Browsing by Department "Evolutionary Anthropology"
Now showing items 21-39 of 39
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Ontogeny of Lower Limb Morphology and Proportions in the Dinaledi Hominins
(2015)The discovery of hundreds of fossil hominin remains from the Dinaledi Chamber of Rising Star cave in South Africa included dozens of immature elements attributed to multiple individuals. Some of these elements are amongst ... -
Predicting Locomotion with the Radius: A study of Functional Morphology of the Radius in Apes and Monkeys
(2017-05-07)Comparison between suspensory, arboreal and terrestrial locomotion in primate locomotion has been extensively researched with heavy emphasis on the morphology of the forelimb. Most morphological studies of the forelimb focus ... -
Predictors, Costs, and Consequences of Larval Tapeworm Infection in Geladas (Theropithecus gelada).
(2017)Parasitism is integral to primate evolution, contributing to major life history tradeoffs with other processes critical to reproductive success and survival. I investigate how infection with the tapeworm Taenia serialis ... -
Scaling Patterns and Ecological Correlates of Postcranial Skeletal Robusticity in Canis and Ursus: Implications for Human Evolution
(2009)There has been a trend toward decreasing skeletal robusticity in the genus Homo throughout the Pleistocene, culminating in the gracile postcrania of living modern humans. This change is typically attributed to changing ... -
Sexual Selection in Mantled Howling Monkeys (Alouatta palliata), With an Emphasis on the Role of Female Mate Choice
(2010)Despite early neglect, recent studies of sexual selection have shown a renewed interest in female reproductive strategies. Clearly the traditional portrayal of female animals as passive participants in mating is incorrect, ... -
Social Decision-Making in Bonobos and Chimpanzees
(2016)Humans are natural politicians. We obsessively collect social information that is both observable (e.g., about third-party relationships) and unobservable (e.g., about others’ psychological states), and we strategically ... -
The Bent Hip and Bent Knee Gait and its Possible Role in the Evolution of Modern Human Bipedalism
(2010)The relatively stiff gait of modern humans minimizes the muscular work done to move the lower limbs and the center of mass. Nonhuman primates, and perhaps our earliest ancestors, use a form of bipedalism in which the hip ... -
The effects of age on behavioral thermoregulation in Lemur catta and Propithecus coquereli
(2014-05-09)Older mammals experience a decrease in physiological function that impairs their ability to internally regulate body temperature. Behavioral mechanisms can be used to alleviate thermal stress on the body, and thus could ... -
The Effects of Habitat Parameters on the Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation of the Udzungwa Red Colobus Monkey (Procolobus gordonorum)
(2012)A central theme in animal ecology is the study of the relationship between ecology and behavior. This dissertation demonstrates how ecological parameters, particularly food and weather variables, correlate with ranging, ... -
The Evolution of Extended Sexual Receptivity in Chimpanzees: Variation, Male-Female Associations, and Hormonal Correlates
(2016)Sexual conflict occurs when female and male fitness interests diverge. In a social system characterized by aggressive sexual coercion and the risk of infanticide, female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) respond to this conflict ... -
The evolution of transitive inference: Chimpanzees’ performance with social and nonsocial stimuli
(2014-05-16)A number of theories posit various social and nonsocial factors as the central drivers of the evolution of intelligence. Cognitive skills, such as transitive interference, that have important implications in both the social ... -
The Foraging Ecology of the Delacour's langur (Trachypithecus delacouri) in Van Long Nature Reserve, Vietnam
(2010)Delacour's langurs (<italic>Trachypithecus delacouri</italic>), one of the six limestone langur taxa of Southeast Asia, inhabit isolated, rugged limestone karst mountains in Northern Vietnam, although the reason for their ... -
The Origin of Prosociality Toward Strangers
(2013)Humans are champions of prosociality. Across different cultures and early in life, humans routinely engage in prosocial behaviors that benefit others. Perhaps most strikingly, humans are even prosocial toward strangers (i.e. ... -
The Psychology and Evolution of Foraging Skills in Primates
(2012)Primates in the wild face complex foraging decisions where they must assess the most valuable of different potential resources to exploit, as well recall the location of options that can be widely distributed. While differences ... -
The role of binocular vision in primate locomotion.
(AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 2006) -
The Social and Reproductive Behavior of Male Chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania
(2017)This dissertation presents three studies of the social and reproductive behavior and social structure of male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. I. In many species of non-human ... -
To the Sticking Point: The Effectiveness of Tip Cross-Sectional Area versus Perimeter in Identifying Potential Lithic Armatures.
(2017-05-21)Killing prey from a distance using complex projectile weapons is a behavior unique to Homo sapiens. The archeological remnants of these weapons are mostly limited to their lithic points, as their organic components have ... -
Water Scarcity, Distribution, and Quality as Drivers of Lemur Behavior
(2019)Because water is essential for life, when it is scarce, it may be one of the most important drivers of animal behavior. Despite its clear importance, water is relatively poorly studied in terms of its impact on primate behavior, ... -
What Makes Our Minds Human? Comparative Phylogenetic Perspectives on the Evolution of Cognition
(2012)What makes our minds human? How did they evolve to be this way? This dissertation presents data from two complementary lines of research driven by these orienting questions. The first of these explores the `what' of human ...
