Rohit Negi

In 1960, Jane Goodall made a groundbreaking observation when she documented chimpanzees using thin blades of grass to extract ants from tree trunks and the ground. This discovery prompted Louis Leakey to famously state, 'Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.'

The concept of behavioral innovation is extremely intriguing to me, and when examining such behavior, two fundamental questions arise: an ultimate one, for example: why does the behavior evolve? —and a proximate one, for example: behavior ontogeny?

While it is believed that only Homo species were dependent on tool use, we now know of multiple non-human primate species that employ tools in the wild. I am specifically interested in stone-tool use and understanding the reasons behind and mechanisms of stone-tool usage among long-tailed macaques in Southern Thailand.

Throughout the course of my PhD, we will try to answer questions such as how dependent long-tailed macaques are on their tooling abilities for survival and how well they understand their tooling behavior.

Main Supervisor – Dr. Lydia Luncz

Education 

Awards 

Das, S., Harpalani, M., Chowdhuri, B., Negi, R., Ali, S. T., Singh, M. (2020). Use of an embedded fruit by the Nicobar Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus): I. Familiarity to Coconuts (Cocos nucifera L.) and temporal patterns of coconut foraging. Primate Conservation, 34,1-20. URL