Overview
I have recently retired and am not taking on new students although I am continuing some research projects. I am interested in understanding the evolution of sociality, social structure, and the patterns of competition, cooperation and social bonds in animal species, including humans. Most of my work has focused on social mammals: lions and chimpanzees. For the last twenty five years I have worked almost exclusively on the long term Gombe chimpanzee project. I have gathered the data from this study into an archive, currently housed at Duke, and I oversee the computerization of systematically collected daily data, incorporating this and related material into a relational database. I also advise on the ongoing field study at Gombe. Combined analysis of the long-term data and focused new data collection in the field enables study of a wide variety of questions. Current projects in my research group include studies of female social relationships and female settlement patterns. We also participate in collaborative work with colleagues at a number of other institutions on studies of life history, personality, and health, including studying the natural history of SIVcpz.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Socially integrated female chimpanzees have lower offspring mortality
Preprint · May 2, 2025 Full text CiteTropical field stations yield high conservation return on investment
Journal Article Conservation Letters · March 1, 2024 Conservation funding is currently limited; cost-effective conservation solutions are essential. We suggest that the thousands of field stations worldwide can play key roles at the frontline of biodiversity conservation and have high intrinsic value. We ass ... Full text CiteReproductive inequality among males in the genus Pan.
Journal Article Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · August 2023 Reproductive inequality, or reproductive skew, drives natural selection, but has been difficult to assess, particularly for males in species with promiscuous mating and slow life histories, such as bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan trog ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
LTREB Renewal: Female Settlement Patterns and Social Relationships in Chimpanzees, a Male-Philopatric Species
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2016 - 2021Studies of the Precursor of the Human AIDS Virus in its Natural Chimpanzee Host
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Pennsylvania · 2015 - 2020The Benefits of Male Relationships in the Gombe Chimpanzees
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by L.S.B. Leakey Foundation · 2015 - 2017View All Grants