Education:

BA in Biological Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia,
USA Certificat de Primatologie: Universite Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France MPhil and DPhil in Biological Anthropology: Washington University, St Louis

Research Interests:

My main research interests fall under the areas conservation, phylogenetics and speciation. To study various aspects of these fields, my fieldwork has taken me to Trinidad, Senegal, Utah, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Uganda and Kenya. Although I have conducted fieldwork on bats, small carnivores (including civets and cats), mouse deer, and giant squirrels, my primary research focus is on primates. I have conducted long-term studies of Indian and Sri Lankan slender lorises. Amongst others, research topics have included behavioural ecology, life history and foraging behaviour.

I have also looked at the community ecology of Sri Lanka's rainforest primates, including toque macaques and purple-faced leaf monkeys. In particular I have examined the effects of fragmentation on populations throughout Sri Lanka's sparse remaining rainforests. I have had extensive training in Distance sampling, census techniques and home range analysis and have applied this to my primate research. Census techniques is a key area that teach on the MSc in Primate Conservation. My current research project looks at the diversity of Asian slow lorises, both in the field and using museum specimens. This and last year, my research takes me to Java, Sumatra, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam, where at least five species of slow loris are found. Morphological, behavioural and vocal analyses are being used to uncover diversity within this group.

Current Academic Position:

• Oxford Brookes University
  2001-current Reader in Anthropology, course tutor for MSc in Primate Conservation
• University of Oxford
  2001-current ‘Visiting Scholar’ in Human Evolution and Animal Behaviour (Honours Schools of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Human Sciences); Human Sciences tutor for St. John’s, New, Somerville, Keble, St. Hugh’s, St. Catherine’s, St. Hilda’s, St. Anne’s, St. Peter’s, Harris Manchester, Lady Margaret Hall, Mansfield, Magdalen, Pembroke, Regent’s Park, Hertford, Wadham, Jesus, and Mansfield Colleges

Professional Affiliations and Society Memberships:

• I am on the board of directors of a Sri Lankan NGO (LORRIS – Land Owners Restore Rainforest in Sri Lanka) and on GREENS, a conservation education NGO in Tamil Nadu, South India.
• American Association of Physical Anthropologists
• International Primate Society
• Primate Society of Great Britain (Elected Member of Council and Conservation Working Party)
• American Society of Primatologists
• Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka
• Sigma Xi
• Nocturnal Primate Research Group
• Bat Conservation International
• International Primate Protection League

Postgraduate Supervision:

• PhD students Director of studies: 3 full-time students (current) Second supervisor: 5 full-time students (current)
• MSc students Director of studies: 9 full-time students (current); 49 supervised to completion since 2001
• External Examining of PhD/ MPhil students University of Cambridge, Selwyn College University of Oxford, Keble College

Research Accomplishments:

• 2000: PhD Dissertation: The Socioecology of the Slender Loris (Loris tardigradus lydekkerianus) in South India. University Microfilms, Michigan. DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. A61(5). Pgs: 1929.
• 1993: B.A. Honours Thesis Research. “Pair-bonding Behaviours and Male Dominance Hierarchies in Two Subspecies of Ruffed Lemurs, Varecia variegata variegata and V.v. rubra.”

Professional Reviews:

I am a member of the editorial board of the international journal Folia Primatologica, mammal subject editor of
Endangered Species Research, and have undertaken reviews for the following journals and organizations:

• Primate Conservation Inc. / Oryx American / Journal of Physical Anthropology
• Conservation International / Journal of Zoology / Yearbook of Physical Anthropology
  
• Primate Society of GB / Animal Behavior / Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology
  
• National Science Foundation / Folia Primatologica / American Journal of Primatology
  
• L.S.B. Leakey Foundation / African Journal of Ecology / Prentice Hall Monographs- Primate Behavior
  
• BP Conservation Awards / Kluwer Publishing / International Journal of Primatology
  
• National Geographic / Biotropica / Contributions to Zoology / Biology Letters of the Royal Society
  
• Primate Conservation Inc. / Oryx / American Journal of Physical Anthropology
  
• Conservation International / Journal of Zoology / Yearbook of Physical Anthropology
  
• Primate Society of GB / Animal Behaviour / Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology
  
• National Science Foundation / Folia Primatologica / American Journal of Primatology
  
• National Geographic / Biology Letters of Royal Society / Prentice Hall Monographs in Primate Behavior
  
• BP Conservation Awards / Kluwer Publishing / International Journal of Primatology

Recent Research Experience:

2007. Thailand. Survey of nocturnal mammals at Loam Changwat sub-station, Chachoengsao Province with Manoon Pliwsungnoen.

2007. Sumatra. Survey of lorises (Nycticebus coucang hilleri) in Ulu Masen Forest, Aceh.

2006. Singapore. Survey of lorises (Nycticebus coucang) in the Central Catchment of Singapore.

2006. Java. Exploration of three forest patches in Java, Indonesia, to assess suitable land for a slow loris rescue and rehabilitation centre; morphological study of slow lorises for taxonomic differences.

Selected Publications (out of 56 publications):

Nekaris KAI, Blackham G, Nijman V (2008). Conservation implications of low encounter rates of five nocturnal primate species (Nycticebus spp.) in Asia. Biodiversity and Conservation. Online first DOI 10.1007/s10531-007- 9308-x.

Aldrich BC, Molleson L, Nekaris KAI. (2008, in press) Vocalisations as a conservation tool: an auditory survey of the Andean titi monkey Callicebus oenanthe Thomas, 1924 (Mammalia: Primates: Cebidae) at Tarangue, Northern Peru. Contributions to Zoology 00:000-000.

De Jong Y, Butynski T, and Nekaris KAI. (2008, in press) Survey of patas monkey in Kenya Journal of East African Natural History 00:000-000.

Nekaris KAI & Bearder SK. (2007). The strepsirrhine primates of Asia and Mainland Africa: diversity shrouded in darkness. In Primates in Perspective (eds. SK Bearder, C. Cawdell, A Fuentes, K MacKinnon, M Panger). Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 24-45.

Nekaris, KAI & Jaffe, S. (2007). Unexpected diversity of slow lorises (Nycticebus spp.) within the Javan pet trade: implications for slow loris taxonomy. Contributions to Zoology 76(3):187-196.

Nekaris KAI, Nijman V. (2007). CITES proposal highlights rarity of Asian nocturnal primates (Lorisidae: Nycticebus). Folia Primatologica. 78(4):211-214

Nekaris KAI, Pimley ER and Ablard K. (2007). Anti-predator behaviour of lorises and pottos. In (eds. Gursky SG and Nekaris KAI). Primates and Their Predators. Springer Press: New York. Pp. 220-238.

Nekaris KAI & Stephens NJ (2007). All lorises are not slow: rapid arboreal locomotion in the newly recognised red slender loris (Loris tardigradus tardigradus) of southwestern Sri Lanka. Am J Primatology 69:112-120.

Nekaris, KAI (2006). The social lives of Mysore slender lorises. Am J Primatology 68:1-12.

Bearder SK, Nekaris KAI & Curtis D (2006). A re-evaluation of the role of vision for the activity rhythms of nocturnal primates, Folia Primatologica 77(1-2):50-71.

Buckley C, Nekaris KAI & Husson S. (2006) Survey of Hylobates albibarbis in peat swamp, Central Kalimantan, Borneo. Primates 47(4):327-335.

Nekaris KAI. (2005). Foraging behaviour of the slender loris: implications for theories of primate origins. Journal of Human Evolution 49:289-300.

Nekaris KAI, Liyanage WKDD & Gamage S (2005). Relationship between forest structure and floristic composition and population density of the Southwestern Ceylon slender loris (Loris tardigradus tardigradus) in Masmullah Forest, Sri Lanka. Mammalia 69(2):1-10.

Nekaris KAI & Jayewardene J (2004). Distribution of slender lorises in four ecological zones in Sri Lanka. Journal of Zoology. 262:1-12.

Nekaris KAI & Jayewardene J (2003). Pilot study and conservation status of the slender loris (Loris tardigradus and Loris lydekkerianus) in Sri Lanka. Primate Conservation 19: 83-90.

Conference Presentations and Invited Seminars:

Invited seminars at:
• Bristol Zoological Gardens, U.K.
• St John’s College, Oxford.
• King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT)- Bangkuntien Campus, Thailand.
• Naturalis Museum, Leiden, The Netherlands.
• Zoological Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Flora and Fauna International, Aceh, Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia.
• The National University of Singapore, Department of Zoology.
• Oxford University Department of Zoology, U.K.
• University of Jakarta, Department of Zoology, Indonesia.
• Schmutzer Primate Centre Education Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia.
• University of Cambridge, Department of Animal Behaviour, U.K.
• University of Roehampton, School of Life and Sport Sciences, Surrey, UK.
• Institute of Anthropology, Zürich, Switzerland.
• Department of Anthropology, University College, London.
• Faculty of Animal Science, Ruhuna University, Matara, Sri Lanka.
• State University of New York. Geneseo Department of Anthropology, USA.
• Department of Zoology, Southern Illinois University Colloquial Series, USA.
• St. Louis Zoological Gardens, USA.

Some places my research has appeared:
• Missione Natura - La7 Television, Italy
• Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures, U.K. Channel 5
• BBC documentary series Life, U.K.
• Bayerischer Rundfunk Redaktion Naturwissenschaften und Tiere, Germany
• YA (Young Asia) Television, Sri Lanka
• NHK, Japan
• Canadian Discovery Channel (@Discovery.com)
• Oxford Channel 6 (UK)
• David Attenborough’s “Life of Mammals: the Tree Dwellers,” produced for BBC