Eleni Nikitopoulos

Ph.D. 2003, University of Utrecht

Post-doctoral Research Scientist,
currently Associate Professor, New York Institute of Technology

current website

I study primate sociality and sexuality from a perspective that focuses on how behaviors contribute to increase an individual’s reproductive success. My dissertation work concerned female mating strategies in long-tailed macaques. In particular, I was interested in copulation calls and promiscuity. My postdoctoral research examines kinship and cooperation in blue monkeys. In the Molecular Anthropology Lab at New York University, I am genotyping DNA extracted from feces to determine kinship within four groups of blue monkeys. At the end of this project I would like to continue to study cooperation in primates and delve further into topics such as indirect reciprocity, reputation and the biological basis of morality.

Publications

• Cords, M., Nikitopoulos, E. 2015. Maternal kin bias in affiliative behavior among wild adult female blue monkeys. American Journal of Primatology 77: 109-123.  doi:10.1002/ajp.22315
• Roberts, S., Nikitopoulos, E., Cords, M. 2014.  Factors affecting low resident male siring success in one-male groups of blue monkeys. Behavioral Ecology 25: 852-861. doi:10.1093/beheco/aru060
• Nikitopoulos E., Heistermann M., de Vries H., Sterck E.H.M., van Hooff J.A.R.A.M.  2005.  A pair choice test to identify female mating pattern in relation to ovulation in long-tailed macaques, Macaca fascicularis.  Animal Behaviour 70:  1283-1296.
• Nikitopoulos E., Arnhem E., Sterck E.H.M., van Hooff J.A.R.A.M.  2004.  The influence of female copulation calls on male sexual behavior in captive Macaca fascicularis. International Journal of Primatology 25:  659-677.