Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston, Texas
$18 general admission, $12 for members (use code Leakey for your discounted ticket)

Senegal’s Fongoli chimpanzees live in one of the world’s harshest savanna environments, where temperatures soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit and wildfires sweep across the landscape during the dry season.

The Fongoli chimpanzees are unique for many reasons. Their female hunters are the only chimpanzees that regularly hunt with tools, and unlike most other chimps, these apes fear neither fire nor water, using shallow pools to cool off in the extreme heat.

The study of Fongoli chimps is as unique as the chimps themselves. While most primate research occurs in isolated reserves, Fongoli chimpanzees live near humans, creating both challenges and opportunities in this shared habitat.

Join primatologist Dr. Jill Pruetz as she shares discoveries from her extensive field research, exploring the unique characteristics of these chimpanzees and the dynamics between them and the people they live alongside.

Lecture and book signing

Drawing from her recently published book, Apes on the Edge, Dr. Pruetz explores the extraordinary adaptations and behaviors that set the Fongoli chimpanzees apart from the forest-dwelling chimpanzees known from other regions of Africa, underscoring the importance of protecting these remarkable apes and their fragile habitat.

Dr. Pruetz’s book will be available for purchase at the event, and she will sign copies following the program.

About Jill Pruetz

Dr. Jill Pruetz has been the Principal Investigator of the Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project in Senegal since 2001. Dr. Pruetz is Regents’ Professor of Anthropology at Texas State University and a multiple-time Leakey Foundation grantee. Her research focuses on the environmental pressures that influence ape behavior and how the behavior of savanna-living chimpanzees differs from that of chimpanzees living in forested environments. She uses these findings to inform knowledge of early hominin behavioral ecology.

She is the founder of Neighbor Ape, a nonprofit organization working to conserve chimpanzees in Senegal and provide for the well-being of the people who live alongside them. Dr. Pruetz has studied primates in Kenya, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and Peru, as well as Senegal.

Sponsors

This lecture is eligible for CPE credits and is presented in partnership with the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Leakey Foundation lectures are generously sponsored by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Camilla and George Smith, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.