About me

I am an animal behavioral ecologist/technologist and a storyteller. I design computer vision and AI models to study wild animals and share stories collected during the fieldwork through my drawings and public performances. My mission is to explore the wildlife around the globe with curious individuals.

As a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, I study how animals make decisions — who they choose as mates, how they navigate social hierarchies, how they move through the world. I lead Project MELA (Mating Ecology of a Lek-breeding Antelope), investigating the mating ecology of blackbucks, and work across a remarkable range of species including Siberian jays, olive baboons, pigeons, Capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees. My expertise is using cutting edge technologies such as computer vision, AI and virtual reality (VR) with multi-modal sensors (cameras, acoustic, GPS) for large-scale behavior tracking of wild animals.

Fieldwork gave me something I didn't expect: stories. Stories of animals and the people who live alongside them. That's where my art comes in. Through sketches and oral storytelling, I capture the relationships between humans and wildlife that data alone cannot capture. For me, building a relationship with nature has been a life changing journey (more in the stories section) and I am keen to explore stories of other people. I collaborate with artists, writers and musicians to find new ways to talk about nature and wildlife.

I believe science without communication is incomplete. I work to close that gap — through research, through education, and through art.