Contact details: pebarnes@ualg.pt

ORCID: 0009-0000-4452-9553

I am interested in the emergence of stone tool use in primates, including the spontaneous innovation of nut-cracking and flaking behaviours in chimpanzees, capuchins, and long-tailed macaques, focusing on wild or free-ranging environments. I aim to better understand whether the innovation (or re-innovation) of these behaviours are prompted by previous relevant experience, sensitive learning age ranges, or underlying genetic components.

Previously, I received BS degrees in zoology and statistics from Michigan State University (USA) and a MS in animal behaviour from the University of Zurich (Switzerland), where I modelled behavioural flexibility in semi-urban vervet monkeys in South Africa.