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West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
WVSOM Researcher ’ s Study of Monkeys and Humans Blends Anthropology , Anatomy
What can monkeys teach us about what it means to be human ? That ’ s what Irene Smail , PhD , who joined the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine ( WVSOM ) in 2022 as an anatomy professor , hopes to find out through her research .
Smail ’ s work is a continuation of research she began in graduate school . After completing an undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison , Smail earned a master ’ s degree and PhD in anthropology from Arizona State University . Before joining WVSOM , she was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Southern California ’ s Keck School of Medicine , where she taught anatomy to both master ’ s degree and medical students .
During her time at Arizona State , Smail joined a project whose aim is to answer questions about the disappearance of the prehuman species Australopithecus afarensis and the emergence of early humans leading to Homo sapiens . As a member of the project ’ s paleoecology team , she began traveling to Ethiopia to search for fossil monkeys . That work has allowed her to conduct her own research into how communities of monkeys have changed over time in response to environmental change .
Smail measures fossil monkey teeth — from the project in Ethiopia and from U . S . museums — to examine how changes in diet may have affected changes in the shape of teeth . A full understanding of the changes will require measuring other bones as well , she said .
“ We can use our measurements to figure out what they were eating and look at differences in teeth to determine if they were eating different things ,” she said . “ But because teeth are not the only thing you use to eat , I ’ ve started to add other measurements . I went to the Smithsonian and photographed monkey skulls and jaws . I use the photos to make 3D models , then I use the models to take geometric measurements such as how curved the jaw is to try to see if it ’ s related to diet .”
Because monkeys and humans have lived alongside one another in Africa for about five million years , Smail can compare fossil monkeys with fossil humans over various time periods to identify what makes humans different . She ’ s interested in understanding how humans came to have their physical form .
“ As an anthropologist , I ’ m interested in understanding not only modern culture and society , but how we physically became modern humans , and that ’ s where anatomy comes in ,” she said . “ Knowing how we became this way gives us a better understanding of what humans look like on the inside .”
Additionally , Smail plans to study how human behavior is changing the behavior of modern-day monkeys .
“ I ’ ve started looking at Asian monkeys , because a lot of deforestation is happening there , and habitats are being changed . I want to
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