Jeanne Altmann

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Jeanne Altmann, born March 18, 1940, in New York City, [1] is a professor emerita and Eugene Higgins Professor of ecology and evolutionary biology currently at Princeton University. [2] She is known for her research on the social behaviour of baboons, [3] contributions to contemporary primate behavioural ecology, [4] and for innovating field-sampling methodology. [5] She is a founder and co-director of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. Her paper in 1974 on the observational study of behaviour is a cornerstone for ecologists and has been cited more than 10,000 times. [3] She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, [6] and a member of the American Philosophical Society (2020) [7]

Contents

Early life and education

Jeanne Altmann started her undergraduate degree at UCLA as a mathematics major. However, during her second year, she transferred to MIT after marrying Stuart Altmann, who was a graduate student at Harvard. [3] She then accompanied him to the University of Alberta, where she received her degree in mathematics in 1962. [3] [4] [6] Altmann then attended Emory University for her M.A.T. in mathematics and teaching, which she earned in 1970. [6] Later, she started her graduate degree in biology at the University of Chicago. Through her dissertation, she decided to focus on social and familial interactions of baboons. [3] [4]

Using her mathematics background, she was employed as a data analyst in a lab studying human childhood. It was with her background in mathematics that her best known paper was written in 1974 which had been cited at least 10,000 times as of March 1, 2014. [3] [8]

Career and research

After graduating from the University of Alberta, Altmann began work as a primate researcher at the university; she stayed in this position until 1965. While at Emory, she researched at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, then moved to the University of Chicago for her doctoral studies and the bulk of her career. She became an associate professor there in 1985 and was promoted to full professor in 1989. She also curated the primate exhibits at the Brookfield Zoo in the Chicago suburbs. In 1998, Altmann moved to Princeton University, where she remains a professor emerita. From 2003–2008, she was a visiting professor of animal physiology at the University of Nairobi, and has been an honorary zoology lecturer there since 1989. [6]

Altmann is known for her involvement with the creation and development of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project, [9] which counts its official start in 1971, following a preliminary field study in 1963-4. [4] [6] She came up with a protocol that standardized data collection in the field, helping protect against individual bias and making comparative studies easier. Under Altmann's method, scientists needed to observe each individual animal in a group for a set period of time and note its actions, even if the actions seemed insignificant. This sampling method was widely adopted and became the standard for field researchers to follow. [5] (Robert Sapolosky discussed using this sampling method in his popular memoir about life baboon life. [10] )

She was awarded the Sewall Wright Award in 2013 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Primatological Society in 2014. In her area of study, Altmann's fieldwork employs observational rather than experimental sampling methods. This allows her to follow the behaviour of baboons in their natural environment. She utilizes mainly non-invasive techniques. The ABRP also collects fecal samples for genetic, hormonal, and intestinal bacterial analyses. [3] [4]

Altmann's research specifically looks at the behavioural ecology of baboons that range in and near Amboseli National Park, Kenya. With collaborators Susan Alberts, Elizabeth Archie, and Jenny Tung, Altmann's research interests have included demography, the mother-infant relationship, behavioral ecology and endocrinology, the evolution of social behavior, aging, sexual selection, disease ecology, and functional genomics. [9] She was one of the first researchers to study primate mothers, and studies the effects of genes on parenting and mating. [6]

Honors and awards

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primatology</span> Scientific study of primates

Primatology is the scientific study of non-human primates. It is a diverse discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medicine, psychology, veterinary sciences and zoology, as well as in animal sanctuaries, biomedical research facilities, museums and zoos. Primatologists study both living and extinct primates in their natural habitats and in laboratories by conducting field studies and experiments in order to understand aspects of their evolution and behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow baboon</span> Species of baboon

The yellow baboon is a baboon in the family of Old World monkeys. The species epithet means "dog-head" in Greek, due to the dog-like shape of the muzzle and head. Yellow baboons have slim bodies with long arms and legs along with yellowish-brown hair. They resemble the chacma baboon, but are somewhat smaller and with a less elongated muzzle. Their hairless faces are black, framed with white sideburns. Males can grow to about 84 cm, females to about 60 cm. They have long tails which grow to be nearly as long as their bodies. The average life span of the yellow baboon in the wild is roughly 15–20 years; some may live up to 30 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chacma baboon</span> Species of baboon from the Old World monkey family

The chacma baboon, also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide variety of social behaviours, including a dominance hierarchy, collective foraging, adoption of young by females, and friendship pairings. These behaviors form parts of a complex evolutionary ecology. In general, the species is not threatened, but human population pressure has increased contact between humans and baboons. Hunting, trapping, and accidents kill or remove many baboons from the wild, thereby reducing baboon numbers and disrupting their social structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social grooming</span> Behavior in social animals

Social grooming is a behavior in which social animals, including humans, clean or maintain one another's bodies or appearances. A related term, allogrooming, indicates social grooming between members of the same species. Grooming is a major social activity and a means by which animals who live in close proximity may bond, reinforce social structures and family links, and build companionship. Social grooming is also used as a means of conflict resolution, maternal behavior, and reconciliation in some species. Mutual grooming typically describes the act of grooming between two individuals, often as a part of social grooming, pair bonding, or a precoital activity.

Robert Aubrey Hinde was a British zoologist, ethologist and psychologist. He served as the emeritus Royal Society research professor of zoology at the University of Cambridge. Hinde is best known for his ethological contributions to the fields of animal behaviour and developmental psychology.

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The Amboseli Baboon Project is a long-term, individual-based research project on yellow baboons in the Amboseli basin of southern Kenya. Founded in 1971, it is one of the longest-running studies of a wild primate in the world. Research at the Amboseli Baboon Project centers on processes at the individual, group, and population levels, and in recent years has also included other aspects of baboon biology, such as genetics, hormones, nutrition, hybridization, parasitology, and relations with other species. The project is affiliated with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, the Department of Biology and the Evolutionary Anthropology Department at Duke University, the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and the Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baboon</span> Genus of mammals

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References

  1. ↑ Pamela Kalte etal., American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2005
  2. ↑ "Jeanne Altmann". Princeton University. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "From Babies to Baboons: One Woman's Path to Success". blogs.scientificamerican.com. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Alberts, Susan C.; Silk, Joan B. (2013). "The contributions of jeanne altmann". Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 22 (5): 198–199. doi: 10.1002/evan.21370 . PMID   24166919. S2CID   33205303.
  5. 1 2 Jahme, Carole (2000). Beauty and the Beasts: Woman, Ape, and Evolution. New York: Soho Press. p. 98. ISBN   1569472319.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wayne, Tiffany K. (2011-01-01). American Women of Science Since 1900. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9781598841589.
  7. ↑ "The American Philosophical Society Welcomes New Members for 2020".
  8. ↑ "Observational study of behavior: sampling methods".
  9. 1 2 Amboseli Baboon Research Project. Accessed January 23, 2015.
  10. ↑ Sapolski, Robert (March 12, 2002). A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons. Scribner. ISBN   978-0743202411.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ↑ Jeanne Altmann  › eeb › files › people-cv (PDF)
  12. ↑ BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2022
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