Siddharth Girish

My research broadly focuses on evaluating the role of extant primates as models for reconstructing evolution of early hominins. I am a part of the Ape Research Index (ARI), where I have been working on creating a database for recording cognitive research conducted with chimpanzees in captivity world-wide (see our website)

My PhD project uses the ARI database to investigate whether previous research experience influences the cognitive performance of captive chimpanzees, with the aim of assessing the generalisability of the inferences drawn from cognitive tests conducted with captive chimpanzees.

I received my Master's degree in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Groningen (Netherlands). During my masters, I worked on simulating grooming behaviours in lemurs using agent-based models and conducted playback studies at Apenheul Zoo (Netherlands) to investigate mate choice in female orangutans.