Download Richard Wrangham

RICHARD WRANGHAM
Richard Wrangham is the Ruth Moore Professor of Anthropology at and Chair of Biological
Anthropology at Harvard University and is an honorary lecturer at Makerere University, Kampala.
Professor Wrangham received a Ph.D. in Zoology from Cambridge University, where he studied under
the renowned ethologist Robert Hinde. He served as a faculty member in departments of Anthropology,
Psychology and Biology at several universities including Bristol University, Stanford University, King’s
College Cambridge and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
For several decades, Professor Wrangham has studied primates in the wild including several species of
baboon and Vervet monkeys but his work on the ecological and behavior comparisons of chimpanzees
and humans has been his greatest contribution to the animal behavior literature. His insights into the
cultural similarities between humans and chimpanzees—including our unique tendencies to form
murderous alliances and engage in recreational sexual activity—has had profound affects on how
scientists analyze primate behavior, non-human and human alike. In addition to his exhaustive peerreviewed journal publications, as author of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence,
Chimpanzee Cultures, and as co-editor of Primate Societies, Professor Wrangham’s important
observations and theoretical contributions to the field of primate sociobehavior are covered in a variety
of works, which range from the textbook to popular science manual.
In recent years, Professor Wrangham has been named as a trustee to several important primatological
research organizations, including the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the Jane Goodall Institute and is Chair
of the Great Ape World Heritage Species Project. He is the current president of the International
Primatological Society and his most recent awards and fellowships include the Baron-von-Swaine
Award (University of Würzburg, 2000), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow (1993), Royal
Anthropological Institute, Rivers Medal (1993).