Department of Zoology

Linda F. Marchant
Affiliate Zoology
Ph.D. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
biological anthropology
Office:
157 Upham 		Phone:
529-1594 		Email:
marchalf@muohio.edu

Biographical Information:

Linda Marchant is a biological anthropologist specializing in behavioral primatology. She is a professor and chair in the Department of Anthropology and an affiliate faculty member in the Departments of Psychology and Zoology. Her research interests include laterality of hand function in nonhuman primates, especially the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), hominid evolution, and cultural primatology. Her fieldwork includes two seasons in Tanzania investigating hand use, including tool use, in wild chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, and Mahale Mountains National Park. In spring 2000 she was part of a research team investigating the behavioral ecology of wild chimpanzees in the Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal, West Africa. Her most recent field work was in Guinea, West Africa in August 2003. Dr. Marchant uses videography in research and teaching. Her video, "Chimpanzee Grooming as Social Custom: Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania" won Best Short Film, 2000, from the Society for Visual Anthropology.



Courses Taught:

  1. Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution (ATH 355)
  2. Primate Biology and Behavior (ATH/ZOO 395)
  3. Observing Primate Behavior (ATH 496/596)


Recent Publications:

  1. Marchant, L.F. and McGrew, W.C. Percussive technology: chimpanzee baobab smashing and the human evolutionary modelling of hominid knapping. In: KNAPPING STONE: A UNIQUELY HOMINID BEHAVIOR?, V. Roux and B. Bril, (eds.), Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, in press.

  2. McGrew, W.C., Baldwin, P.J., Marchant, L.F., Pruetz, J.D. Scott, S.E. and Tutin, C.E.G. Enthnoarchaeology and elementary technology of unhabituated wild chimpanzees at Assirik, Senegal, West Africa. PALEOANTHROPOLOGY, in press.

  3. Boesch, C., Hohmann, G. and Marchant, L.F. (eds.) 2002. BEHAVIOURAL DIVERSITY IN CHIMPANZEES AND BONOBOS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  4. Pruetz, J.D., Marchant, L.F., Arno, J. and McGrew, W.C. 2002. Survey of savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in southeastern Senegal. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, 118:184-190.

  5. McGrew, W.C. and Marchant, L.F. 2001. Ethological study of manual laterality in the chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. BEHAVIOUR, 138:329-358.