Geographical Areas of Specialization: Africa
Topical Interests: Functional Morphology and Ecology of Hominids and Apes
Current Courses: B464 Human Paleontology, B524 Theory and Method in Human Paleontology
Profile:
Since we can never study our ancestors directly, we must rely on
their traces to understand them. The earliest members of our lineage,
the australopithecines, are quite ape-like, which means that we must
turn to chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates for hints about how
they behaved, and why human evolution took its peculiar course.
In my research I use what I learn from chimpanzee locomotion, posture
and ecology to better understand what led humans to diverge from
apes, in particular, what advantage bipedalism gave our chimpanzee-like
ancestors some 5 million years ago.
I attempt to link specific anatomical features in chimpanzees and
australopithecines with specific behaviors. I use these links to
trace the path of human evolution, particularly through reconstruction
of their foraging habits. In my research muscular and skeletal form
are treated as engineering problems, and the "design" of the animal
is treated as a solution to the need to perform a particular activity
(e.g., running, arm-hanging). Ecological study is linked because
the body (teeth, jaws, hands, limbs even brain) is really a
food-getting machine. Once a secure link between a particular behavior
or dietary item and an anatomical feature is made, we can turn this
link back on the fossils and reconstruct their behavior. In short,
our ancestors' bodies can be understood as complicated machines oriented
toward certain tasks.
More about Dr. Hunt can be found at his homepage.
Selected Publications:
| 2002a |
K.D. Hunt. Primatology as a career. In:
A Guide to Careers in Physical Anthropology, A.
S. Ryan (ed.) Greenwood Publishing Group: Westport,
pp. 85-107. |
| 2002b |
K.D. Hunt and W. C. McGrew. Chimpanzees
in dry habitats at Mount Assirik, Senegal and at
the Semliki-Toro Wildlife Reserve, Uganda. In:
Behavioural Diversity in Chimpanzees and Bonobos,
C. Boesch, G. Hohmann and L.F. Marchant (eds.)
Cambridge University Press, pp. 35-51. |
| 2000 |
K.D. Hunt. Initiation of a new chimpanzee
study site at Semliki-Toro Wildlife Reserve, Uganda.
PanAfrica News. 7 (2): 14-16.1998. K.D. Hunt. Ecological
morphology of Australopithecus afarensis: traveling
terrestrially, eating arboreally. In: Primate Locomotion:
Recent Advances, E. Strasser, J.G. Fleagle, H.M.
McHenry and A. Rosenberger (eds.). Plenum: New
York, pp. 397-418. |
| 1998 |
K.D. Hunt, V.L. Dean, D.W. Fitting,
and L. Adler. Ultrasonic determination of the elastic
modulus of human cortical bone. Medical and
Biological Engineering and Computing 6 :
51-56. |
| 1996 |
K.D. Hunt. The postural feeding hypothesis:
an ecological model for the evolution of bipedalism. South
African Journal of Science 92: 77-90. |
| 1996 |
K.D. Hunt, J.G.H.
Cant, D.L. Gebo, M.D. Rose, S.E. Walker, & D.
Youlatos. Standardized descriptions of primate
locomotor and postural modes. Primates 37
: 363-387. |
| 1994 |
The evolution of human bipedality: ecology
and functional morphology, Journal of Human
Evolution, 26 : 183-202. |
| 1994 |
Body size effects on vertical climbing
among chimpanzees, International Journal of
Primatology, 15 : 855-865. |
| 1993 |
Social rank and body weight as determinants
of positional behavior in Pan troglodytes, Primates, 33
(3) : 347-357. |
| 1992 |
Positional behavior of Pan troglodytes
in the Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream National
Parks, Tanzania, American Journal of Physical
Anthropology, 87: 83-107. |
| 1991 |
Mechanical implications of chimpanzee positional
behavior, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 86
(4): 521-536. |
