People

KCP Directors

Richard Wrangham (PhD, Cambridge University, 1975) is Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and founded the Kibale Chimpanzee Project in 1987. He has conducted extensive research on primate ecology, nutrition, and social behavior. He is best known for his work on the evolution of human warfare and human aggression, described in the books Demonic Males and more recently in The Goodness Paradox. He has also written extensively on the role of cooking in human evolution, described in the book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Together with Elizabeth Ross, he co-founded the Kasiisi Project in 1997, and serves as a patron of the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP).

Martin N. Muller (PhD, University of Southern California, 2002) is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. He has worked with KCP since 1996, serving as co-Director since 2004. His research focuses on the relationship between ecology, physiology, and behavior in chimpanzees and humans. He has published extensively on the causes and consequences of aggressive behavior in chimpanzees, and co-directs the Comparative Human and Primate Physiology Center at UNM.

Melissa Emery Thompson (PhD, Harvard University, 2005) is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico and has worked with KCP since 2000. Her research focuses on hormone-behavior interactions and life history variation in chimpanzees and other apes. She co-directs the Comparative Human and Primate Physiology Center at UNM where she coordinates KCP’s physiology and health research programs.

Zarin Machanda (PhD, Harvard University, 2009) is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Biology at Tufts University and has worked with KCP since 2005. Her research focuses on the evolution of male-female social relationships in primates, examining the function of such relationships and how they are formed and maintained. Machanda coordinates the long-term KCP database and archive and serves on the board of directors for the Kasiisi Project.

Senior Collaborators

Katie Slocombe (PhD, University of St. Andrews, 2005) is a Professor at the University of York. Her research focuses on vocal communication in chimpanzees and how this can inform the understanding of the evolution of human language. She oversees research on communication and social cognition at KCP.

Alexandra Rosati (PhD, Duke University, 2012) is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. She collaborates with the KCP team on studies of chimpanzee behavior, health, and aging. Her research focuses on the evolution and development of cognition and behavior across primate species.

Sherry Nelson (PhD, Harvard University, 2002) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. She uses stable isotopes to quantify aspects of chimpanzee ecology for comparison to the fossil record. She is also the curator of the KCP skeletal collection, comprising known chimpanzee individuals as well as remains found opportunistically from 20 Kibale species.

Tony Goldberg (PhD, Harvard University 1996, DVM University of Illinois 2000) is a disease ecologist, veterinarian, and primatologist and directs the Kibale EcoHealth Project. He has worked with KCP for many years, studying the origins and consequences of infectious diseases in the chimpanzees of Kibale, as well as helping KCP craft best practices to help keep chimps healthy and safe.

Conservation Team

Jessica Hartel (PhD, University of Southern California) is a Lecturer in the Department of Biology at the University of North Georgia and the Director of the Kibale Snare Removal Program. She coordinates the conservation activities of the snare removal team along with fundraising activities, needs assessment, and data collection.

Elizabeth Ross (PhD, Edinburgh University) founded the Kasiisi Project in 1997 to provide educational resources to schools surrounding the Kibale National Park in Uganda. She is currently the Executive Director of the Kasiisi Project and has greatly expanded the programs of the Kasiisi Project to include scholarships, literacy programs, teacher training, nutrition programs, health education, conservation education, and sustainable energy programs.

Post-docs and Research Associates

Kris Sabbi (PhD, University of New Mexico, 2020) is an NSF-funded postdoctoral researcher working on our project to establish chimpanzees as a referential model for better understanding the evolution of human leadership. Her specific interests probe the development of chimpanzee sociality, including individual differences in social style and hormonal influences on aggressive development.

Cloud Wilke (PhD, University of York, UK), spent several months at Kanyawara, collecting data for her PhD dissertation, between 2013-2015, and is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher on a comparative project on joint attention with Prof Katie Slocombe’s lab.

Students

Graduate Students

Stephanie Fox (University of New Mexico) studies the constraints and benefits shaping social relationships among adult females in Kanyawara. She has a masters degree from the University of Calgary where she studied black and white colobus monkeys. You can follow her on instagram @stephanielookingup and twitter @sfox12.

Megan Cole (University of New Mexico). Megan integrates behavioral and hormonal data to investigate the paths to social influence in wild chimpanzees. Her research is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the University of New Mexico. You can follow her on twitter @megan_f_cole.

John Lower (University of New Mexico) was the KCP photographer from 2017-18, and is currently interested in the interactions between chimpanzee physiology and behavior related to dominance, aggression, and cooperation.

Jillian Rutherford (University of New Mexico) has a research focus at the intersection of chimpanzee movement ecology and geospatial big data. She hopes to use advances in geographic technology to answer questions about how chimpanzees relate to their spatial environments.

Undergraduates

Isabelle Monroe (University of New Mexico) studies juvenile chimpanzee play behavior in hopes to better understand how chimpanzees learn to navigate a highly social environment from a young age. She is also interested in conservation biology and ecology.

Charlie MacKenzie (Tufts University) is from New York City. She works with the tool use and play data of the Kanyawara chimps.

Field Team

Emily Otali (PhD, Makerere University) is the Field Director of the Kibale Chimpanzee Project, directing the daily activities of the field team and long-term data collection. In this capacity, Emily also oversees the snare removal program and serves as Field Director of the Kasiisi Project. Emily has spent more than two decades in Kanyawara, beginning with her dissertation research on chimpanzee mother-infant behavior.

Margaret Kobusingye (MSc, Makerere University) is the Assistant Field Manager of KCP. Her masters research focused on the spatial distribution of poachers’ snares in Kanyawara.

Patrick Okello (BVM, Makerere University) is a wildlife veterinarian who has worked with primates, carnivores, and herbivores in the Ugandan national parks. He is currently pursuing an MSc in International Animal Health through the University of Edinburgh and has interests in wildlife medicine, wildlife conservation, and wildlife disease ecology.

Nathan Mweru (BVM, MVPM, Makerere University) is a wildlife veterinarian who has worked with chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest Reserve, gorillas in Bwindi National Park, and rhinos at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. He has expertise in community conservation programs and is interested in disease surveillance and outbreak investigations at the human-wildlife interface.

Kibale Chimpanzee Project Field Team: Wilberforce Tweheyo, James Kyomuhendo, Seezi Atwijuze, Fred Baguma, Bashil Musabe, Steven Alio.

Kibale Snare Removal Project Field Team: Kamugisha Evaristo, Bamwende Solomon, Nyesiga Godi, Opio George, Mujuni Simon, Abimanyire Patrick, Nasasira Miracle, Katuleebe Herbert, Ategeka Thomas, Kusiima Augustine.

Recent Graduates and Project Alumni

Drew Enigk (PhD, University of New Mexico, 2021). Drew studied adolescent male chimpanzees and how they adapt to the adult social world. He is currently Institutional Giving Coordinator at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ.

Moreen Uwimbabazi (PhD, Makerere University, 2019). Moreen studied the nutritional ecology of female chimpanzees at Kanyawara and was a Leakey Foundation Baldwin Fellow.

Erik Scully (PhD, Harvard University, 2018). Erik studied the dynamics of disease transmission within and between chimpanzee groups.

Jessica Hartel (PhD, University of Southern California, 2015). Social dynamics of intragroup aggression and conflict resolution in wild chimpanzees.

Pawel Fedurek (PhD, University of York, 2013). Male chimpanzee vocal interactions and social bonds. Currently a lecturer in psychology at the University of Stirling.

Julie Rushmore (PhD, University of Georgia, 2013). Social and ecological drivers of pathogen transmission dynamics in East African great apes. Currently at the US CDC.

Alexander Georgiev (PhD, Harvard University, 2012). Energetic costs of reproductive effort in male chimpanzees. Currently a lecturer in biology at Bangor University, Wales.

Sonya Kahlenberg (PhD, Harvard University, 2006). Female-female competition and male sexual coercion in Kanyawara chimpanzees.

Paco Bertolani (PhD, University of Cambridge).

Nick Brazeau (Harvard University Fulbright Scholar). Nick has MD/PhD Student at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. developed our photogrammetry program, using parallel laser photography to non-invasively assess body growth in wild chimpanzees. Currently an MD/PhD student at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.