Profile

Dr Esther Clarke
Biography
I gained my PhD from the Centre for Social Learning and Cultural Evolution at St Andrews University where I studied wild white-handed gibbons in Thailand. In particular I focused on their anti-predatory behaviour and vocalisations and used the comparative approach to describe my findings in relation to the evolution of primate vocal communication in general, including human language.
Now I am studying captive gibbon vocalisations and reproductive endocrinology and examining the role of the endocrine system on the primate vocal apparatus.
Media
BBC Radio 4's Today Programe, 8th April 2015; "Gibbon calls could shed light on human speech": http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nnsc3
Research Interests
- Primate behaviour
- Primate endocrinology
- Primate vocal communication
- The evolution of primate cognition
Publications
Journal Article
- Miyagawa, Shigeru & Clarke, Esther (2019). Systems Underlying Human and Old World Monkey Communication: One, Two, or Infinite. Frontiers in Psychology 10: 1911.
- Clarke, E., Reichard, U. H. & Zuberbühler, K. (2015). Context-specific close-range “hoo” calls in wild gibbons (Hylobates lar). BMC Evolutionary Biology 15(1): 56.
- Clarke, Esther, Reichard, Ulrich H. & Zuberbühler, Klaus (2012). The Anti-predator behaviour of wild white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 66(1): 85-96.
- Clarke, E., Reichard, U.H. & Zuberbühler, K. (2006). The syntax and meaning of wild gibbon songs. PLoS ONE 1(1): e73.
Conference Paper
- Clarke, E., Zuberbühler, K. & Reichard, U. H. (2014), Vocal communication in gibbons, in Cartmill, E. A., Roberts, S., Lyn, H. & Cornish, H. eds, 10th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANG10). Vienna, Austria, World Scientific Publishing, Hackensack, NJ, 413-414.
International Collaboration
- Dr Michael Coen, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Dr Michael Heistermann, German Primate Center
Selected Grants
- 2014: Primate Vocalisations as Sexual Signals: Examining the Role of Reproductive Hormones on the Acoustic Structure of Female Song in Zoo Gibbons (£10636.00 from The Royal Society)
- 2012: Primate Society of Great Britain Research Grant