He has spent thousands of hours observing wild apes and other primates in the rainforest of Latin America and Southeast Asia, studied fossils from tyrannosaurids to Neandertals, and developed new techniques for using advanced surface analysis technologies to tease information about diet from tooth shape and patterns of use wear.
He is Distinguished Professor, Chairman of Anthropology, and Director of the Environmental Dynamics Program at the University of Arkansas. Before arriving at Arkansas, he taught at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Duke University Medical Center. Ungar is known primarily for his work on the role of diet in human evolution.
Ungar has written or coauthored more than 150 scientific papers on ecology and evolution for books and journals including Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
These have focused on food choices and feeding in living primates, and the role of diet in the evolution of human ancestors and other fossil species. His book and coedited Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution.
His most recent book is Teeth: A Very Short Introduction. Ungar’s work has been featured in hundreds of electronic, print, and broadcast media outlets, and he appeared recently in documentaries on the Discovery Channel, British Broadcasting Corporation Television, and the Science Channel.
