URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2016_Melissa-McCarthy

Holly Dunsworth associate professor of anthropology

Dunsworth and her team hypothesize that it’s not the pelvis bone that dictates when and why humans are born, but rather our energy use and metabolism.

Dunsworth’s career has focused around primates. In her office at URI, monkey figurines stand on the shelves. Her walls have pictures of primates, a Darwin quote and awards she has received for her research. Her interest in the field began during her trips to western Kenya to search for fossil apes. She did this for about 10 years to help reconstruct the paleoenvironment where the apes were living, dying and evolving. This work influenced the research she conducts now. Within the next year, Dunsworth’s team will measure the energetic use of pregnant and lactating common marmoset monkeys at the Southwest National Primate Research Center in Texas.

“We’re hypothesizing that it’s the energetic and metabolic limits that are constraining gestation and pregnancy,” Dunsworth says. “If that’s the case, then it looks like humans are not unique in terms of when we give birth.” Dunsworth will finish up this study in the summer of 2017. Until then, she will continue teaching courses on human evolution and writing, whether for an anthropology blog, ‘The Mermaid’s Tale,’ or freelance writing for scientific publications, such as her January article for Scientific American titled, “Do animals know where babies come from?”

± ± ±

Fall | 2016 Page 39

Page 38 | The University of Rhode Island { momentum: Research & Innovation }