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Alumni Spotlight: Katherine Gonder, B.A.
Katherine Gonder says she knew nothing about evolution until she took an anthropology course as a UAB sophomore in 1990. Now she’s doing research that could deepen our understanding of the evolution of chimpanzees, man’s closest relatives.
Gonder is part of a New York research team whose work shows that a previously undiscovered type of common chimpanzee might be present in the West African countries of Nigeria and Cameroon. The team’s preliminary finding, based on Gonder’s field research and laboratory work, was reported in the July 24, 1997, issue of the journal Nature.
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| Currently, Gonder is doing additional field work to test this preliminary finding. “We also are looking at the influence of geography on the chimps—how they move among the mountains and rivers,” she says. “The most important thing to me is that we have shown these chimps are there and that they are different from chimps in other places.”
An important implication of Gonder’s research, she says, is that efforts should be made to protect this new type of chimpanzee. Indeed, her work could enhance conservation efforts for a species that is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Gonder, who is working on a Ph.D. at the City University of New York (CUNY), grew up in Homewood and earned a B.A. from the Department of Anthropology at UAB in 1993. While a student at UAB, she studied long-tailed macaque monkeys in Bali, Indonesia, with Bruce Wheatley, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology.
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Fieldwork is one of Gonder’s strengths, says John Oates, Ph.D., her advisor at CUNY. “Many young American students might be intimidated by what Katy is prepared to do. Wading in swamps, scaling mountains, and sleeping in village huts far from the comforts of home—she does all of those things. Katy often talks about how she prefers to be in the wild, rather than the lab. But she does well in both.” Gonder spent five months in Nigeria conducting the fieldwork that was described in Nature. She usually traveled with four or five men, including a hunter, a cook, and a park ranger. Her group covered about 400 miles and climbed about 100 trees. They encountered cobras and green mamba snakes and came within 15 feet of wild chimps. “I don’t think of it as very dangerous,” Gonder says. “The tree climbing is probably the most harrowing part. Nigeria is an extraordinarily beautiful country, and I particularly like the high-altitude areas.”
During her months in Nigeria, Gonder collected hair samples from sleeping nests the chimps build nightly in the forest. DNA analysis of the hair indicates the chimps are genetically distinct from the three subspecies of common chimpanzee usually recognized by primatologists. Those three subspecies occur in the forests of East Africa, Central Africa, and West Africa.
Gonder’s family life is truly international in scope. Her husband, Joe Kujawski (a 1993 UAB electrical engineering graduate), spends much of his time in the deep ice fields of Antarctica. He works for a company called Antarctic Support Associates, redesigning computer hardware for automated geophysical observatories. Gonder and Kujawski met and were married at the UAB Honors House. Gonder says that Ada Long, Ph.D., director of the Honors Program, was one of the major influences on her career, largely because she encouraged students to explore new territories.
Gonder’s explorations have taken her to new territories indeed. “I was told that I was the first white woman to ever go to some of these places in Nigeria,” she says. “I was astounded that there are still places in the world that are so isolated—protected, actually. But most people seem pleased that this young American lady is running around their country, and they want to help.”
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