Socio-endocrinology of humans and non-human primates

We study how endocrine mechanisms evolved to facilitate species-typical social behavior. In wild bonobos, we study how cortisol and oxytocin respond to social interactions to better understand the functions of these hormones and the evolution of relatively tolerant societies. We also investigate species differences in sociality among hamadryas and anubis baboons by comparing oxytocin and vasopressin levels in various fluids, as well as the distribution of their receptors in the brain. Previous work has included intergroup conflict among redtail monkeys and hunting in humans, adn future work will focus on the natural history of oxytocin in humans.

• Lui Kotale bonobo project
• Yerkes National Primate Research Center

Prof.  Adrian Jaeggi

Dr. Liza Moscovice

Daniel Coppeto

• Prof. Dr. Barbara Fruth, Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University
   
• Prof. Dr. Gottfried Hohmann, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
   
• Prof. Dr. Larry Young, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory University, Atlanta
   
• Prof. Dr. Todd Preuss, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory University, Atlanta
   
• Prof. Dr. Michelle Brown, Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara
   
• Prof. Dr. Benjamin Trumble, School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Center for Evolution & Medicine, Arizona State University

• Moscovice LR, Surbeck M, Fruth B, Hohmann G, Jaeggi AV, Deschner T. (2019). The cooperative sex: Sexual interactions among female bonobos are linked to increases in oxytocin, proximity and coalitions. Hormones and Behavior 116:104581
• Jaeggi AV, Trumble BC, Brown M. (2018). Group-level competition influences urinary steroid hormones among wild red-tailed monkeys, indicating energetic costs. American Journal of Primatology 80:e22757.
• Trumble BC, Stieglitz J, Jaeggi AV, Beheim BA, Schwartz M, Seabright E, Cummings D, Kaplan HL, Gurven M. (2018). Associations between paternal hormones, crop losses, and family illness following catastrophic flooding in lowland Bolivia. Physiology and Behavior 193:101-107
• Trumble BC, Jaeggi AV, Gurven M. (2015). Evolving the neuroendocrine physiology for human and primate cooperation and collective action. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 370:20150014
• Jaeggi AV, Trumble BC, Kaplan HS, Gurven M. (2015). Salivary oxytocin increases concurrently with testosterone and time away from home among returning Tsimane’ hunters. Biology Letters 11:20150058.

• Leakey Foundation
   
• National Science Foundation
   
• Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition