PhD Candidate in animal behaviour: Wild eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) responses to the dry, open, and arid environment of the Issa valley, western Tanzania and to its extensive seasonal variation in resource availability.

My PhD research is investigating how a community of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) adapt to the dry, open, and highly seasonal environment of the Issa valley, western Tanzania. More precisely, my project will establish chimpanzee responses to periods of resource scarcity by examining season-specific changes in diet, physiology, sociality and ranging. All investigations are taking place at the long-term field site of Issa valley where I collect chimpanzee food items for later analysis of their nutritional content, collect chimpanzee urine for later quantification of urinary C-peptides, and follow chimpanzees to document social and ranging patterns across seasons.
Two primary objectives drive this project (1) redress profound and longstanding biases in our knowledge of chimpanzee species by studying a population living in a marginal environment (2) infer early hominin adaptations to a similar environment and provide testable hypotheses to paleoanthropologists.

Languages

English
French
Spanish; Castilian
Swahili