Modern humans and other primates
Modern humans and other primates
Modern humans
We must... acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system–with all these exalted powers–Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man
Natural selection has not only formed our anatomy, but it has also molded our social behavior. CHES faculty and students are engaged in research that seeks to understand the adaptive meaning of some of the most common but perplexing aspects of human behavioral biology, including mate choice, altruism, self-deception, romantic attraction, and military organization. The interdisciplinary research combines observations of social interactions with studies of genetics, anatomy and the physiology of the human body and brain.
Non human primates
When we confine our attention to any one form, we are deprived of the weighty arguments derived from the nature of affinities which connect together whole groups of organisms.Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man
Monkeys and apes, our closes living relatives, provide essential clues about the origin and nature of human behavior. Nonhuman primates at once alert us to the many, often uncanny similarities between humans and other animals, and the behaviors that define human distinctiveness. Studies of monkeys and apes in their natural settings in particular help us to model the ecological and social circumstances under which novel human behaviors arose.
CHES primatologists are conducting field studies of monkeys and apes to learn more about the roots of human social behavior by examining the variety of ways in which these relatively large-bodied, brainy and omnivorous mammals can make a living. The world of our researchers is also central to the conservation of our closest relatives and their natural habitats, many of which are threatened by human encroachment.
Faculty
Graduate students
- Rolando de Aguiar
- Emily Aronoff
- Frank Batiste
- Lisa Danish
- Bria Dunham
- Drew Gerkey
- Nancy Moinde
- Luca Morino
- Sarah Schaefer
- Montserrat Soler
- Angela VanRooy
- Helen Wasielewski