Richard Wrangham

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Richard Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is a Professor in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University.

His primary studies include chimpanzee behaviour in Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda. His current interest is the study of human evolution in which he draws conclusions based on the behavioural tendencies of apes. He is the co-author of a book entitled Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence with . As a graduate student, Wrangham studied under Jane Goodall.^[1]

Along with Eloy Rodriguez, Wrangham helped to introduce the concept of zoopharmacognosy.^[1]. Wrangham is considered "one of the pioneers of the study of chimp self-medication" ^[2]

Among the most 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 Prof. Diane Rosenfeld from Harvard Law School).

Wrangham's latest work focuses on the role cooking has played in human evolution.

In March 2008, he was appointed House Master of Currier House at Harvard College.

1 Controversy
2 Selected bibliography
3 Notes
4 External links

Controversy

Richard Wrangham, a primate researcher and professor of anthropology has argued that cooking is obligatory for humans as a result of biological adaptations to cooked foods.^[3]^[4] Wrangham believes that cooking explains the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller teeth and jaws and decrease in sexual dimorphism that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago.^[5]^[3]^[4] Most other anthropologists, however, oppose Wrangham, contending that archeological evidence suggests that cooking fires began in earnest only 250,000 years ago, when ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint appear across Europe and the middle East. 2 million years ago, the only sign of fire is burnt earth with human remains, which most anthropologists consider coincidence rather than evidence of intentional fire.^[6] The mainstream view among anthropologists is that the increase in human brain-size was due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of meat.^[7]

Selected bibliography

Wrangham, R. (1980). "An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups." Behaviour, 75, 262–300.
Wrangham, R., Conklin, N. L., Chapman, C. A. and Hunt, K. D. (1991). "The significance of fibrous foods for Kibale Forest chimpanzees." Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society Of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 334(1270), 171–178.
Wrangham, R. (1993). "The evolution of sexuality in chimpanzees and bonobos." Human Nature, 4(1), 47–79.
Wrangham, R. and Peterson, D. (1996). Demonic males. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Wrangham, R. (1997). Subtle, secret female chimpanzees. Science, 277(5327), 774–775.
Wrangham, R. (1999). "Is military incompetence adaptive?" Evolution and Human Behavior, 20(1), 3–17.
Wrangham, R., Jones, J. H., Laden, G., Pilbeam, D. and Conklin-Brittain, N. L. (1999). "The raw and the stolen: Cooking and the ecology of human origins." Current Anthropology, 40(5), 567–594.
Wrangham, R. and Smuts, B. B. (1980). "Sex differences in the behavioural ecology of chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania." Journal Of Reproduction and Fertility. Supplement, 28, 13–31.