Dr. Oliver Höner

Senior scientist

Department of Evolutionary Ecology

Tel: 0049 (0) 30 5168 516
E-Mail: hoener@izw-berlin.de

Short curriculum vitae

Oliver Höner studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, and graduated with a study on free-ranging red colobus and diana monkeys. He did his doctoral thesis at the University of Berne, Switzerland, and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiologie in Seewiesen, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Heribert Hofer and Prof. Heinz Richner. He graduated in 2001 with a study on free-ranging spotted hyenas. After a short postdoc period at the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin, Germany, he moved to the Leibniz-IZW as a scientist where he also is the head of the Ngorongoro Hyena Project. Since 2007 he also works as the red list authority of the IUCN/SSC Hyaena Specialist Group and he is a scientific advisor to the Tanzanian authorities Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority.

Download detailed curriculum vitae (281.6 KiB)

Projects
Research interests
  • Mate choice
  • Sexual selection
  • Dispersal
  • Cultural evolution
  • Human-carnivore conflict
Selected publications

Davidian E, Wachter B, Heckmann I, Dehnhard M, Hofer H, Höner OP (2021): The interplay between social rank, physiological constraints and investment in courtship in male spotted hyenas. FUNCT ECOL 35, 635–649. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13733

Vullioud C*, Davidian E*, Wachter B, Rousset F, Courtiol A, Höner OP (2019) Social support drives female dominance in the spotted hyaena. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 71-76. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0718-9. *co-first author

Davidian E, Courtiol A, Wachter B, Hofer H, Höner OP (2016) Why do some males choose to breed at home when most other males disperse? Science Advances 2: e1501236. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501236

Davidian E*, Benhaiem S*, Courtiol A, Hofer H, Höner OP, Dehnhard M (2015) Determining hormone metabolite concentrations when enzyme immunoassay accuracy varies over time. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 6(5): 576-583. doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12338. *co-first author

Höner OP, Wachter B, Goller KV, Hofer H, Runyoro V, Thierer D, Fyumagwa RD, Müller T, East ML (2012) The impact of a pathogenic bacterium on a social carnivore population. Journal of Animal Ecology 81(1): 36-46. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01873.x.

Höner OP, Wachter B, Hofer H, Wilhelm K, Thierer D, Trillmich F, Burke T, East ML (2010) The fitness of dispersing spotted hyaena sons is influenced by maternal social status. Nature Communications 1: 60. doi:10.1038/ncomms1059.

Höner OP, Wachter B, East ML, Streich WJ, Wilhelm K, Burke T, Hofer H (2007) Female mate-choice drives the evolution of male-biased dispersal in a social mammal. Nature 448(7155): 798-801. doi:10.1038/nature06040.

Höner OP, Wachter B, East ML, Runyoro VA, Hofer H (2005) The effect of prey abundance and foraging tactics on the population dynamics of a social, territorial carnivore, the spotted hyena. Oikos 108(3): 544-554. doi:10.1111/j.0030-1299.2005.13533.x.

Höner OP, Wachter B, Hofer H, East ML (2002) The response of spotted hyenas to long-term changes in prey populations: functional response and interspecific kleptoparasitism. Journal of Animal Ecology 71(2): 236-246. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2002.00596.x