Richard Wrangham

Richard Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is a Professor in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University.

His primary studies include chimpanzee behaviour in Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda. His current interest is the study of human evolution in which he draws conclusions based on the behavioural tendencies of apes. He is the co-author of a book entitled "" with Dale Peterson. As a graduate student, Wrangham studied under Jane Goodall.Gerber, Suzanne. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0820/is_n255/ai_21224859 "Not just monkeying around"] , "Vegetarian Times", November 1998.]

Along with Eloy Rodriguez, Wrangham helped to introduce the concept of zoopharmacognosy.. Wrangham is considered "one of the pioneers of the study of chimp self-medication" [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10339384 "Animal instinct for finding treatment."] "The New Zealand Herald", 6 August 2005.]

Among the most recent courses he teaches in the Human Evolutionary Biology (HEB) concentration at Harvard are HEB 1330 Primate Social Behaviour and HEB 1565 Theories of Sexual Coercion (co-taught with Prof. Diane Rosenfeld from Harvard Law School).

Wrangham's latest work focuses on the role cooking has played in human evolution.

In March 2008, he was appointed House Master of Currier House at Harvard College.

Controversy

Richard Wrangham has repeatedly argued that cooking is obligatory for humans, and that cooking led to an increase of human brain-size. Since studies show that average human brain-size has decreased by an average 11% since 35,000 years ago, this could be true only if cooking was in common use long before that, during the increase in brain size. [ http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/anthropology/news/afall97.htm ] [ http://chemport.cas.org/cgi-bin/sdcgi?APP=ftslink&action=reflink&origin=npg&version=1.0&coi=1:STN:280:BieB2s3isFI%3D&pissn=0028-0836&pyear=1997&md5=19d628374243f4787b3aa8634259731f ] [ http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2006/08/trends-in-cranial-capacity-and-shape.html ] . Wrangham has addressed this by hypothesizing that "it is possible that fire was controlled back to 1.6 million years ago". [ http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=evolving-bigger-brains-th&page=3 ]

elected bibliography

*Wrangham, R. (1980). "An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups." "Behaviour", 75, 262–300.
*Wrangham, R., Conklin, N. L., Chapman, C. A. and Hunt, K. D. (1991). "The significance of fibrous foods for Kibale Forest chimpanzees." "Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society Of London. Series B: Biological Sciences", 334(1270), 171–178.
*Wrangham, R. (1993). "The evolution of sexuality in chimpanzees and bonobos." "Human Nature", 4(1), 47–79.
*Wrangham, R. and Peterson, D. (1996). "Demonic males". Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
*Wrangham, R. (1997). Subtle, secret female chimpanzees. "Science", 277(5327), 774–775.
*Wrangham, R. (1999). "Is military incompetence adaptive?" "Evolution and Human Behavior", 20(1), 3–17.
*Wrangham, R., Jones, J. H., Laden, G., Pilbeam, D. and Conklin-Brittain, N. L. (1999). "The raw and the stolen: Cooking and the ecology of human origins." "Current Anthropology", 40(5), 567–594.
*Wrangham, R. and Smuts, B. B. (1980). "Sex differences in the behavioural ecology of chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania." "Journal Of Reproduction and Fertility". Supplement, 28, 13–31.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~primates/ Official website of Richard Wrangham's research group at Harvard University]