Caroline Schuppli

Dr. Caroline Schuppli is a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz and a Freigeist Fellow by the Volkswagen Foundation. She serves as IMPRS QBEE faculty, Adjunct Researcher at the University of Zürich, and Director of the SUAQ Orangutan Research Project in Indonesia since 2017. Her work bridges evolutionary biology and cognitive ecology through longitudinal studies of Sumatran orangutans.

• Education:
  • PhD in Evolutionary Biology (2012-2016), University of Zürich
  • MSc in Anthropology (2010-2012), University of Zürich
  • BSc in Biology (2007-2010), University of Zürich

Her research investigates how social learning, environmental complexity, and maternal behavior shape cognitive evolution in great apes. Key themes include:

• Comparative analyses of wild vs. captive orangutan cognition
• Development of ecological skills and cultural repertoires
• Role of curiosity and innovation in cognitive evolution
• Interplay between life history and brain size trade-offs

Recent publications emphasize nested skill acquisition, maternal behavior plasticity, and cross-taxa comparisons of social learning mechanisms. She has mentored PhD candidates like Nora Slania, Adriana Luna, and Emma Lokuciejewski.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Freigeist Fellowship (2021)
  • Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Funding (2019-2020)

As President of the SUAQ Foundation and collaborator with institutions across Switzerland and Germany, she integrates fieldwork at Suaq Balimbing with global comparative frameworks.