Hi! I’m Megan.

I am a biological anthropologist and behavioral ecologist interested in the evolution of social and mating system diversity.

My research is centered in sexual selection, with a particular emphasis on the co-evolution of female and male reproductive strategies. I address my research questions by studying wild primates in the field and leveraging behavioral observations, endocrinology, genetics, ecoimmunology, and digital measurements of morphology.

I am currently a postdoctoral associate in the Anthropology Department at Tulane University where I study white-faced capuchins in Costa Rica. I received my PhD from New York University in 2021 where I worked in the Primate Reproductive Ecology and Evolution research group. I also co-direct the Kasanka Baboon Project in Zambia, the only field site focused on the lesser-known Kinda baboon.

You can contact me at mpetersdorf (at) tulane (dot) edu.