Publications

2026

Saccà, T., Protopapa, E., Jaeggi, A. V., & Forss, S. I. F (2026). Cognitive abilities show distinct developmental trajectories in wild meerkats. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 293(2078). Article Link

Sánchez-Amaro, A., Ebel van Wijk, S. J., Molenaar, C., Abuova, A., Mujica-Manrique, L., Leisterer-Peoples, S. M.,Forss. S. I. F… & Haun, D. B. (2026). EVApeCognition: an 18-year dataset of great ape cognition. Scientific data. Article Link

Barnes, P., Robira, B., Mercier, S., & Forss, S. I. F (2026). Behavioral flexibility and its drivers in semi-urban vervet monkeys. Behavioral Ecology, 37(4), arag070. Article Link

Bandini, E., Harrison, R., Hubresch, C. & Forss, S. I. F. (2026). A comparison of tool-use flexibility between captive chimpanzees and bonobos. Royal Society Open Sciences. Article link

Felsch, J., Mas-Carrió, E., Mercier, S., Schneider, J., Forss, S. I. F., van de Waal, E. and Fumagalli, L. (2026). Investigating anthropogenic and social influences on diet of semi-urban vervet monkeys using DNA metabarcoding. Ecology & Evolution. Article link

2024

Ellington, L., Mercier, S., Motes-Rodrigo, A., van de Waal, E., & Forss, S. I. F. (2024). Urbanization does not increase ‘object curiosity’in vervet monkeys, but semi-urban individuals selectively explore food related anthropogenic items. Current Zoology, zoae022. Article link

Forss, S. I. F., Ciria, A., Clark, F., Galusca, C., Harrison, D. & Lee, SA. (2024). A Transdisciplinary View on Curiosity Beyond Linguistic Humans: Animals, Infants, and Artificial Intelligence. Biological Reviews, Article Link

2023

Birchmeier, K., Johnson-Ulrich, L., & Forss, S. I. F. (2023). The role of umwelt in animal curiosity: A within and between species comparison of novelty exploration in mongooses. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 10(4), 329-354. Article Link

Postdoc publications

Forss, S. I. F. & Willems, E. P (2022). The curious case of great ape curiosity and how it is shaped by sociality. Ethology. Article link

Forss, S. I. F., Motes-Rodrigo, A., Dongre, P., Mohr, T., & van de Waal, E. (2021). Captivity and habituation to humans raise curiosity in vervet monkeys. Animal cognition, 1-12. Article Link

Forss, S., Motes-Rodrigo, A., Hrubesch, C., & Tennie, C. (2020). Chimpanzees’(Pan troglodytes) problem-solving skills are influenced by housing facility and captive care duration. PeerJ, 8, e10263. Article link

Forss, S. I. F., Motes-Rodrigo, A. & Tennie, C. (2019). Animal Behavior: Ape Curiosity on Camera. Current Biology. Article link

Forss, S. I. F., Motes-Rodrigo, A., Hrubesch, C. & Tennie, C. (2019). Differences in novel food response between Pongo and Pan. American Journal of Primatology. Article link

Carter, G., Forss, S. I. F., Page, R. & Ratcliffe, J. (2018) Younger vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) are more likely than adults to explore novel objects. PLOS ONE. Article link

Schuppli, C., Forss, S. I. F., Meulman, E., Utami Atmoko, S., van Noordwijk, M. & van Schaik, C. (November 2017) The effects of sociability on exploratory tendency and innovation repertoires in wild Sumatran and Bornean orangutans. Reports 7:15464. Article link

PhD Publications

Forss, S. I. F., Koski, S. E. & van Schaik, C. P. (August 2017) Explaining the paradox of neophobic explorers: the social information hypothesis. International Journal of Primatology. 1-24. Article link

van Schaik, C. P., Forss, S.I. F., & Damerius, L. A. (2017). How the origin of curiosity may have boosted hominin cultural evolution. Paper presented at the the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA), New Orleans, Louisiana. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Supplement, 64, 391.

Forss, S. I. F., Damerius, L. A., (shared 1st authorship) Kosonen, Z. K.; Willems, E.; Burkart, J. M.; Call, J.; Galdikas, B. M.; Liebal, K.; Haun, D. & van Schaik, C. P. (January 2017) Orientation toward humans predicts cognitive performance in orangutans. Scientific Reports. Article link

Schuppli, C., Forss, S. I. F., Meulman, E., Zweifel, N., Lee, K., van Noordwijk, M. A. & van Schaik, C. P. (2016) Development of foraging skills in two orangutan populations: needing to learn or needing to grow? Frontiers in Zoology.

Forss, S. I. F., Willems, E., Call, J. & van Schaik, C. P. (July 2016) Cultural differences between orang-utan species: a test of the cultural intelligence hypothesis. Scientific Reports 6: 30156.

Schuppli, C., Meulman, E., Forss, S. I. F., Aprilinayati, F., van Noordwijk, M. A. & van Schaik, C. P. (June 2016). Observational learning and socially induced practice of routine skills in wild immature orang-utans. Animal Behaviour.

van Schaik, C. P., Burkart, J., Damerius, L., Forss, S. I. F., Koops, K., van Noordwijk, M. A. & Schuppli, C. (February2016) The reluctant innovator: orang-utans and the phylogeny of creativity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences.

Forss, S. I. F., Schuppli, C., Haiden, D., Zweifel, N. & van Schaik, C. P. (June 2015) Contrasting responses to novelty by wild and captive orangutans. American Journal of Primatology.