H Dieter Steklis
- Professor of Practice, Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
- Professor of Practice, Psychology
- Member of the Graduate Faculty
Biography
H. Dieter Steklis earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1974 from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined Rutgers University in 1974, serving as Professor of Anthropology until “retiring” in 2004 as Professor Emeritus of Primatology. Steklis served the University of Arizona South from 2007-2016 as Associate Dean, Division Chair, and Professor and Program Director for Anthropology and Psychology. Presently, he serves as Professor of Practice in the School of Animal and Biomedical Sciences, with affiliated appointments in Psychology, Program in Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology, and in Family Studies and Human Development. Steklis’ teaching, research and published books and scientific articles reflect multidisciplinary interests, including the neurobiology of primate social bonds, hormones and social behavior, primate communication, cognition and the evolution of human language, mountain gorilla behavior, personality, and conservation, the evolution of primate play and paternal behavior, and the evolution and nature of human-animal relationships. In addition to his academic career, Steklis held leadership positions with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Internationala non profit organization dedicated to gorilla research and conservation in Africa. He served as Director of the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda (1991-1993); Executive Director (1993-1995), and Chief Scientist and Vice-President (1995-2005).Current CV
Degrees
- Ph.D. Primatology/Biological Anthropology
- UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- The influence of selective temporal ablations on the social behavior of vervet monkeys.
Work Experience
- University of Arizona, School of Animal & Comparative Biomedical Sciences (2017 - Ongoing)
- University of Arizona South (2004 - 2016)
- Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1974 - 2004)
Awards
- David E Cox Faculty Teaching Award
- CALS, Spring 2021
Interests
Teaching
Human-Animal Interrelationships, the human-animal bond, animal ethology and welfare, Captive Primate Management
Research
Human-animal interrelationships; animal personality & life history; emotions in animals and humans.
Courses
No activities entered.
Scholarly Contributions
Books
Chapters
Journals/Publications
- More infoSince Darwin, many evolutionary and behavioral researchers have considered the role of phenotypic traits that favor the domestication of nonhuman animals. Among such proposed traits are a species’ social structure, level of intra- and interspecific agonistic interactions, sociosexual behaviors, parental strategies, reaction to humans, habitat preference, dietary habits, developmental trajectories, and utility to humans. However, little to no comparative phylogenetic evidence exists concerning the importance of these attributes for the domestication of animals. Moreover, rather than considering domestication as a dichotomous event (non-domesticated vs. domesticated), humans and their potential domesticates encountered numerous socioecological challenges/obstacles during the domestication process before reaching the stage of full domestication. The present study explored the influence of adult body mass, gregariousness, dietary breadth, and reaction to humans on the domestication process of ungulates. The phylogenetic comparative model revealed that capture myopathy (CM), as a proxy for reaction to humans, negatively and significantly influenced the domestication process. The present paper also explored the evolution of CM in equine species in response to the presence of large carnivoran predators during the Pleistocene. Ecologies that preserved most of the large carnivoran predators of equine species also featured more equine taxa with CM (e.g., zebras), which were thus less suitable for domestication.
Presentations
- More infoInvited presentation.
