Lucia Bruscagnin

I completed my B.Sc. in Biological Sciences (110/110 cum laude) at the University of Padua, Italy, in July 2022. After this, I moved to Germany for my M.Sc. in Evolution, Ecology, and Systematics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), graduating in February 2025.

During my master’s, I became increasingly interested in animal behaviour, particularly primates, following a group project on preferred affiliates in juvenile Sumatran orangutans at Hellabrunn Zoo (Munich). This experience motivated me to pursue a master’s thesis focused on primate behaviour, which led me to the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, where I investigated neophobia and neophilia in island-living capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator).

Selective Attention and Information Acquisition in Wild Assamese Macaques

This project investigates how wild Assamese macaques acquire social and ecological information. Using selective attention as a behavioural proxy for information acquisition, it examines how individuals allocate attention to different types of events in their environment. The goal is to understand patterns of selective attention and their relevance for behaviour and decision-making in a complex social and ecological setting.

I investigate how animals acquire and use social and ecological information in their natural environments, driven by a strong passion for fieldwork and data collection on wild primates. In particular, I focus on curiosity and information-seeking behaviour, operationalised through selective attention to relevant events. I am especially interested in how individuals allocate attention, how this varies across age, sex, social rank, and social context, and how this information is used to guide decision-making and its potential consequences for fitness.

• Ben Mocha, Y., Woith, M., Scemama de Gialluly, S., Bruscagnin, L., Kestel, N., Markman, S., ... & Griesser, M. (2025). An integrative, peer‐reviewed and open‐source cooperative‐breeding database (Co‐BreeD). Journal of Animal Ecology, 94(12), 2597-2614.

• February 2026 – Wild tool-using white-faced capuchins show lower neophobia and higher neophilia than their non-tool-using neighbors. Culture Conference, Utrecht.
• October 2024 – Novelty responses towards camera traps in tool- and non-tool-using white-faced capuchin monkeys. LMU Biology student poster competition
• May 2025 until October 2025 – Field assistant, behavioural data collection on wild Sumatran orangutans, SUAQ Project, Indonesia
• April 2024 until December 2024 – Collaboration on comparative database of alloparental care in mammals and birds, CoBreeD Project