Elisabetta Palagi

Elisabetta Palagi is an associate professor at the Department of Biology (University of Pisa). She holds a master's degree in biology and a PhD in evolutionary biology. Elisabetta has been studying social carnivores (meerkats, lions, spotted hyenas), horses, sea lions and most of all primate species, including lemurs (e.g., Propithecus verreauxi, Lemur catta), monkeys (e.g., Macaca fuscata, Macaca tonkeana, Theropithecus gelada), all the African apes and humans since 1992. She has published about 140 papers in international journals with a high impact factor on a wide array of topics bridging sociobiology, multimodal communication, social cognition and conflict management. Her comparative studies focus on functions and evolutionary significance of both object and social play, conflict management and resolution in social groups, sociosexuality and the behavioural patterns underlying emotional contagion (facial mimicry/yawn contagion) as a mean to understand the evolution of empathic abilities in human and nonhuman animals. Most of her studies have attracted a strong media interest (i.e., New Scientist, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Science Daily, Smithsonian).