Toshitaka N Suzuki
Tinbergen Lecture 2025
Toshitaka Suzuki is an Associate Professor in the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. He gained his PhD from Rikkyo University, followed by postdoctoral positions and fellowships at the University of Kyoto, SOKENDAI (Graduate University for Advanced Studies) and University of Tokyo. As founder of the world’s first “animal linguistics” laboratory, he integrates animal behavior, linguistics, and cognitive science to explore how non‑human animals communicate—and what this may reveal about the evolution of human language. Suzuki is best known for his groundbreaking work on the Japanese tit (Paridae), showing that their calls convey discrete meanings and exhibit compositional structure, fundamentally challenging assumptions about human uniqueness. For his groundbreaking research, he has won awards from the Japan Ethological Society, the Ecological Society of Japan and the Ornithological Society of Japan.