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Phone: (612) 625-5700
Fax: (612) 624-6777
Email: wiggins@umn.edu

University of Minnesota
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
100 Ecology Building
1987 Upper Buford Circle
St. Paul, MN 55108

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Anne E. Pusey

Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Distinguished McKnight University Professor
Director, Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies

PhD., Stanford University, 1977

Contact Information

Phone: 612-625-5727
Fax: 612-624-6777
E-mail: pusey001@umn.edu

Graduate Faculty Memberships

Ecology, Evolution and Behavior; Conservation Biology

Research Interests

Behavioral ecology; parent-offspring interaction; sex differences in development; dispersal patterns; mating systems.

Statement

I have watched animals since I was a child, and have spent much of my career studying complex social mammals. I studied juvenile and adolescent development in the Gombe chimpanzeess in the 1970s, then spent more than 10 years studying the social behavior of lions in the Serengeti. Now I am Director of the Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota which houses data on chimpanzees and baboons. In collaboration with the Computer Science Department, my research group is computerizing and analyzing the data from Jane Goodall's 46-year study of the Gombe chimpanzees. We are using sophisticated programs for database management, data visualization, and GIS. We are also providing input and guidance to the ongoing research at Gombe, and have graduate students working at Gombe. Work is underway to determine genetic relationships in chimpanzees from DNA extracted from dung and hair.

I am interested in the ecological determinants of social systems, dispersal patterns, the factors that cause animals to live in different kinds of groups, and the benefits animals derive from the particular relationships they form. Besides those working on the chimpanzee project, my students have studied territoriality and dispersal in red squirrels, the mating system of Cape ground squirrels, grouping patterns in pallid bats, and the role of howls in assessment by black howler monkeys. However, I am now focused entirely on the chimpanzee project. I enjoy working with students and greatly value my interactive and supportive research group.

Selected Publications
Pusey, A.E. 1990. Behavioural changes at adolescence in chimpanzees. Behaviour 115:203- 246.

Pusey, A.E. and C. Packer. 1994. Non-offspring nursing in social carnivores; minimizing the costs. Behav. Ecol. 5:362-374.

Pusey, A.E. and M. Wolf. 1996. Inbreeding avoidance in animals. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11: 201-206.

Lewis, S. and A.E. Pusey. 1996. Factors influencing the occurrence of communal care in plural breeders. In J. French and N. Solomon, eds. Cooperative breeding in mammals. Cambridge University Press.

Pusey, A.E. and C. Packer. 1997. The ecology of relationships. In J. Krebs and N.B. Davies, eds. Behavioural Ecology. Fourth Edition. Blackwell, Oxford.

Pusey, A.E., J. Williams, J. Goodall. 1997. The influence of dominance rank on the reproductive success of female chimpanzees. Science 277:828-831.

Pusey, A.E. Of Apes and Genes. 2001. In: F.B.M. de Waal (ed.), Tree of Origin. Harvard University Press.

Constable, J., Ashley, M., Goodall, J. & Pusey, A. 2001. Noninvasive paternity assignment in Gombe chimpanzees. Molec. Ecol. 10:1279-1300.

Hill, K., Goodall, J, Pusey, A., Williams, J., Boesch, C., Boesch, H., & Wrangham, R.W. 2001. Chimpanzee mortality in the wild. Journal of Human Evolution. 40:437-450.

Williams, J.M., Pusey, A.E., Carlis, J.V., Farm, B. & Goodall,J. 2002. Female competition and male territorial behaviour influence female chimpanzees' ranging patterns. Anim. Behav. 63:347-360.

Williams, J. M., Liu, H., & Pusey, A. E. 2002. Costs and benefits of grouping for female chimpanzees at Gombe. In: Behavioural Diversity in Chimpanzees and Bonobos. (Ed. by Boesch, C., Hohmann, G., & Marchant, L.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lonsdorf, E.V., Eberly, L.E., & Pusey, A.E. 2004. Sex differences in learning in chimpanzees. Nature, 428: 715-16

Wilson, M., Wallauer, W.R., Pusey, A.E. 2004. New cases of intergroup violence among the chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. International Journal of Primatology, 25:523-549

Pusey, A.E. Inbreeding avoidance in primates. 2004. In: "Incest, Inbreeding and the Incest Taboo", (ed. A.P. Wolf and W.H. Durham). Stanford University Press, Stanford. pp.61-75.

Williams, J.M, Oehlert, G.W., Carlis, J.V. & Pusey, A.E. 2004. Why do male chimpanzees defend a group range? Animal Behaviour 68:523-532.

Pusey, A.E., Oehlert, G.W, Williams, J.M., & Goodall, J. 2005. The influence of ecological and social factors on body mass of wild chimpanzees. International Journal of Primatology, 26: 3-31.

Gilby, I.C., Eberly, L.E., Pintea, L., and Pusey, A.E. 2006. Ecological and social influences on the hunting behaviour of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). Animal Behaviour. 72:169-180

Additional Links
Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies