Third Place: Momma

Photography by Aaron Mencia, graduate student,
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Living in South Florida, people don’t realize there is a small population of wild monkeys right in their backyard. These monkeys face the daily challenges of looking for their next meal, water, as well as dangerous cars, people and powerlines. How does a mother raise a child in this kind of environment? With a little help from family. Alloparenting, or the care provided by other individuals in a group, provides a mother with the much-needed help in raising a child in a hostile environment. My research investigated how monkeys helped each other in childcare while living in this environment.

Mentor: Kate Detweiler, Ph.D., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters