- Zoos: A Historical Perspective from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The National Zoological Park is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
AZA
Wolf Dittus, Ph.D., Research Zoologist,
Department of Conservation Biology
Conservation
and Science
Education
McGill University, B.Sc., Zoology & Geology, 1965
McGill University, M.Sc., Zoology, 1968
University of Maryland, Ph.D., Behavioral Ecology, 1974
Professional History and Interest
Wolf
Dittus has been affiliated with the Smithsonian's National
Zoological Park since 1969. His scientific interests concern
ethology, behavioral ecology, sociobiology, and population
biology, particularly as these relate to the function of behavior
in a natural environment and to the evolution of social behavior.
He has developed a substantial long-term (more than 30 years) empirical resource that makes possible unique and important scientific discovery. It involves an entire population of toque macaques (Macaca sinica) that inhabit natural dry evergreen forest at Polonnaruwa, in Sri Lanka. The population at present comprises over one thousand individuals distributed among 33 different social groups.
All individuals are individually identified. For all macaques born since 1968, he knows their dates of birth, death, and emigration, matrilineal genealogy, social ranks, and history. For many he has documented growth and development, as well as paternity and other genetic attributes and epidemiological and physiological profiles.
Dittus’ approach to understanding behavioral adaptation and social evolution has become more interdisciplinary. His aims are to clarify the relationships among different variables (e.g., behavior, ecology, environment, genealogy, development, and disease) and their influence on individual survival and reproduction. To this end, he has involved students and colleagues in collaborative studies.
He has published over 50 scientific papers encompassing a broad range of topics: life-table and demography, population regulation, social structure, competition and affiliation, group fission and fusion, ethology and communication, social evolution, behavioral development, parturition, wound care, forest structure, environmental change, range use, diet, wildlife management and conservation, population genetics, paternity determination, somatometric growth, dental development and wear, epidemiology, and methods of research for primate population ecology.
In an applied sense, the program takes the lead role locally for conservation issues and environmental education outreach projects. In addition, each year 10 to 45 visitors from the USA, UK, Europe, Africa, or Australia have participated as Earthwatch volunteers or fellows. Some international participants have been trained in wildlife research techniques. On a wider (worldwide) scale, knowledge gained from his research has been disseminated through several films that have been shown on the Discovery and other international TV channels.
Wolf Dittus is an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Primatology and the founder and Chairman of the “Association for the Conservation of Primate Diversity”in Sri Lanka
Five Selected Publications
Dittus, W. P. J. and A. Baker Dittus. 1995. Behavior in relation to wildlife management: rationale and techniques. In "The Development of International Principles and Practices of Wildlife Research and Management: Asian and American Approaches", (S. H. Berwick and V. B. Saharia, Eds.). Oxford Univerty Press Pp. 295-323.
Keane, B., Dittus, W. P. J. and D. J. Melnick. (1997). Paternity assessment in wild groups of toque macaques Macaca sinica at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka using molecular markers. Molecular Ecology 6, 267-282.
Dittus, W. P. J. 1998. Birth sex ratios in toque macaques and other mammals: integrating the effects of maternal condition and competition. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 44, 149-160.
De Silva, A. M., W. P. J. Dittus, P. H. Amerasinghe, and F. P. Amerasinghe (1999). Serologic evidence for an epizootic dengue virus infecting toque macaques (Macaca sinica) at Polonnruwa, Sri Lanka. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 60, 300-306.
Contact
Smithsonian
Primate Biology Program
c/o
Institute of Fundamental Studies
Hantana
Road, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Phone
& fax: +94-8-215248
E-mail:
dittus@.sri.lanka.net
