Research Interests

My research covers a wide array of topics in primatology, much of which is field-oriented and interdisciplinary.

In Madagascar, I am conducting a long-term study of the demography, ecology and social organization of the ring-tailed lemur at the Beza Mahafaly Reserve. I am co-founder of this reserve which is part of a cooperative program in research, conservation, education, and development between Washington U, Yale U, and the University of Madagascar. I have worked with botanists, geologists and social anthropologists on this and other conservation/development projects in Madagascar. We are currently involved in monitoring deforestation with satellite images, and attempting to determine its causes and consequences on the lemurs of the region.

In Mauritius , I have worked on the ecology and social organization, and with Washington U. biologists, the genetics of long-tailed macaques who were introduced @ 450 years ago. The forests of Mauritius are extremely degraded and are disappearing rapidly. Along with a botanist, I have described plant density, diversity and the process of invasion of exotic plants in some remnant endemic forests. We plan to continue working on the macaques on this island.

I have recently begun, and have students working in Central and South America, especially Costa Rica and Guyana. We are interested in community ecology and conservation of the primates in these regions.

Finally, I am interested in the evolution of human and nonhuman primate behavior and the ways in which the study of primates can help us understand the biological basis of human behavior, though I am in no way a biological determinist and believe that biological anthropology must be grounded in good, general anthropological theory. My interests also include the history of physical anthropology.

Selected Publications

Books

2011

(R.W. Sussman and C.R. Cloninger,eds.) Origins of Cooperation and Altruism. Springer, N.Y.

2009

(Donna Hart and R.W. Sussman) Man the Hunted: Primate, Predators, and Human Evolution. Enlarged, paperback edition. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Articles

2011

(Robert W. Sussman and Paul A. Garber) Cooperation, collective action, and competition in primate social interactions. Pp. 587-599. In C.J. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K.C. Mackinnon, S.K. Bearder and R. S.M. Stumpf (eds.)Primates in Perspective: 2^nd Edition. Oxford University Press, New York.

Primate fieldwork and its human contexts in southern Madagascar.  Pp. 49-68. In Jeremy MacClancy and Agustin Fuentes (eds.), CENTRALIZING FIELDWORK:Critical Perspectives from Primatology, Biological and Social Anthropology. Berghahn Press, Oxford. 

(Eltorai, A.E.M. and R.W. Sussman) Social behavior of Captive black-tailed prairie dogs (Mammalia, Rodentia) with changing numbers of observers.  Vestnik Zoologii 2: 139-146.

(R.W. Sussman, C. Shaffer, and L.M. Guidi) Macaca fascicularis in Mauritius: Implications for Macaque/Human Interactions and for Future Research on Long-tailed Macaques. Pp. In Michael D Gumert, Agustin Fuentes, and Lisa Jones-Engel (eds.). Managing commensalism in long-tailed macaques: The human-macaque interface. Cambridge University Press, N.Y.

2009

Lemur catta. All the World's Primates Website. Noel Rowe (ed.). Pogonias Press, East Hampton, N.Y.

2008

R.W. Sussman and Donna Hart) The behavior and ecology of our earliest hominid ancestors. Pp. 259-279. In J. G. Fleagle and C. C. Gilbert (ed.), Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins. Springer, New York.

Marc Fourrier, Robert W. Sussman, Rebecca Kippen, Geoff Childs. Demographic modeling of a predator-prey system and its implication for the Gombe red colobus (Procolobus badius)population International Journal of Primatology 29:497-508.

DeSalle's and Tattersall's Human Origins: A Companion to The Museum of Natural History's Hall of Human Origins and More. Book Review Essay. Evolution: Education and Outreach 2:144-147.

(Donna Hart and R.W. Sussman) Man the Hunted. Pp. 122-127. In E. Angeloni (ed.), Annual Editions: Physical Anthropology 09/10, Eighteenth Edition.

2007

R.W. Sussman and Donna Hart. Modeling the past: the primatological approach.Pp. 701-721. In W. Henke, H. Roth, & I. Tattersall (eds.), Handbook of Palaeoanthropology Vol. 1: Principles, Methods, and Approaches. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.

Sussman, R. W.. A history of primate field studies. Pp. 6-10. In S. Bearder, C.J. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K.C. Mackinnon, and M. Panger(eds.) Primates in Perspective. Oxford University Press, New York.

Robert W. Sussman and Paul A. Garber. Primate Sociality. Pp. 636-651. In S. Bearder, C.J. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K.C. Mackinnon, and M. Panger (eds.) Primates in Perspective. Oxford University Press, New York.

Alison Jolly and Robert W. Sussman. Notes on the history of ecological studies of Malagasy lemurs. Pp. 19-39. In L. Gould and M. Sauther (eds.) Lemurs: Ecology and Adaptation. Springer, New York.

D.T. Rasmussen and R.W. Sussman. Parallelisms among primates and possums. Pp. 775-803. in M.J. Ravosa and M. Dagosto (eds.) Primate Origins and Adaptations. Plenum Press, New York.

E. Kelley and R.W. Sussman. Academic genealogy on the history of American Field Primatology. American Journal of Physical Anthopology.132:406-425.

Courses

Biological Basis of Human Behavior (L48 362)
Primate Ecology and Behavior (L48 406)
Behavioral Studies at the St. Louis Zoo (L48 434)
Field Methodology (L48 4182)
Selected Topics in Primatology