Life in the Savanna

Dr. Jill Pruetz is an assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State specializing in biological anthropology. As a primatologist, Pruetz has studied the behavior of nonhuman primates, such as chimpanzees, spider monkeys, howling monkeys, tamarins, patas monkeys, and vervets. She has conducted fieldwork in Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Kenya, and Senegal. Pruetz is especially interested in the influence of ecology on primate and early human feeding, ranging, and social behavior. She currently has a research project in southeastern Senegal that has been funded by National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation. The goal of this ongoing project is to study chimps in a habitat similar to that of early hominids. The Spring 2007 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Lecture.