Evolutionary origins and proximate mechanisms of parenting in complex social systems

该奖学金授予林肯公园动物园（LPZ），为公众参与研究和保护提供了一个独特的场所。该项目还促进了学校的自然保护和科学教育。这位研究员在小学做演讲，重点是类人猿如何帮助我们理解人类的行为，以及类人猿在野外面临的威胁以及如何提供帮助。这项研究主要由女性和未被充分代表的少数民族主导，为学生在观看演讲时提供了明显的榜样。作为一名实地科学家，研究员帮助学生理解科学探究的广度，这是早期科学教育的重要组成部分。这项研究还支持卢旺达国民的科学培训和保护教育，他们担任实验室人员和研究助理。他们的培训使他们有资格成为发展中国家新兴的科学劳动力。许多卢旺达人没有意识到大猩猩和它们的生态系统是不寻常的，也是非常宝贵的。员工们很快就会明白保护这种资源的重要性，并教育社区中的其他人。调查结果定期出现在LPZ不同的公共宣传领域，并与LPZ各级教育活动相结合。通过Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International的社交媒体资源，每年也会有50万人看到我们的成果。这两个场所帮助公众更好地理解灵长类动物的生理和行为对理解人类行为的影响，不同科学探究领域之间的联系，以及行为科学的价值。本项目分析由卢旺达卡里奥克研究中心监测的山地大猩猩种群非侵入性收集的激素数据。激素结果与行为和遗传数据相结合，以测试影响山地大猩猩（一种社会灵活的类人猿）雄性未成熟关系的直接因素的假设。目前对雄性养育相关激素的进化起源的理解来自一小群社会一夫一妻制物种。关于多男性社会系统中这种关系的激素调节的科学文献很少，关于男性养育行为的激素相关性的研究得出了不同的结论。该研究项目是跨学科的，结合了行为科学、遗传学和内分泌学。所有的工作都在林肯公园动物园的戴维流行病学和内分泌学中心进行。

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.