Kay E. Holekamp
Professor
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1983
322 Natural Science Building
Office Telephone: 517-432-3691
holekamp@msu.edu
Research website
Mammalian Behavioral Development
My interests focus on the ontogenetic development, physiological mediation, and evolution of mammalian behavior. I am currently pursuing various lines of research investigating how social , ecological, and physiological variables interact during an individual’s early development to influence its subsequent behavior and its reproductive success as an adult. Although some of my current graduate students work on other mammalian carnivores, the primary study organism used in my lab is the spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). Spotted hyenas are long-lived, gregarious carnivores exhibiting a unique suite of behavioral, endocrine, and morphological characteristics. Since 1988, we have been studying the behavioral ecology of members of multiple large Crocuta groups in Kenya. In contrast to the societies of other gregarious carnivores, hyena societies are structured like those of baboons and macaques, and the organization of hyena groups is based on linear dominance relationships. In one line of research, we are investigating the effects of social rank on concentrations of steroid hormones in pregnant females, and correlated rank-related variation in the behavioral phenotypes of the offspring born from those pregnancies. We are also investigating rank-related variation in insulin-like growth factor (IGF1). Another line of research uses a novel combination of behavioral and morphometric techniques to evaluate hypotheses concerning relationships throughout ontogenetic development among morphology of the feeding apparatus, diet, feeding performance in wild hyenas. A new line of work focuses on tradeoffs and constraints associated with the fact that the skull is both a scaffold for the feeding musculature and also a protective case for the developing brain. Students in my lab are also conducting studies evaluating demography, the value of social relationships, communication, acquisition of social knowledge, and effects of human activity on hyenas’ use of space and time.
Representative Publications