I was born in Argentina where I obtained my first biology degree at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1990 I left Argentina to do my Ph.D. in the Animal Behavior Group at the University of California in Davis, USA. Since completing my doctorate, I have spent time as a fellow or associate at Harvard University (David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and Department of Anthropology), the Zoological Society of San Diego (Center for Conservation and Research), and the Center for Applied Ecology (Cecoal-Argentina).  In 2006 I joined the Department of Anthropology in the University of Pennsylvania.
   
    I am a behavioral ecologist with a general interest in understanding the evolution and maintenance of social systems.  My main research interest is to examine the mechanisms that maintain social monogamy in mammals and the role that sexual selection may have had in the evolution of this unusual mating system.  I am also motivated to study living primates as an approach to understanding the evolution of human behavior.  I am particularly interested in male-female relationships, pair bonding and paternal care in humans and non-human primates.  
   
    Sakis, titis, and owl monkeys, the three monogamous genera that I study have some fascinating differences in their degree of physical sexual dimorphism, the extent of affiliation between partners and in the amount of paternal care provided that make them an excellent group to evaluate alternative hypotheses for the evolution and maintenance of monogamy in primates and early humans.  The Owl Monkey Project and the Comparative Socioecology of Monogamous Primates Project are providing unvaluable data to examine those questions through field research in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Argentinean Chaco.   
   
    The research on the demography, population biology and life-history of howler monkeys in Venezuela and Argentina is another attempt at understanding mating systems and sexual selection by focusing this time of a very different taxon that lives in multi-female groups.  Finally, I have very recently began a collaborative examination of Human Mate Choice by focusing on human populations in the Argentinean Chaco.
   
    Through my field work I have become very aware of the urgent need to take action regarding the conservation and ecology of the fauna and flora of the region in a way that is totally compatible with the human populations in those habitats.   The Conservation and Ecology of Mammals Project in the Argentinean Chaco, as well as the numerous outreach and education activities that I have conducted over the years are a step in that direction.

Recent Publications (2008-2009)

E. Fernandez-Duque, H. De la Iglesia, & H. G. Erkert.  Moonstruck primates: wild owl monkeys need moonlight for nocturnal activity (submitted)

Babb, P., E. Fernandez-Duque, P. Gagneux & T. G. Schurr.  Phylogeography and Population Structure of mtDNA Diversity in Azara’s owl monkeys (Aotus azarai azarai) of the Argentinean Chaco.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (submitted).

Valeggia, C., Burke, E. & E. Fernandez-Duque.  The impact of socioeconomic change on nutritional status among Toba and Wichí populations of Argentina.  Economics and Human Biology (in press). 

E. Fernandez-Duque, C. R. Valeggia & S.P. Mendoza (2009).  The Biology of Paternal Care.  Annual Review of Anthropology, Volume 38:115-130. 

E. Fernandez-Duque, E. (2009). Natal dispersal in monogamous owl monkeys (Aotus azarai) of the Argentinean Chaco. Behaviour 146:583-606. 

E. Fernandez-Duque, A. Di Fiore & G. Carrillo-Bilbao (2008).  Behavior, ecology and demography of Aotus vociferans in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador.  International Journal of Primatology 29: 421-431.

E. Fernandez-Duque, C. Juárez & A. Di Fiore (2008).  Adult Male Replacement and subsequent infant care by male and siblings in socially monogamous owl monkeys (Aotus azarai).  Primates 49:81-84.

C.K. Wolovich, J.P. Perea-Rodriguez, E. Fernandez-Duque (2008).  Food sharing as a form of paternal care in wild owl monkeys (Aotus azarai).  American Journal of Primatology 70:211-221.

Macdonald, E.; E. Fernandez-Duque, L. Hagey & S. Evans (2008).  Sex, age and family differences in the chemical composition of owl monkey (Aotus nancymaae) subcaudal scent marks.  American Journal of Primatology 70:12-18.