Barbara J. King
is a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. She is a Chancellor Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. With a long-standing research interest in primate behavior and human evolution, King has studied baboon foraging in Kenya and gorilla and bonobo communication at captive facilities in the United States.
Recently, she has taken up writing about animal emotion and cognition more broadly, including in bison, farm animals, elephants and domestic pets, as well as primates.
King's most recent book is How Animals Grieve (University of Chicago Press, 2013). Her article "When Animals Mourn" in the July 2013 Scientific American has been chosen for inclusion in the 2014 anthology The Best American Science and Nature Writing. King reviews non-fiction for the Times Literary Supplement(London) and is at work on a new book about the choices we make in eating other animals. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in 2002.
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Gorilla naturalist? Barbara J. King suggests watching this young male gorilla in the Virunga Mountains during his close-up encounter with a baby owl.
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Tiny filler words in human rapid-fire conversation hold the key to understanding how language is unique, according to a new book. But anthropologist Barbara J. King raises some questions. -
Students in this "Living Deliberately"' class embrace asceticism and challenge stereotypes of college kids who can't put down their cellphones, says anthropologist Barbara J. King. -
Activist Tobias Leenaert counsels vegans and vegetarians to focus on vegan meals rather than vegan identities — and to talk encouragingly with meat reducers, says anthropologist Barbara J. King. -
We may all tear up watching this elderly chimpanzee reunite with a friend at the end of her life — a testament to the complexity of animal thinking and feeling, says anthropologist Barbara J. King. -
Is it necessary coddling or just good science to give college students breaks to check their phones? Anthropologist Barbara J. King takes a look. -
Apes' intelligence tests vary so much from kids' that comparative results may be invalid. Anthropologist Barbara J. King explores new insights from psychology. -
Technology allows mapping of wildlife movements with new precision — and a fresh approach to conservation — as evidenced by Where the Animals Go, released Tuesday in the U.S., says Barbara J. King. -
Yes, President Trump's words tend to be simple and oft-repeated. The real question, says anthropologist Barbara J. King, may be what happens when we adopt them. -
The movie, opening this week, portrays the stark cruelty in trophy-hunting — and reveals hard realities about wildlife conservation in Africa, says anthropologist Barbara J. King.
