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The PrimateCast
The PrimateCast features conversations with renowned primatologists, wildlife scientists, conservationists and other professional animal enthusiasts about the processes and products of their work. The podcast is hosted and produced by Dr. Andrew MacIntosh, who's now the Senior Scientist, Wildlife Conservation at the Wilder Institute / Calgary Zoo. The show was incubated by Kyoto University's Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology (CICASP), where Andrew worked from 2011-2024.
The PrimateCast
On Learning to Be a Monkey by Dr. Michael Huffman
In this installment of The PrimateCast we introduce a new series that CICASP launched in June 2021, the International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field.
The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories about experienced researchers of primatology and related fields, through lectures delivered by those very individuals. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program, but we decided to release the audio right here on The PrimateCast.
For anyone interested in viewing the video versions of these lectures, head over to CICASP's YouTube channel, where you can also watch them live as we stream our Zoom feeds there.
The first podcast in this lecture series brings you Dr. Michael Huffman, in a talk entitled "Learning to become a monkey and other lessons for becoming a primatologist".
"Make your dreams big so you can grow into them"
-Michael Huffman, 2021
Mike is associate professor in the Section of Social Systems Evolution at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute.
Mike is a pioneer in many ways. Perhaps most famous for his discoveries of self-medication in wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, he was also among the earlier scientists exploring topics like female mate choice and behavioral traditions - which we now know to be a form of animal culture - in Japanese macaques at Arashiyama Monkey Park in Kyoto, Japan).
But even the fact that he came to Japan to begin his career in the academy in his early twenties shows just what a pioneering spirit he has! But with mentors like the late Dr. Junichiro Itani, and a rich and active history of primatology in Japan, Mike found his way and eventually learned to become a monkey.
Mike presents his origin story here, in a talk entitled "Learning to become a monkey: and other lessons for becoming a primatologist". Watch it above or directly on YouTube.
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
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