Departmental News

Posted:  Mar 24, 2025 - 12:00pm

Andrew Kennedy, doctoral student in Evolutionary Anthropology, was awarded the Albert A. Dahlberg Prize for his paper Early Life Stress Exposure and Sex Differences in Wild Chimpanzees: Using Tooth Histology and Digital Light Microscopy.  This prize is awarded annually to the best student paper submitted to the Dental Anthropology Association professional meetings.

Abstract

This study compares micro enamel defect occurrences as a proxy of early life stress between male and female eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). Past studies have demonstrated that male chimpanzees engage in riskier behavior than females, such as rough play and engaging with adults in the community more frequently. We hypothesize that males would accrue more enamel defects than females. Using faunal specimens from the Kibale Chimpanzee Project (n=25), male and female incisors, canines, and premolars were imaged at the field site using digital light microscopy.  Canines develop during the period of initial sex differences in behavior, and tooth histology reflect those differences. This time period also coincides with additional social stressors, including changes in maternal energetics, like a resumption of cycling and the introduction of additional siblings.