Research Training Group 2070 Understanding Social Relationships

Dietmar Zinner

Cognitive Ethology Laboratory
German Primate Center


Research Interests


  • Evolution of primate social systems
  • Primate ecology
  • Primate phylogeography



Education and Employment

2004 -Senior Scientist, Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Göttingen
1996 - 2004Scientist, Department of Ethology and Ecology, German Primate Center, Germany
1994 - 1995Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Tropical Ecology, Duke University, USA
1993 - 1994Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Ethology and Ecology, German Primate Center, Germany
1993Dr. rer. nat (Biology), University of Göttingen, Germany



Selected honours and awards

1993Best Thesis Award of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Göttingen
1993Young Scientist Award, German Primate Center, Göttingen


Selected publications

Selected publications

Fischer, J., Kopp, G.H., Dal Pesco, F., Goffe, A., Hammerschmidt, K., Kalbitzer, U., Klapproth, M., Maciej, P., Ndao, I., Patzelt, A. & Zinner, D. (2017). Charting the neglected West: the social system of Guinea baboons. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 162, 15-31.

Kalbitzer, U., Roos, C., Kopp, G.H., Butynski, T., Knauf, S., Zinner, D. & Fischer, J. (2016). Insights into the genetic foundation of aggression in Papio and the evolution of two length-polymorphisms in the promoter regions of serotonin-related genes (5-HTTLPR and MAOALPR) in Papionini. BMC Evolutionary Biology 16, 121.

Kopp, G.H., Patzelt, A., Fischer, J., Roos, C. & Zinner, D. (2015). Population genetic insights into the social organization of Guinea baboons (Papio papio): Evidence for female-biased dispersal. American Journal of Primatology 77, 878-889

Liedigk, R., Kolleck, J., Böker, K.O., Meijaard, E., Md-Zain, BM., Abdul-Latiff, M.A.B., Ampeng, A., Lakim, M., Abdul-Patah, P., Tosi, A.J., Brameier, M., Zinner, D. & Roos, C. (2015). Mitogenomic phylogeny of the common long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis fascicularis). BMC Genomics 16, 222.

Kopp, G.H., Ferreira da Silva, M.J., Fischer, J., Brito, J.C., Regnaut, S., Roos, C. & Zinner, D. (2014). The influence of social systems on patterns of mitochondrial DNA variation in baboons. International Journal of Primatology, 35, 210-225.

Zinner, D., Wygoda, C., Razafimanantsoa, L., Rasoloarison, R.M., Andrianandrasana, H., Ganzhorn, J.U. & Torkler, F. (2014). Analysis of deforestation patterns in central Menabe, Madagascar, between 1973 and 2010. Regional Environmental Change, 14, 157-166.

Grueter, C.C., Chapais, B. & Zinner, D. (2012) Evolution of multilevel social systems in nonhuman primates and humans. International Journal of Primatology, 33, 1002-1037.

Zinner, D. & Wheeler, B. (2012). Violence among our close relatives. Aggression in non-human primate societies. In: Kortüm HH & Heinze J (eds.) Aggression in Humans and other Primates. Biology, Psychology, Sociology. de Gruyter, Berlin, 41-86.

Hilgartner, R., Fichtel, C., Kappeler, P.M. & Zinner, D. (2012). Determinants of pairliving in red tailed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus). Ethology 118, 466-479.

Zinner, D., Arnold, M.L. & Roos, C (2011). The strange blood - hybridization in primates. Evolutionary Anthropology 20, 96–103.

Zinner, D., Groeneveld, L.F., Keller, C. & Roos, C. (2009). Mitochondrial phylogeography of baboons (Papio spp.) – Indication for introgressive hybridization? BMC Evolutionary Biology 9, 83.

Stückle, S. & Zinner, D. (2008). To follow or not to follow: decision making and leadership during the morning departure in chacma baboons. Animal Behaviour 75, 1995-2004.