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Profile - Angela Jeansonne
Angela Jeansonne
Contact Information
E-mail: jeansonn@usc.edu
Mail Code: 0371
Started at USC: Fall 2003
Education:
2003 – present
Ph.D. Candidate, Integrative & Evolutionary Biology
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
May 2002
M.A., Biological Anthropology
Thesis: “Reconciliation in a Captive Group of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)”
San Francisco State University, San Francisco
Jan. 1997
B.A., Psychology
New York University, New York
Faculty Advisor(s):
Dr. Craig Stanford, Anthropology
Collaboration(s):
National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Research Topics: steroid hormones, sexually differentiated behavior patterns
Research Description:
The goal of my study is to gain insight into the role steroid hormones play in the development of sexually-differentiated behaviors. Specifically, I will conduct a field study investigating the relationship between gonadal steroid hormones and the development of sexual and non-sexual behavior in wild female and male chimpanzees as juveniles and adolescents. Subjects will consists of (n=16) 3 male and 2 female juveniles, and 7 male and 4 female adolescents chimpanzees located in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Both sexual and non-sexual behavior will be recorded using focal animal sampling. Non-invasive urine samples will be collected from all subjects. Urine samples will be assayed for testosterone, estrogen and progesterone in both males and females respectively. Baseline measures of steroid hormones in juvenile males and females will be used to determine the initiation of puberty in adolescents. Urinary gonadal steroid hormone levels will then be compared to adolescent behavioral data in order to determine the activational effects of steroid hormones on sexually differentiated behavior patterns in pubertal male and female adolescents.
To date, little is known about the hormonal correlates of the development of sexually-differentiated behavior in great apes, especially wild ape populations. The present studies’ focus on wild chimpanzees, our closest living relative, is important to the study of human evolution because in order for us to gain insight into early hominin behavior, we must study chimpanzees in their natural habitat because these are the conditions to which their behavior is adapted. Also, we know that hormones link behavior and morphology and can influence the evolution of both kinds of traits either through natural selection or sexual selection. Therefore, the present investigation on the physiological mechanisms of behavioral development will provide a unique data set that can aid us in reconstructing the behavior of our earliest common ancestors.
CV: Click to view