Barbara Smuts

Barbara Boardman Smuts She has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in anthropology, and did a Ph.D. in neurological and biological behavioral science at Stanford Medical School with David Hamburg.

Research Much of Smuts' research concerns the development of social relationships between animals, particularly among chimpanzee and baboon populations. In the 1970s she began studying animal behaviour at the University of Michigan, including research with Jane Goodall on chimpanzees in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. In Gombe, Smuts had a violent introduction to field research, being among four field researchers kidnapped and beaten by a Marxist revolutionary group. Though none of the captured spoke Swahili, Smuts was able to communicate with the leader of the guerrillas in French. She was then released after a week to communicate the rebels' demands to those working to get the victims released.

Smuts began studies of wild baboons in 1976, and her observations challenged the prevailing view of male dominance. Studies she made of wild olive baboons in Tanzania and Kenya inspired her 1985 book Sex and Friendship in Baboons. The book, the fruit of two years' research, showed how two different groups of the same primate interact with each other socially. She determined that friendship was a critical predictor of sexual activity between male and female baboons: females preferred to mate with males that had previously engaged in friendly interactions with them and could interact with their other offspring as well.

Smuts also carried out research into bottlenose dolphin social development, working extensively with Janet Mann.

Smuts' more recent research at the University of Michigan has focused on social behavior among dogs.

Views on feminism Smuts endorses feminist sociobiology and argues that studying intersexual conflict sheds light on aspects of human society such as male control of female sexuality, but has stated that justifications for social policies should nevertheless remain rooted in ethics rather than biology.

Awards She received the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contribution to Psychology (Area: Animal Learning and Behavior) in 1988.