Birute Galdikas

Areas of interest

Research specialties include studies of primate behavior, ecology, and evolution, with particular focus on orangutans. Other research interests involve tropical rain forest ecology and phenology.

Education

• BA (University of British Columbia)
• MA, PhD (University of California, Los Angeles)

Biography

Since 1971 research has been ongoing at the Orangutan research and conservation center in Tanjung Puting National Park, Indonesia. These studies have been specifically concerned with wild orangutan behavior, the development of orangutan conservation programs, and the re-introduction of captured individuals into the wild. Specific areas that have been investigated include orangutan subsistence, sociality, reproduction, cognitive potentials, communications and tool use. Other primate studies have been carried out on proboscis monkeys and macaques. A small number of SFU undergraduate and graduate students have been involved in field work at Tanjung Puting.