Wild Apes: Insights for Human Origins

Alex received his BA in Animal Behavior from Bucknell University (2001), his MA in Anthropology from Iowa State University (2004), and his PhD from UCSD (2014). He has studied endangered teal in Madagascar, wild chimpanzees in Fongoli, Senegal, and blue monkeys in Kakamega Forest, western Kenya. He is currently a lecturer in Animal Behaviour at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, and directs the Greater Mahale Ecosystem Research and Conservation Project (GMERC) in Tanzania. When not at LJMU, he spends his time in western Tanzania where he studies primate adaptation to dry, open habitats and specifically, vocalization behaviour in chimpanzees and red-tailed monkeys. With Fiona Stewart, he oversees broader, landscape wide censuses and monitoring of priority chimpanzee habitat for conservation planners.

Tracy Kivell is a paleoanthropologist whose research focuses on the evolution of the skeleton in living and fossil primates, including our human ancestors (hominins), to further our understanding of the evolution bipedal locomotion, manipulation and tool use throughout our evolutionary history. Tracy aims to better understand the relationship between bone shape and function through analyses of ontogeny (development), internal (trabecular and cortical) bone structure, and the biomechanics of primate locomotion.