Savanna Chimpanzees and Our Understanding of Human Evolution

Speaker: 
Jill Pruetz
 
02 Mar 2009
 
8:00 PM
 
Sun Room, Memorial Union

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Jill Pruetz is a primatologist studying the behavior of nonhuman primates, such as chimpanzees, spider monkeys, howling monkeys, and tamarins. She is especially interested in the influence of ecology on the feeding, ranging, and social behaviors of primates and early humans. She has conducted fieldwork in such countries as Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Kenya and was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer for 2008. Her current work with the Fongoli chimpanzees in southeastern Senegal has been featured in National Geographic magazine and in the PBS Nova documentary "Ape Genius." Pruetz has been involved in teaching and conservation in the neotropics as cofounder of the nonprofit organization DANTA (Costa Rica), and she recently founded Neighbor Ape, a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of chimpanzees in Senegal. She is an associate professor of anthropology at Iowa State, specializing in biological anthropology. A reception and display of student research will precede the lecture at 7:00 p.m. in the South Ballroom. The Spring 2009 Presidential University Lecture.

Some 6 million years ago, apes began moving from the canopy of Africa’s tropical rainforest to the harsh climate of the open savanna, where they were forced to adapt to a strikingly new habitat. Jill Pruetz will discuss how studying the behavior of savanna chimps living today helps inform human evolution, in particular how our earliest ancestors responded to environmental pressures. The Presidential University Lecture Series highlights faculty excellence in learning, discovery and engagement. Iowa State faculty members are chosen by the university president to present lectures from their areas of expertise on topics of interest to students, faculty, staff and general public. This lecture series is organized by the Office of the President with funding from the Miller Endowment, Inc., established through the generosity of the late E. Wendell Miller, and the Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).