Faculty Profile for Dr. Jill Pruetz

Biography Section

Biography and Education

I received a Bachelor's in Anthropology and one in Sociology at Texas State University (then Southwest Texas State) in 1989. My Ph.D. was awarded in 1999 in Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I studied vervet and patas monkey socioecology for two years in Kenya, as part of my dissertation research, focusing on the influence that food availability had on female primate competition and dominance. I held a Postdoctoral position at Miami University (of Ohio) from 1999-2000, where I focused on assessing the presence and distribution of chimpanzees in savanna habitats in Senegal.

Since 2001, I have been the Principal Investigator of the Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project in Senegal, where I have focused on the environmental pressures that influences ape behavior here and how such behavior differs from chimpanzees living in forested environments. I use these findings to try and inform our knowledge of early hominin behavioral ecology. I've studied primates in Kenya, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and Peru, as well as Senegal. I regularly teach field courses in Primate Behavior and Ecology in Central America.

Teaching Interests

I teach biological anthropology classes and courses specific to primatology. I also lead field schools to Costa Rica to the Camaquiri Conservation Initiative site. I initiated the first primate surveys at this site and am a collaborator on this ongoing research.

Research Interests

I have been focused on chimpanzee behavioral ecology in a savanna environment for the past 18 years and plan to continue this research indefinitely. However I have also studied primates in Kenya, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and Peru, as well as in captive contexts, and I mentor student research in such areas as well.