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Reader in Evolutionary Anthropology

Telephone : +44 (0)20 8392 3528
Email : S.Semple@roehampton.ac.uk
Department : Life Sciences
Office location : Whitelands 1061

Research Interests

Primate social behaviour, welfare and conservation

Research Project Undertaken

RECENT GRANTS AWARDED

Leakey Foundation ($10,380) 2008
Hedonic benefits of grooming in Barbary macaques

Darwin Initiative Scoping Award (£2972) 2006
Post release monitoring of orangutans in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah

Wenner Gren Foundation ($9,730) 2005
Mother-offspring communication in rhesus macaques: the role of bystanders

Teaching Interests

Zoology, primatology, animal conservation

I am programme coordinator for Zoology and Conservation Biology

PHD STUDENTS

David Inglis
Communication and social behaviour of olive baboons
Co-supervised with Dr Caroline Ross

Nienke Alberts
Fission-fusion sociality among olive baboons in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria
Co-supervised with Dr Julia Lehmann

Charlotte Carne
Modelling approaches to primate conservation
Co-supervised with Dr Julia Lehmann

Laetitia Marechal
An interdisciplinary anthropological study of ‘primate tourism’
Co-supervised with Prof Garry Marvin and Prof Ann MacLarnon

FORMER STUDENTS

James Higham (awarded 2006)
The reproductive ecology of female olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) at Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria
[Co-supervised with Prof Ann MacLarnon and Dr Caroline Ross]
James is now associate professor at New Yrok University

Chris Sandbrook (awarded 2007)
Who are the true ecotourists? Evaluating the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.
[Co-supervised with Prof Katherine Homewood, UCL and Dr Sarah Durant, Institute of Zoology]
Chris now has a lectureship at Cambridge University

Emily Bethell (awarded 2010)
Cognitive bias in rhesus macaques
[Co-supervised with Prof Ann MacLarnon and Dr Amanda Holmes]
Emily now has a lectureship at Liverpool John Moores University

Lauren Brent (awarded 2010)
Stress, reproduction and social behaviour in non-human primates
[Co-supervised with Prof Ann MacLarnon]
Lauren is now working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Duke University

Publications

Gustison, M, MacLarnon, A, Wiper, S and Semple, S (in press) An experimental study of behavioural coping strategies in free-ranging female Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Stress
Kaburu, SSK, MacLarnon, A, Majolo, B, Qarro, M and Semple, S (in press) Dominance rank and self-scratching among wild female Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). African Zoology
Bethell, EJ, Holmes, A, MacLarnon, A and Semple, S (in press) Cognitive bias in a non-human primate: husbandry procedures influence cognitive indicators of psychological wellbeing in captive rhesus macaques. Animal Welfare
Majolo, B, van Lavieren, E, Marechal, L, MacLarnon, A, Marvin, G, Qarro, M and Semple, S (in press) Out of Asia: the singular case of the Barbary Macaque. In The Macaque Connection: Cooperation and Conflict between Humans and Macaques (Radhakrishna, S, Huffman MA & Sinha, A eds)
Carne, C, Semple, S and Lehmann, J. (in press) The effects of climate change on orangutans: a time budget model. In Climate Models. Rijeka: In-Tech Press. 
Ellis, JJ, MacLarnon, AM, Heistermann, M and Semple, S (2011) The social correlates of self-directed behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels among adult male olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria. African Zoology 46, 302-308
Fischer, J, Semple, S, Fickenscher, G, Jürgens, R, Kruse, E, Heistermann, M and Amir, O (2011) Do women’s voices provide cues of the likelihood of ovulation? The importance of sampling regime. PLoS One 6, e24490 
Moses, K and Semple, S (2011) Primary seed dispersal by the black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) in the Manombo forest, southeast Madagascar. Journal of Tropical Ecology 27, 529–538 
Carne, C, Wiper, S and Semple, S (2011) The reciprocation and interchange of grooming, agonistic support, feeding tolerance and aggression in semi-free-ranging Barbary macaques. American Journal of Primatology 73, 1–7 
Maréchal, L, Semple, S, Majolo, B, Qarro, M, Heistermann, M and MacLarnon, A (2011) Impacts of tourism on anxiety and physiological stress levels in wild male Barbary macaques. Biological Conservation 144, 2188–2193 
Brent, LN, Semple, S, Dubuc, C, Heistermann, M and MacLarnon, A (2011) Social capital and physiological stress levels in free-ranging adult female rhesus macaques. Physiology and Behavior 102, 76-83 
Semple, S, Hsu, MJ and Agoramoorthy, G (2010) Efficiency of coding in macaque vocal communication. Biology Letters 6, 469-471 
Reamer, L, Tooze, Z, Coulson, C and Semple, S (2010) Correlates of self-directed and stereotypic behaviours in captive red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 124, 68-74 
Semple, S, Gerald, M and Suggs, D (2009) Bystanders affect the outcome of mother-infant interactions in rhesus macaques. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 276, 2257-2262 
Dubuc, C, Brent, L, Accamando, AK, Gerald, MS, MacLarnon, A, Semple, S, Heistermann, M and Engelhardt, A (2009) Sexual skin color contains information about the timing of the fertile phase in free-ranging rhesus macaques. International Journal of Primatology 30, 777-789 
Higham, JP, MacLarnon, AM, Heistermann, M, Ross, C and Semple, S (2009) Rates of self-directed behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels are not correlated in wild female olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis). Stress 12, 526-532 
Price, T, Arnold, K, Zuberbühler, K and Semple, S (2009) Pyow but not hack calls of the male putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithcus nictitans) convey information about caller identity. Behaviour 146, 871-888 
Haakonsson, J, and Semple, S (2009) Lateralisation of trunk movements in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Laterality 14, 413 – 422 
Higham, JP, Semple, S, MacLarnon, AM, Heistermann, M and Ross, C (2009) Female reproductive signaling, and male mating behavior, in the olive baboon. Hormones and Behaviour 55, 60-67 
Greeno, N, and Semple, S (2009) Sex differences in vocal communication among adult rhesus macaques. Evolution and Human Behaviour 30, 141-145 
Higham, JP, Heistermann, M, Ross, C, Semple, S, and MacLarnon, AM (2008) The timing of ovulation with respect to sexual swelling detumescence in wild olive baboons. Primates 49, 295-299 
Carder, G and Semple, S (2008) Visitor effects on anxiety in two captive groups of western lowland gorillas. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 115, 211-220 
Higham, JP, MacLarnon, AM, Ross, C, Heistermann, M and Semple, S (2008) Baboon sexual swellings: information content of size and color. Hormones and Behaviour 53, 452-462 
Wiper, S and Semple, S (2007) The function of teeth-chattering in the Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus). American Journal of Primatology 69, 1179 - 1188 
Shutt, K, MacLarnon, A, Heistermann, M and Semple, S (2007) Grooming in Barbary macaques: better to give than receive? Biology Letters, 3, 231-233 
Semple, S, and Ross, C (2007) Orangutan post-release monitoring research Phase 2: Tabin Reserve. Report for the Orangutan Appeal UK and Sabah Wildlife Department, Borneo 
Sandbrook, C & Semple, S (2006) The rules and the reality of mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) tracking: how close do tourists get? Oryx 40, 428-433 
Semple, S and McComb, K (2006) The function of female copulation calls in the genus Macaca: insights from the Barbary macaque. In The Barbary macaque: comparative and evolutionary perspectives (J.K. Hodges and J. Cortes, eds). Nottingham: Nottingham University Press. 
Weyher, A, Ross, C and Semple, S (2006) A comparison of gastrointestinal parasites in a crop raiding and a wild foraging troop of olive baboons in Nigeria. International Journal of Primatology 27, 1519-1534 
McComb, K and Semple, S (2005) Coevolution of sociality and vocal communication in primates. Biology Letters 1, 381-385