Primate Biology & Ecology
University of Wisconsin-Madison has a long history of primate study, and this tradition continues both within and outside of Anthropology. Within anthropology, my research and teaching foci are in the nutritional and community ecology of African monkeys and apes, while Professor Strier's (recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences) work focuses on the interactions among social and reproductive behavior, hormones, life history and ecology in Neotropical primates, particularly the highly endangered muriqui (Brachyteles arachnoides).
The study of primates takes place across campus, however. Indeed, this is an exceptionally interactive campus, with numerous interdisciplinary interactions that students greatly benefit from. For example, many of our students in anthropology interact with and/or have graduate committees comprising scholars from a diversity of disciplines, including Psychology (Drs Chuck Snowdon and Chris Coe), and members of the faculty of the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC, Directed by Dr. Joseph Kemnitz), including Drs Toni Ziegler and David Abbott. The University of Wisconsin and WNPRC is also home to the Lawrence Jacobson Primate Library, manages the Primate Information Network, and curates the Primate Literature Database. Greatly strengthening our program in primate studies is the fact that the UW-Madison has had a long and illustrious history of scholarship in wildlife ecology, conservation biology, animal science, environmental studies, and zoology; again, this tradition continues and there are a number of courses available to students that are of direct relevance to the ecology, behavior, and evolution of primates and other mammals.