Grantee Spotlight
Natalia Camargo Peña is a Leakey Foundation Baldwin Fellow from Colombia. Her research focuses on understanding what shapes individual differences in social development among group-living primates. Natalia is a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program of Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University. She is interested in how maternal behavior, social rank, and an infant’s sex influence social relationships during early life.
Natalia’s goal is to become a professor and help develop the disciplines of primatology and evolutionary anthropology at a Colombian university. During her doctorate studies at Stony Brook, she will work with other Colombian scholars by providing mentorship, continuing conservation projects, and developing new research collaborations.
Questions and answers with Natalia Camargo Peña
Q: How did you become interested in studying primate behavior?
I have always been a science enthusiast. As a child, I was fascinated by all living creatures, and I spent a lot of time watching Animal Planet and NatGeo shows. Learning about evolution in high school blew my mind. It amazed me that humans are part of the primate tree and share an evolutionary history with all living beings. I wondered what it meant to be human. How are we different and similar to other species? How do biological and cultural processes shape our behavior?
In high school, I had no idea that there were people who dedicated their careers to answering these questions. I also did not know that I could become one of them. Still, I suspected that studying biology would get me closer to answering these questions.
Luckily, I had the opportunity to take a primate behavior and evolution class as an undergrad, and it was the Eureka moment of my career! I was fascinated by primatology and I wanted to be one of those people who lived in the field, studying primate behavior and drawing parallels to humans. I have pursued this goal and conducted fieldwork with primates in the Amazon, Uganda, and Cayo Santiago Island. These experiences helped me narrow my research interests to understanding why and how individual differences in behavior emerge. This is what I want to investigate in my PhD.
Q: What is the focus of your current research?
Social relationships are vital for our health, longevity, and even our ability to find mates. All things being equal, more socially connected individuals generally do better. However, what drives these individual differences in sociality remains poorly understood. Differences in early-life socialization may be one important factor shaping these differences in sociality. Early life experiences are critical in developing social skills. Moreover, the relationships we form in childhood may carry over to our social networks as adults.
In primates, factors such as maternal social rank and experience can affect how many close social partners are available to the mother and infant. Maternal rank and style can also impact how mothers interact with their infants. This can either encourage or limit the infants’ social interactions. Interestingly, an infant’s social experiences can also differ based on their sex. Young females and males might prioritize different types of social relationships.
My research focuses on understanding what shapes these individual differences in social development. I study wild geladas, a species of primate living in Ethiopia. I will investigate how a mother’s behavior, the availability of social partners, and the infant’s sex influence the infant’s social behavior.
Additionally, I will look at how a mother’s behavior is linked to her social rank and experience. Geladas are ideal for this research because they live in complex social structures similar to humans. In both species, social rank and relationships play a significant role in social development.
Q: What do you hope to discover with your research?
With my research, I want to understand how differences in behavior emerge early in life. I am particularly interested in the relative roles of maternal style, parity, rank, and the number of social partners in infant social relationships.
My interest in this question stems from the idea that sociality has long-term impacts on health. Being socially connected is essential for social beings. Yet, not all individuals can socialize and benefit from a rich social sphere. Since early life is a critical period for learning social skills, I want to understand better whether the individual differences in social behavior that result in health and fitness differences can be traced back to early life experiences. Studying relationships during infancy is a first step towards this process.
Q: How has The Leakey Foundation contributed to your development as a scientist?
I feel very grateful to receive this grant. I have been aware of The Leakey Foundation since I started as a primatologist, and they have directly and indirectly helped me become the scientist I am today. First, The Leakey Foundation funded the projects I participated in in the Amazon and Uganda. There, I acquired amazing field experiences with woolly monkeys and chimpanzees. Second, The Leakey Foundation has supported primate research projects worldwide. These projects have inspired me and motivated me to pursue a research career in primatology and evolutionary anthropology.
As a new PhD student about to begin my research, I am honored that The Leakey Foundation is investing in my development as a scientist. This grant will be a massive support during the first years of my PhD. I will have the opportunity to focus entirely on my research projects without worrying about the financial stress of being an international student from a low-income country.
Q: Why does research like yours matter so much?
Forming and maintaining social connections beyond our immediate family is a key part of being human. Research shows that having these connections can lead to better health and well-being as adults. To understand why people differ in their social behaviors as adults, it’s essential to look at what influences these behaviors early in life. Humans take a long time to grow up, and our social lives are very complex. This makes it hard to see clearly how our early experiences shape who we become and how healthy we are later.
We should care about human evolution because it helps us understand who we are and where we come from. By studying our evolutionary history, we can understand the biological and environmental factors that have shaped our species over thousands of years of evolution. This knowledge is essential to understanding our lives today. It also helps address current issues, from health diseases to social conflicts.
Q: What is your favorite mind-blowing fact about human evolution?
Two mind-blowing fun facts about evolution and primates are the Bruce Effect and the Vandenbergh Effect.
The Bruce Effect is a fascinating survival strategy. When a new dominant male takes over a group, female primates can stop their pregnancies to protect their unborn babies from harm. This way, they wait for a safer time to have their babies, ensuring their survival.
The Vandenbergh Effect is another amazing phenomenon. When a female primate’s father is absent, she may mature faster. This helps her become reproductively ready sooner, increasing her chances of passing on her genes.
