Evolutionary origins and proximate mechanisms of parenting in complex social systems

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This Fellowship award to Lincoln Park Zoo (LPZ) provides a unique venue to engage the public in research and conservation. The project also facilitates conservation and science education in schools. The Fellow gives talks at grade schools, focusing on how apes help us understand human behavior, plus threats apes face in the wild and how to help. This research is dominated by women and underrepresented minorities, providing students with visible role models as they view presentations. As a field scientist the Fellow helps students understand the breadth of scientific inquiry, an important component of early science education. This research also supports scientific training and conservation education of Rwandan nationals, who work as lab personnel and research assistants. Their training qualifies them for the emerging scientific workforce in a developing country. Many Rwandans do not realize the gorillas and their ecosystem are unusual and highly valuable. Employees quickly come to understand the importance of protecting this resource, and educate others in the community. Findings are regularly featured in LPZ's diverse public outreach domains and integrated with LPZ's education initiatives at all levels. Results also reach 500,000 per year people via Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's social media resources. These two venues help the public better understand the implications primate physiology and behavior have for understanding human behavior, connections between different fields of scientific inquiry, and the value of behavioral sciences. This project analyzes non-invasively collected hormonal data from the mountain gorilla population monitored by the Karioke Research Center in Rwanda. Hormone results are integrated with behavioral and genetic data to test hypotheses about the proximate factors affecting male-immature relationships in mountain gorillas, a socially flexible great ape. Current understanding of evolutionary origins of the hormonal correlates of male parenting comes from a small group of socially monogamous species. The scientific literature has few papers on hormonal regulation of such relationships in multi-male social systems, and studies about the hormonal correlates of male parenting behaviors come to different conclusions. The research program is interdisciplinary, incorporating behavioral sciences, genetics, and endocrinology. All work takes place at the Lincoln Park Zoo's Davee Center for Epidemiology and Endocrinology.