Group leader
Prof. Kathelijne Koops
Professor, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich
I am a primatologist and biological anthropologist interested in the evolutionary origins of ape behaviour, including our own. My research focusses on tool use and culture and involves field work with wild apes across the African continent. I am the co-director of the Nimba Chimpanzee Project in Guinea and of bonobo research at Wamba in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I obtained my MSc in Biology at Utrecht University (2005) and my PhD in Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (2011). I held post-doctoral positions at the University of Cambridge, Harvard University and the University of Zurich. Before joining the University of Zurich as an Eccellenza Professor in 2021, I was an Assistant Professor in Primatology at Cambridge.
I direct the SNSF-funded Comparative Human and Ape Technology (CHAT) Project, which investigates the influence of ecology and sociality on the development and evolution of tool use by comparing chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and humans. We aim to identify the processes driving the use of technology across species and, in turn, shed light on the question What makes us human?
I contribute to great ape conservation as a member of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG) Section on Great Apes (SGA), the SGA Working Group on Chimpanzee Cultures, the Western Chimpanzee Action Plan Implementation Committee, and the board of directors of the Jane Goodall Institute Switzerland.
Find me on Twitter | ResearchGate | Google Scholar
