Richard Walter Wrangham (born 1948) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
and
primatologist; he is Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. His research and writing have involved ape behavior, human evolution, violence, and cooking.
Biography
Wrangham was born in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
.
Following his years on the faculty of the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, he became the Ruth Moore Professor of
Biological Anthropology
Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an e ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and his research group is now part of the newly established Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. He is a
MacArthur fellow
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
.
He is co-director of the Kibale Chimpanzee Project, the long-term study of the Kanyawara chimpanzees in
Kibale National Park, Uganda. His research culminates in the study of
human evolution
Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development of ...
in which he draws conclusions based on the behavioural ecology of apes. As a graduate student, Wrangham studied under
Robert Hinde
Robert Aubrey Hinde (26 October 1923 – 23 December 2016) was a British zoologist, ethologist and psychologist.Bateson, P., Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Clutton-Brock, T. (2018). Robert Aubrey Hinde CBE. 26 October 1923—23 December 2016. 65, ...
and
Jane Goodall
Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...
.
Wrangham is known predominantly for his work in the ecology of primate social systems, the evolutionary history of human aggression (culminating in his book with Dale Peterson, ''
Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence''), and most recently his research in cooking (summarized in his book, ''
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human'') and
self-domestication Self-domestication is the process of adaptation of for example wild animals to cohabiting with humans, without direct human selective breeding of the animals. The human self-domestication hypothesis argues that, like mammalian domesticates, humans h ...
. He is a vegetarian.
Wrangham has been instrumental in identifying behaviors considered "human-specific" in chimpanzees, including culture and with
Eloy Rodriguez
Eloy Rodriguez (born January 7, 1947) is an American biochemist. He is the James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies at Cornell University. He was born in Edinburg, Texas.
Collaborating with primatologist Richard Wrangham, Rodriguez in ...
, chimpanzee
self-medication
Self-medication is a human behavior in which an individual uses a substance or any exogenous influence to self-administer treatment for physical or psychological conditions: for example headaches or fatigue.
The substances most widely used in se ...
.
Among the 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 Professor Diane Rosenfeld from Harvard Law School). In March 2008, he was appointed House Master of
Currier House at
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
. He received an honorary degree in Doctor of Science from
Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a private college in Brookhaven, Georgia. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Colony of Georgia.
History
Oglethorpe University was chartered in 1834 in Mid ...
in 2011.
Research
Wrangham began his career as a researcher at
Jane Goodall
Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...
's long-term
common chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close r ...
field study in
Gombe Stream National Park
Gombe Stream National Park is a national park in Kigoma District of Kigoma Region in Tanzania, north of Kigoma, the capital of Kigoma Region.Tanzania National Parks“Gombe Stream National Park”, 2008. Established in 1968, it is one of the smal ...
in
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. He befriended fellow primatologist
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey (, January 16, 1932 – ) was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of R ...
and assisted her in setting up her nonprofit
mountain gorilla
The mountain gorilla (''Gorilla beringei beringei'') is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018.
There are two populations: One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Centr ...
conservation organization, the
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (originally the Digit Fund) is a charity for the protection of endangered mountain gorillas. The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patr ...
(originally the Digit Fund).
Wrangham's latest work focuses on the role cooking has played in human evolution. He has argued that cooking food is obligatory for humans as a result of biological adaptations and that cooking, in particular the consumption of cooked
tuber
Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...
s, might explain the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller teeth and jaws, and decrease in
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago.
Some anthropologists disagree with Wrangham's ideas, arguing that no solid evidence has been found to support Wrangham's claims, though Wrangham and colleagues, among others, have demonstrated in the laboratory the effects of cooking on energetic availability: cooking denatures proteins, gelatinizes starches, and helps kill pathogens.
The mainstream explanation is that human ancestors, prior to the advent of cooking, turned to eating meats, which then caused the evolutionary shift to smaller guts and larger brains.
Bibliography
Books
* ''
Demonic Males'' with Peterson, D., Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 1996. .
*Smuts, B.B., Cheney, D.L. Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., & Struhsaker, T.T. (Eds.) (1987). ''Primate Societies''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
*''
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human''. Basic Books, 2009.
*''
The Goodness Paradox
''The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution'' is a book by United Kingdom, British primatology, primatologist Richard Wrangham.Wrangham R., ''The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Betwee ...
: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution''. Pantheon, 2019.
Papers
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Eds. Muller, M. & Wrangham, R. (2009). 'Sexual Coercion in Primates and Humans'.
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
, Cambridge, MA.
References
External links
Website of Kibale Chimpanzee ProjectDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityVideo (with mp3 available) of interview about his research with Wranghamby
John Horgan
John Joseph Horgan (born August 7, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022, and also as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2014 to 2022. Horgan has been the ...
on
Bloggingheads.tv
Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrangham, Richard
Living people
1948 births
Harvard University faculty
Human evolution theorists
Primatologists
MacArthur Fellows
University of Michigan faculty
Academics from Yorkshire
People from Leeds
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy