My path to primatology: some stories from the field

Abstract

In this paper, I summarize the major facets of my 50-year career as a primatologist. I briefly describe the aspects of my upbringing and early education that led me to the study of primate behavior, first in captive settings and, later, in the wild. My research on the Arashiyama West Japanese macaques and my interactions with Japanese primatologists was a formative stage in my career, and I present the background of this international project and how it led to my growing focus on female life history studies. After a couple of failed attempts to establish a long-term study of primates in their native habitats, I began the Santa Rosa Primate Project in Costa Rica in 1983, which focuses mainly on white-faced capuchins, and to some extent on howlers and spider monkeys. The Santa Rosa project has expanded over the past four decades and continues to this day, with the participation of a large team of colleagues, local field assistants and students. I present some of the major findings of our Santa Rosa monkey research in the areas of female reproduction, sexual conflict and conservation of primates in a regenerat- ing tropical dry forest. I also briefly describe how and why I came to develop a sideline of research on gender and science.