Bonjour everyone!

My name is Bastien Clémot, I’m a 21-year-old Msc student, coming from France to learn more about scientific research and Arthropod behaviours! I will roam the lab corridors under Chrissie’s supervision till late June (Which is a quite short time, unfortunately). My primary objective here is to study the courtship and reproductive behaviours of nursery web spiders, but also to make some observations on Dolomedes dondalei, a species that everyone succeeds to find but me! (Love spiders and they’ll love you back, they said) Overall, I’m mainly interested in evolutionary and behavioural ecology in Arachnids, but also in applied modelisation.

Apart from my obvious passion and fascination for those cutey-crawlers (who said ‘creepy’?), I might be a blend of a nerd, enjoying fantasy worlds, writing, role-playing, coding, and video games; and a nature lover, always eager to go hiking, bouldering, making wildlife observations and naturalist drawings! But globally I think that it’s just an unexhaustive list, as I tend to have spontaneous interest in everything.

Coming to New Zealand is a huge adventure and step in my life. I’m truly enjoying discovering new habits and new ways of thinking, as much in science as in everyday life! Of course, as a proper tourist, I’m loving discovering Maori culture and New Zealand’s landscapes and environments. By the way, I should give an honourable mention to feijoas, which have been a revelation in my life and I think have claimed the top spot on my list of favourite fruits! (Is this excessive? No. Nothing is too much for feijoas)

Besides that, one of my nature lover objectives in New Zealand is to see a peripatus, which might not gonna happen, but wish me luck! In all cases, my plan here is mainly to go hiking everywhere and live my life in Hamilton, by taking all opportunities and having fun!

Anyway, you’ll most likely find me between my desk and the lab, where I feed my beloved spiders. So don’t hesitate to have a talk with me! 😉