Studying at the Life Sciences Research Center of National Tsing Hua University, Liu's interest in crabs extends beyond a search for the secrets of man's development. When he was in college, he had already become greatly interested in animal behavior. He climbed mountains and delved into the sea with researchers of fish and plants and selected crabs as his own long-term target for observation.
在清大生命科學研究所就讀的劉烘昌，卻不只為解開生命之謎而研究螃蟹；大學時，他已開始對生物行為產生興趣，曾跟著魚類與植物學者上山、下海做調查，更選擇螃蟹做為自己長期的觀察對象。