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Cyril C. Grueter

@cyrilgrueter.bsky.social
201 followers 235 following 44 posts

Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford Primate behavioural ecology and the evolutionary foundations of human nature 🐒🌿🌍📊

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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thanks to the Green Room podcast crew in Kigali for having me! I really enjoyed our conversation about Rwanda, apes and monkeys, conservation, anthropology and so much more. A great conversation with a fantastic team!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Our preprint on altruism and mate preferences has been getting some attention @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @oxford-anthro.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What an amazing day with the Cyamudongo chimpanzee community in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Today we searched for Nyungwe’s northernmost known chimpanzee community, Gisovu. Semi-habituated, wide-ranging, and not systematically studied, they’re not easy to find. No luck today but a beautiful, exhausting day in the forest.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Great to be back in Rwanda for a chimpanzee research workshop, taking stock of what we’ve achieved, catching up with colleagues and looking ahead to future opportunities and priorities for chimpanzee research and conservation.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
New paper! Using an agent-based model, we show that patchy food and bachelor males can bring primate groups together and promote intergroup tolerance. @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social brill.com/view/journal...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Great to connect with some bright minds in primatology and genomics at Yunnan University!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
New Animal Behaviour study: male white-headed langurs produce strikingly regular, beat-like calls. During male–male conflicts, their snorts become even more rhythmically precise, suggesting vocal rhythm may signal competitive quality. @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Our recent study featured in the New York Times www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/s... @ox.ac.uk @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social
nytimes.com
Humans Love Having Pets. Seems Like Some Other Primates Do, Too.
We aren’t the only animals that like to take care of other species. A new study finds that the roots of keeping a pet may stretch deep into our primate past.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Something I’ve wanted to do for well over a decade. Fewer than 200 Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys remain in N Vietnam. Could they also occur across the border in China’s Malipo County? We’re now visiting nearby villages to find out if anyone has ever seen or heard these elusive monkeys.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Always nice to reconnect with the International Centre for Biodiversity and Primate Conservation (ICBPC) crew in Dali.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Article in the New Scientist about our paper exploring the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping @oxford-anthro.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2583...
newscientist.com
What primates tell us about the evolutionary origins of keeping pets | New Scientist
Keeping pets seems to be fairly recent behaviour in the timeline of human evolution. Columnist Michael Marshall turns to the latest research on primates to understand how long we’ve had the impulse to...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
New paper in Current Zoology! Our 10-year study of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys shows that male takeovers create sex-specific social pressures on mothers and offspring, which likely help reduce aggression, future male competition or infanticide risk. doi.org/10.1093/cz/z...
doi.org
Maternal and infant behavioral responses to male replacement in a primate multilevel society
Abstract. Male replacement in one-male units (OMUs) can generate strong social pressures on females and offspring, influencing transfer behavior, spatial r
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
My Conversation article explores remarkable friendships between primates and other species-and what they might reveal about the evolution of human–animal companionship. @ox.ac.uk @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @wadhamcollege.bsky.social theconversation.com/monkeys-keep...
theconversation.com
Monkeys keep pets too – animal specialist on the world of interspecies friendship
It’s not just humans who enjoy interacting with other animal species.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
And another paper just published! We show that the world's highest-altitude primate, the black-and-white snub-nosed monkey, adjusts its seasonal altitudinal movements by balancing food availability and solar radiation www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/16... @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social
mdpi.com
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
New paper! We explore cases of non-human primates carrying, grooming and forming bonds with individuals of other species and what this might reveal about the evolution of pet-keeping. link.springer.com/article/10.1... @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Back in Rwanda, this time accompanying a group as an expert. Always a privilege to share the world of mountain gorillas and chimpanzees through the lens of my own research. 🦍
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
New paper out! We found that high-altitude snub-nosed monkeys lose more body mass during the mating season than during winter. Reproduction appears to be even more energetically costly than surviving the cold. 🐒❄️ @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/16...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
It was great to host my old friend Rich McFarland from Nottingham Trent University in Oxford and hear about his fascinating work on body temperature patterns in primates. @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Nice to see media coverage of our new Science News feature on our Biology Letters paper. “The persistent threat of altercations may supercharge size evolution in male primates via a kind of chronic cold war.” www.sciencenews.org/article/prim... @oxford-anthro.bsky.social
sciencenews.org
Territorial conflict may explain male primates’ large size
Male primates may be larger than females partly because of pressure from rival groups, not just competition with males inside their own group.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
New paper out (Biology Letters, OA): in primates, male-biased size differences are better predicted by between-group competition than by mating system. Time to look beyond the group in studies of sexual selection. doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
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Reposted by Cyril C. Grueter
Oxford Social Sciences Division @socsci.ox.ac.uk · 12/05/2026
🌦️ 🐒 Research from @oxford-anthro.bsky.social's @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social found that chimpanzees adapt their nests every night based on environmental cues - suggesting that they could be planning ahead for wet, cool or warmer weather conditions. www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/article/chim...
anthro.ox.ac.uk
Chimpanzees in the wettest part of Rwanda seem to plan ahead for bad weather
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Back where it all began-writing my PhD thesis here in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Zurich from 2005 to 2009. Grateful to my supervisor and mentor, Carel van Schaik, for the guidance that shaped my career.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Always a pleasure to visit the Department of Anthropology at the University of Zurich and hear about the exciting great ape research underway. Thanks, Robin and Kat, for hosting me!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
In this paper I argue that xenophilia has deep evolutionary roots (trade, intermarriage, shared defense) and I explain how humans uniquely scale and sustain cooperation across groups. @ox.ac.uk @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
New paper alert! In this Current Biology paper led by Hassan Al Razi, we show that chimpanzees in Rwanda adjust nest construction with weather conditions. @ox.ac.uk @oxford-anthro.bsky.social @oxfordhumsci.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
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Reposted by Cyril C. Grueter
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Awesome plenary from @nakedprimate.bsky.social at #ehbea2026, about gestures and storytelling, which started with a dawn drive in Chad and ended with a Douglas Adams quote perfectly encapsulating the process of science
Slide with a photo of a driver heading towards a bright dawn sun Closing slide with a quote from Douglas Adams 

"...I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be....
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Great job by my PhD student Hannah Goodman presenting her work on the role of sexual selection in cross-cultural variation in extrasomatic ornamentation at #ehbea2026
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Oxford School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography @oxford-anthro.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
🥇We're delighted to be ranked number one for #Anthropology in the QS World University Rankings 2026! 👏Thank you to everyone @oxford-anthro.bsky.social as this year's ranking reflects the continued excellence of our researchers and achievements of our students. anthro.web.ox.ac.uk/article/scho...
The School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, 51 - 53 Banbury Road Oxford. A Victorian semi detached building framed by trees. With the text School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography ranked number 1 for Anthropology in  QS World Rankings 2026
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Many thanks, @alexvgeorgiev.bsky.social, for hosting me in the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences at Bangor University. I greatly enjoyed the visit and our stimulating discussions.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
This week I presented my work at Wadham College (symposium on FORCE) and @oxford-anthro.bsky.social (PalEvo seminar). Thanks for the invitation and stimulating discussions. Oxford is a great place for transdisciplinary exchange.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
New paper out! Single-nucleus RNA-seq shows that golden snub-nosed monkeys have distinct prefrontal cortex gene expression linked to oxytocin & dopamine signaling. The molecular signature scales with social complexity across primates. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
New paper out: Endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys do more than eat lichen. By feeding on Usnea longissima, they help prevent lichen overgrowth that damages trees and may even promote lichen regeneration. Losing these monkeys risks destabilizing forest health. 📖 doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
New paper: Intelligence drives switching to better solutions; openness drives exploration, even when it’s suboptimal. Familiarity keeps us conservative. What this means for social learning and cumulative culture. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Had a great time discussing my research at today’s FINE (Frontiers in Social Evolution) seminar. Big thanks to Carsten Schradin for the invitation and for hosting me!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Last night, I was officially sworn in as a Fellow at my Oxford College. Signing Wadham College’s Fellows’ Book today, the very same book that has been in use for over 400 years, was a true honour.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
New paper from us: the endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkey helps forests stay healthy and diverse. By breaking branches and opening the canopy, these rare primates promote plant growth and long-term ecosystem resilience www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Attending a session at the IUCN World Conservation Congress where our Centre, the International Center for Biodiversity and Primate Conservation (ICBPC), was formally welcomed as a member of the #GlobalGibbonNetwork
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Reposted by Cyril C. Grueter
Centre for Evolutionary Biology at UWA @ceb-uwa.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
🐒 Male Coalition Strategies in Toque Macaques Lakshani Weerasekara examines cooperation and conflict in macaques, focusing on how males form coalitions and what factors influence coalition success 🐵👬🥊 8/11 @mandyridley.bsky.social @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Excited to share that I’ve joined the University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk as Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and @wadhamcollege.bsky.social as a Tutorial Fellow in Human Sciences. Grateful for everyone who’s supported me on the journey so far. Looking forward to this new chapter!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
13+ years at the University of Western Australia shaped me in so many ways. I grew as a researcher, teacher, and mentor, launched new projects, and saw my students thrive. Grateful for the people, opportunities, and lessons.
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Revisiting the species that defined my PhD years. So good to see the black-and-white #snubnosedmonkeys again in the mountains of Yunnan!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
International Centre for Biodiversity and Primate Conservation (ICBPC) leadership met this week in Dali/China to discuss progress on human–wildlife conflict research, student exchanges, outreach, and new partnerships in Rwanda and Kenya. Big steps ahead!
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Just out in Biological Reviews! My new paper highlights intergroup peace in primates: tolerance, affiliation, group mergers etc. We propose a new framework for understanding these interactions, with insights into the roots of human cooperation. 📖 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Close encounters of the friendly kind: pacific between‐group interactions in primates
While intergroup conflict features prominently in the behavioural ecology literature, its antonym, intergroup peace, has been a rather neglected phenomenon until recently. Neighbourly relations and a....
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
How does forest structure shape primate behavior? 🐒🌲 We studied black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys in Yunnan’s high-elevation forests using 10 years of observations, camera traps, and LiDAR (laser scanning of forest structure). www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Cyril C. Grueter @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
New paper out! Here we show that mountain gorilla groups in different parts of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park eat strikingly different diets but the nutritional quality of their key foods is surprisingly similar. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Dietary Variability Among Mountain Gorilla Groups Across Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Dietary variability among mountain gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park (VNP) was analyzed to understand how habitat differences influence diet and whether diet quality accounts for variations i...
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