title: Apes in the Anthropocene: flexibility and survival.
abstract: We are in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, and research into our closest living relatives, the great apes, must keep pace with the rate that our species is driving change. While a goal of many studies is to understand how great apes behave in natural contexts, the impact of human activities must increasingly be taken into account. This is both a challenge and an opportunity, which can importantly inform research in three diverse fields: cognition, human evolution, and conservation. No long-term great ape research site is wholly unaffected by human influence, but research at those that are especially affected by human activity is particularly important for ensuring that our great ape kin survive the Anthropocene.
authors.affiliation: Anthropology Centre for Conservation, Environment and Development, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK; Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA-FCSH/UNL), Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: khockings@brookes.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Kimberley J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Hockings
authors.affiliation: Anthropology Centre for Conservation, Environment and Development, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: McLennan
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington DC, WA 20052, USA; Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: HUTAN/Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme, Sabah, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ancrenaz
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington DC, WA 20052, USA.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bobe
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Robin I M
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Dunbar
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan; Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuzawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: McGrew
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington DC, WA 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wrangham
authors.affiliation: Anthropology Centre for Conservation, Environment and Development, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003071:Cognition; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D015186:Hominidae / Q000502:physiology*; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D012106:Research
keywords: anthropogenic disturbance; ape cognition; behavioural flexibility; great apes; hominin coexistence; human–wildlife interaction