LIVING LINKS CENTER FOR STUDY OF APE & HUMAN EVOLUTION

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The Living Links Center is a research and educational center for the study of ape and human evolution, using behavioral, cognitive, anatomic, and molecular approaches. The LLC was formed in 1997 in response to three developments. The first was the intellectual convergence of the fields of evolutionary psychology, comparative cognition, and field primatology around the importance of using extant species to understand extinct hominid ancestors. Second, technical developments in brain imaging and genomic sequencing provided new non-invasive approaches to study similarities and differences between great apes and humans. And finally, the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center began a move away from biomedical research with great apes. The Yerkes colony of over 200 great apes had not been utilized effectively for comparative studies. The LLC was formed to utilize this colony in non-invasive comparative research and to provide a base for philanthropic fund raising for both scienti fic and colony support. The need for the LLC and the structure for this Center grew out of a series of meetings between Provost Billy Frye, Professor Frans de Waal, Professor Melvin Konner, and Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the Yerkes Center. In a March, 1997 meeting with the senior administration of Emory University and in May, 1997, discussions with the Yerkes Board of Scientific Advisors, the concept of a center for comparative studies at Yerkes was received enthusiastically. The LLC was launched in September, 1997 with joint support from the Office of the Provost and the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs. Dr. F. deWaal is LLC Director.