Research Interests:

I am interested in how natural selection shapes the evolution of social behavior in primates. Most of my empirical work has focused on the behavioral and reproductive strategies of female baboons (Papio cynocephalus, P. ursinus). Recent work documents the adaptive benefits females derive from close social bonds.

I am particularly interested in questions that explicitly link studies of nonhuman primates to humans. Experimental work conducted with chimpanzees and children focuses on the phylogenetic origins and ontogenetic development of prosocial preferences.

 

For those of you who asked: the CAKE

Department of Anthropology

University of California, Los Angeles

jsilk@anthro.ucla.edu