn some mammals and landscapes. So far, I am not well known, but I have once sold a piece, and another got published in a PhD thesis. The reason that I paint is of course... As a biologist, I think that I should be able to artistically display my study subjects – and maybe I paint because it is relaxing too.

Research thesis II (Austria, 2023)

During my thesis in Austria, I investigated how ravens change their foraging decisions to changes in their environment. When foraging, animals can choose to e.g., directly grab food from a source, but they can also steal food from others, which may help them to reduce risks. My question here was whether this ratio changes when ravens approach a new food source, or when you unpredictably introduce an object at a food source. In the field, the birds usually came in with 15 to 40 individuals per morning. So, to see who was visiting the food sources, I had to learn how to read their leg-rings at a fast rate.

Research thesis I (Netherlands, 2022)

During my thesis in the Netherlands, I conducted a playback experiment on the alarm calls of magpies. The alarm call of the magpie is a “chatter” that we in biology also call a trill-call, because the birds repeat a specific syllable for some time. My question here was whether the duration or rate of the chatter call encoded some kind of information. Here, I effectively learned how to design playbacks from the magpie calls and how to find them in the field (which involved cycling 30-50 kms per day). In the office, I learned how to test my data using different kinds of linear models in RStudio.

Biology teacher (2016-2020)

As a teacher, I taught biology, human & health and cooking in the Netherlands. This was usually for two full days per week, and included preparing and executing full lessons, and developing teaching material (presentations, tests, exams, assignments). I also guided students during laboratory work (e.g., dissection lessons) and fieldwork sessions (e.g., animal behaviour observations). During my second year, I was also an internship supervisor for a small group of students.

As a teacher, I taught biology, human & health and cooking in the Netherlands. This was usually for two full days per week, and included preparing and executing full lessons, and developing teaching material (presentations, tests, exams, assignments). I also guided students during laboratory work (e.g., dissection lessons) and fieldwork sessions (e.g., animal behaviour observations). During my second year, I was also an internship supervisor for a small group of students.

“On the links between curiosity and fitness in grey mouse lemurs”

The goal of the project is to investigate how grey mouse lemurs express curiosity, and how curiosity may benefit them in nature. The mouse lemurs are studied in Kirindy Forest, Madagascar, where we can measure their fitness and personality. Using personality tests, I will address e.g., what triggers information-seeking behaviour in mouse lemurs, and how they sample and learn from their world. On a physiological level, the brains of mouse lemurs closely resemble those of our primate ancestors. Thus, addressing such questions could help us understand if and how curiosity evolves.

As a researcher, I am interested in why animals behave the way they do and how they make decisions. An important component of this is the evolution of behaviour across generations, but also the ability of individuals to express behavioural flexibility during their lifetime. What motivates me the most in my work is observing animals in their natural habitats, so I feel most at home collecting data in the field. In the long term, I hope my research to contribute to understanding how animals perceive the world, and maybe to what extent they share consciousness with us.

• November, 2022 - Poster presentation "Territorial responses of magpies to alarm calls of conspecifics", Netherlands Society for Behavioural Biology, Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands