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 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. The CHAT project compares 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?
Find me on Twitter | ResearchGate | Google Scholar