THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Russell (Russ) H. Tuttle (PhD, UC Berkeley 1965) is an active Professor of Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, History of Science and Medicine and the College at the University of Chicago. For over 50 years he has mentored countless graduate, undergraduate and medical students, many of whom are leaders in their respective professions. He conducted pioneering functional morphological work on apes via electromyography (EMG) and meticulous dissections, leading to the conclusion (recently supported by fossils) that chimpanzees poorly represent the locomotive pattern that underpinned the evolution of human terrestrial bipedalism. He also provided a functional interpretation of the 3.66 million-year-old hominid footprint trails at Laetoli, Tanzania, which has held up well vis-à-vis challenges of other commentators. He has received several national and campus teaching awards. Other honors include: Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Distinguished Primatologist Award of the Midwest Primate Interest Group, Medallion of the Collège de France, Medal of the Fondation Singer-Polignac, 50-year Membership and Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has conducted field and laboratory studies in Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Japan, and Perú, and in numerous museums in Europe, Asia and North America. He is author of numerous papers on a variety of topics, author or editor of 9 books, and past Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Primatology (20 years) and the book series Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects.
Recent Research / Recent Publications
2014
Apes and Human Evolution. Harvard University Press.
2008
Footprint clues in hominid evolution and forensics: lessons and limitations. Ichnos. 15:158-165.
2007
Love, Knowledge, and the Evolution of a Mentor. In Joys of Teaching Anthropology, P.C. Rice, C.P. Kottak, and d.C. McCurdy, pp, 91-100. Boston: McGraw Hill.
2006
Animalia, Homo and the Kingdom of God. Zygon. 41: 139-168.
2006
Hidemi Ishida: 40 Years of Footprints in Japanese Primatology and Paleoanthropology. In Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds, Eds. H. Ishida, R.H. Tuttle, M. Pickford, M. Nakatsukasa & N. Ogihara, pp. 1-14, New York: Springer.
2006
Are Human Beings Apes, or Are Apes People Too? In Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds, Eds. H. Ishida, R.H. Tuttle, M. Pickford, M. Nakatsukasa & N. Ogihara, pp. 245-254, New York: Springer.
2006
Neontological Perspectives on East African Middle and Late Miocene Anthropoidea. In Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds, Eds. H. Ishida, R.H. Tuttle, M. Pickford, M. Nakatsukasa & N. Ogihara, pp. 205-219, New York: Springer.
2006
Seven Decades of East African Miocene Anthropoid Studies. In Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds, Eds. H. Ishida, R.H. Tuttle, M. Pickford, M. Nakatsukasa & N. Ogihara, pp. 15-29, New York: Springer.
2005
Human Evolution. Encyclopaedia Britannica 18:412-424, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Chicago, IL.
2002
Paleoanthropology Read in Tooth and Nail. Reviews in Anthropology. 31: 103-128.
2001
On Culture and Traditional Chimpanzees. Current Anthropology. 42(3): 407-408.
2001
Fossils, Phylogenies and Feelings. In B.B. Beck, et al., eds., Great Apes and Humans. The Ethics of Coexistence. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 178-90.
1998
Heel, squat, stand, stride: function and evolution of hominoid feet. (with B. Hallgrimsson & T. Stein). In E. Strasser, et al., eds. Primate Locomotion: Recent Advances. Plenum Press, 435-448.
1996
The Laetoli hominid G Footprints. Where do they stand today? Kaupia 6:97-102.
1994
Up From Electromyography: Primate Energetics and the Evolution of Human Bipedalism. In R.S. Corruccini and R.L. Ciochon, eds., Integrative Paths to the Past: Paleoanthropological Advances in Honor of F. Clark Howell. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 269-284.
1992
Hands from Newt to Napier. In S. Matano, R.H. Tuttle, H. Ishida, and M. Goodman, eds., Topics in Primatology, vol. 3: Evolutionary Biology, Reproductive Endocrinology and Virology. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 3-20.
1988
What’s new in African paleoanthropology? Annual Reviews of Anthropology 17:391-426.
1986
Apes of the World. Their Social Behavior, Communication, Mentality and Ecology. Park Ridge, N.J.: Noyes Publications.