Send us a text Today's episode is all about royalty. No, not those odd primates shuffling around palaces in crowns and robes, but the monarchs of the butterfly world. We're joined by Dr. Jaap de Roode , Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University, who's one of the world's experts in insect self-medication. Yup, you heard that right. You might have caught one of our episodes ( 42 , 60 ) with Mike Huffman, who discovered chimpanzees self-medicating in Tanzania to ward off parasit...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 95
Send us a text In this episode of The PrimateCast, your host sits down with science communicator Amanda Mathieson , Head of Public Engagement, Education and Communications at Biorbic , Ireland's National Bioeconomy Research Centre. She's also a pioneer in the space of developing STEM-themed escape rooms. And that was the main topic of discussion in the interview. Throughout the episode, Amanda offers insightful anecdotes and creative ideas that reveal the potential of escape rooms as educational...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 94
Send us a text Explore zoo animal welfare with Dr. Lance J. Miller, a leading authority in animal welfare science at Brookfield Zoo Chicago , formerly Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo. Lance is Vice President of Animal Welfare Science at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, but he also holds a slough of other appointments. He’s Chair of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums Animal Welfare Committee, an Advisor to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ’ (AZA) Research and Technology Com...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 93
Send us a text In this episode I sit down with my friend and colleague, cognitive scientist Dr. Nicolas Claidiere from the Center for Research in Psychology and Neuroscience at Aix-Marseille University. Nico was on the podcast once before, in episode 30 when we recorded from the International Primatological Society's conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, back in 2014. So let's call this a 10-year reunion! In the episode, we talk about: bloodletting (Paywall), I know, right? Nico thought it was a weird q...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 92
Send us a text What happens when a primatologist and podcaster leaves behind an academic career in Japan to embrace a new chapter in wildlife conservation in Canada? Crickets on the show, for one... Join me as I share my emotional decision to move on from Kyoto University and take up the role of Senior Scientist, Wildlife Conservation at the Wilder Institute / Calgary Zoo. The challenges of uprooting my family, the bittersweet farewells to a cherished community, and the thrill of new beginnings ...
Nov 12, 2024•22 min•Ep. 91
Send us a text In today’s installment of the podcast, I’m really excited to share a fascinating conversation I had with Dr. Tecumseh Fitch about the evolution of cognition and communication. Tecumseh Fitch is Professor of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna where he co-founded the Department of Cognitive Biology and plays a leading role in the radically interdisciplinary Vienna Cognitive Science Hub , where they gather biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and computer scientists...
Nov 23, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 90
Send us a text For this episode, I sat down in the studio with evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Laura Buck in the Research Centre for Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology of Liverpool John Moores University. Dr. Susumu Tomiya of CICASP also joined the conversation. After waxing on the plausibility that some ancient hominins in cold climates might have hibernated - spoiler alert! Not very - Laura describes the evolutionary and developmental processes that lead to adaptations and behavioral ...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 89
Send us a text In today’s lecture, Dr. Paula Pebsworth joined us from her home in Texas to give a lecture titled “ You never know where life will take you: an interdisciplinary and unconventional path ”. This lecture was extra special for me, because Paula and I were grad students together at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute over a decade ago, both under the supervision of Mike Huffman. I’ve missed my friend over the intervening years, along with her family - who also play a feature...
Oct 25, 2023•50 min•Ep. 88
Send us a text In today’s origin story, Dr. Colin Chapman joined us over Zoom from his home on Vancouver Island to talk about, quote, “ A Few Fun Things I have Learned Studying Primates ". Colin Chapman has a whole bunch of titles that are worth a quick once over: he is a Killam Research Fellow, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a fellow at Humboldt Foundation, a Wilson Fellow, holds an Office of an Academician, Northwest University, Xi’an, China and is a Conservation Fellow with the Wild...
Sep 27, 2023•35 min•Ep. 87
Send us a text In this episode of The PrimateCast origins, we’re sharing a lecture from primatologist and cognitive ethologist, Patricia Izar from the University of São Paulo. Pat is one of the eminent Latin American primatologists, and along with her close friends and colleagues Drs. Dorothy Fragaszy and Elisabetta Visalberghi - see episode #68 for more on this from Elisabetta Visalberghi - she’s been studying the incredible tool use behavior of robust capuchins for the past few decades. Capuch...
Sep 15, 2023•51 min•Ep. 86
Send us a text In this episode, comparative cognitive scientist Dr. Reggie Gazes and my office neighbor Dr. Ikuma Adachi . Reggie is an associate professor of psychology and animal behavior at Bucknell University in Lewisburg Pennsylvania. She and Ikuma overlapped as trainees in the lab of Dr. Robert Hampton at the now-named Emory National Primate Research Center. Listen to Rob in episode 20 of the podcast on mental time travel and metacognition. In the interview here, we find out how her experi...
Jul 31, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 85
Send us a text In this episode of The PrimateCast origins, we’re sharing a lecture given by wildlife biologist and conservationist Dr. Ian Redmond , OBE. Ian is renowned for his work with gorillas and elephants in Africa. Through research, filming, ecotourism, and conservation science and activism, he’s spent over 40 years cultivating the wisdom and the network needed to inspire and incite real change. In this lecture, Ian weaves an engaging tale around his experiences. His wonderful storytellin...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 84
Send us a text In this episode, conservationist, author and founder of The Orangutan Project , Leif Cocks. Leif is a tireless conservationist who seems to be involved in innumerable conservation projects throughout Southeast Asia, but most notably The Orangutan Project, which he founded in 1998. We talk about Leif’s path to conservation, which began early on with an interest in animals and nature and was formalized through his experiences in higher education and work in husbandry and small popul...
Jun 29, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 83
Send us a text This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program at Kyoto University. We are releasing the audio from these lectures right here on The...
Jun 16, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 82
Send us a text This episode features a conversation with Devan Schowe, Campaigns Associate with animal advocacy and wildlife nonprofit, Born Free USA . Born Free USA, and its parent Born Free , are charitable organizations advocating for animal welfare and compassionate conservation, with the ultimate goal of ending human exploitation of animals for any reason. In the interview, Devan outlines the history of the organization - it has a very Hollywood origin story! - and all of the twists and tur...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 81
Send us a text This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program at Kyoto University. We are releasing the audio from these lectures right here on The...
Apr 21, 2023•53 min•Ep. 80
Send us a text This episode features a conversation with Dr. Tesla Monson , Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Western Washington University. Tesla was in Japan visiting our own Dr. Susumu Tomiya to start some work with our collection of primate bones, so I asked Susumu to join us in the studio as well. Tesla runs the Primate Evolution Lab at Western Washington University, and has conducted some fascinating research into how we can use bones and fossils and especially teeth...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 79
Send us a text “ You should always collaborate with your friends! ” - Sarah Brosnan In this episode I am really excited to be able to bring to you an interview with Dr. Sarah Brosnan , Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Philosophy and Neuroscience in the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. Dr. Ikuma Adachi , from Kyoto University's Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, also joined us for the interview. Sarah Brosnan is probably best known for her work on in...
Mar 15, 2023•51 min•Ep. 78
Send us a text This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program at Kyoto University. We are releasing the audio from these lectures right here on The...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 77
Send us a text This episode is all about where, how and why primates got their names! No, we won't be talking about popular primates like Kanzi the bonobo or Pan-kun (if you're in Japan), but rather the terms we use for the common and scientific names of primates across their taxonomy. Dr. Elaine Guevara is a Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, and in 2021, she coauthored a study published in the International Journal of Primatology ...
Dec 15, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 76
Send us a text This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program at Kyoto University. We are releasing the audio from these lectures right here on The...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 75
Send us a text This episode features paleoanthropologist and science educator Dr. Briana Pobiner . Briana works in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History . She is also Associate Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at George Washington University . Briana’s anthropological research focuses on understanding the human diet, and changes therein over the past few million years. Her work on science education and communication focuses on pr...
Nov 15, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 74
Send us a text This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program at Kyoto University. We are releasing the audio from these lectures right here on The...
Nov 01, 2022•59 min•Ep. 73
Send us a text This episode features distinguished primatologist Dr. Charles Snowdon , or Chuck Snowdon, as he’s maybe better known by. Chuck is Hilldale Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison , and he’s widely known for his work on primate social development, communication and cognition. He ran the Snowdon Primate Center in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where so much was learned about the small Neotropical primates known ...
Oct 18, 2022•33 min•Ep. 72
Send us a text This episode presents an interview with Dr. Pamela Asquith , and anthropologist and meta-primatologist who has studied how primatology was done historically in Japan, and tackled the challenge of language, metaphor and anthropomorphism in science. In March 2022, she delivered an excellent talk for CICASP in our International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives in the Field. You can find a link to that event here , or go straight to the CICASP YouTube ...
Oct 11, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 71
Send us a text This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program, but we decided to release the audio right here on The PrimateCast . For anyone inter...
Aug 20, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 70
Send us a text This is podcast #69 with Dr. Takeshi Furuichi. I was really excited about this interview. I've known our guest - Dr. Takeshi Furuichi - since I was a grad student in the Section of Social Systems Evolution at Kyoto University's now rebranded Primate Research Institute. He was the Section Head until this year when we were all redistributed together to the Wildlife Research Center. " I want to behave like ... females of bonobos, but in reality I am a male chimpanzee " Dr. Furuichi i...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 69
Send us a text In this installment of The PrimateCast we continue with our International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field . The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories about experienced researchers of primatology and related fields, through lectures delivered by those very individuals. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program, but we decided to release the audio ...
Jul 01, 2022•55 min•Ep. 68
Send us a text This is podcast #67 with Dr. Susumu Tomiya. It's such a pleasure to be able to share my interview with Dr. Susumu Tomiya , my colleague for the past 3+ years in the Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology (CICASP). Susumu and I have worked closely over that time toward developing our capacity at Kyoto University to teach science communication to our graduate students, and to encourage and promote their activities in various ways, such as through ...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 67
Send us a text In this installment of The PrimateCast we continue with our International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field .. The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories about experienced researchers of primatology and related fields, through lectures delivered by those very individuals. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program, but we decided to release the audio...
May 08, 2022•53 min•Ep. 66
