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Home » People » Faculty/Experts »  Leslie J. Digby

Leslie J. Digby

Leslie J. Digby, Assistant Research Professor, Biological Anthropology & Anatomy

Contact Info:
08A Bio Sci Building
(919) 632-0509
ldigby@duke.edu
Education:
  • Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1994
  • M.A., University of California, Davis, 1988
  • BA, University of California, San Diego, 1986

Research Interests: Evolution of Primate and Human Social Behavior; Primate Behavioral Ecology; Mating Systems and Infanticide; Behavioral Thermoregulation; Three-dimensional home-range use; Lemurs, Marmosets

Current projects: Methods for Mapping Primate Home Ranges, Behavioral thermoregulation in primates, Comparative Cognition in Lemurs

My research has centered on the evolution primate social and reproductive behavior (including female-female competition) for many years. Working with marmosets and lemurs, I've investigated the evolution of infanticide, mating systems and cooperative breeding. In the last few years I've also begun to study more ecological aspects of behavior, in particular the methods and impact of habitat use by lemurs. One of the themes of this research is the three-dimensional use of space by arboreal primates. Using the natural habitat enclosures of the Duke Lemur Center, we've been able to track (using GPS) the animals and determine a home-range 'volume' that provides a much richer look at habitat use than the traditional two-dimensional home-range areas. We are also working on determining the factors that contribute to the use of different locations and heights within the forest. Using thermography, IR thermometers, and ibuttons that track temperature and humidity, we're investigating how surface and ambient temperatures impact the lemurs' use of their forest habitats. Understanding this type of behavioral thermoregulation and use of microhabitats could have far reaching implications for why animals are restricted to certain types of forest, geographic locations and even how species respond to long-term climate variation.


Curriculum Vitae
Teaching (Spring 2024):

  • EVANTH 344L.01L, Primate Field Biology Synopsis
    Lemur ctr ctr, TuTh 08:30 AM-09:45 AM

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Saltzman, W; Digby, LJ; Abbott, DH. "Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: what can proximate mechanisms tell us about ultimate causes?." Proceedings. Biological sciences 276.1656 (February, 2009): 389-399. (Published on-line Oct 2008) [doi]  [abs]
  2. L.J. Digby, S.F. Ferrari, W. Saltzman. "Callitrichines: the role of competition in cooperatively breeding species.." Primates in Perspective. Ed. K.C. MacKinnon, M. Panger, S. Bearder, C. Campbell, and A. Fuentes. Oxford University Press, 2007
  3. L. Digby and W. Saltzman. "Balancing cooperation and competition in callitrichid primates: examining the relative risk of infanticide across species." The Smallest Anthropoids: The Marmoset/Callimico Radiation. Ed. SM Ford, LM Porter and LC Davis. Springer Verlag, November, 2009  [abs]
  4. Abbott, D.H., Digby, L.J. and Saltzman, W.. "Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: contributions of infanticide and subordinate self restraint.." Reproductive Skew in Vertebrates: Proximate and Ultimate Causes. Ed. Hagar, R. and Jones, C.. Cambridge University Press, September, 2009
  5. Digby, L; McLean Stevens, A. "Maintenance of female dominance in blue-eyed black lemurs (Eulemur macaco flavifrons) and gray bamboo lemurs (Hapalemur griseus griseus) under semi-free-ranging and captive conditions.." Zoo biology 26.5 (September, 2007): 345-361. [doi]  [abs]
  6. Digby, LJ. "Infanticide by female mammals: implications for the evolution of social systems." Infanticide by Males and Its Implications. Ed. C. van Schaik and C. Janson. Cambridge University Press, November, 2000. 423-446.  [abs]
  7. Digby, LJ; Kahlenberg, SM. "Female dominance in blue-eyed black lemurs(Eulemur macaco flavifrons).." Primates; journal of primatology 43.3 (July, 2002): 191-199. [12145400], [doi]  [abs]
  8. Digby, L. "Infant care, infanticide, and female reproductive strategies in polygynous groups of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 37.1 (January, 1995): 51-61. [doi]  [abs]
  9. Digby, LJ; Ferrari, SF. "Multiple breeding females in free-ranging groups of Callithrix jacchus." International Journal of Primatology 15.3 (June, 1994): 389-397. [doi]  [abs]
  10. Nievergelt, CM; Digby, LJ; Ramakrishnan, U; Woodruff, DS. "Genetic analysis of group composition and breeding system in a wild common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) population." International Journal of Primatology 21.1 (January, 2000): 1-20. [doi]  [abs]
  11. Digby, LJ. "Sexual behavior and extragroup copulations in a wild population of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).." Folia primatologica; international journal of primatology 70.3 (January, 1999): 136-145. [10394062], [doi]  [abs]