Bio
Alexandra Kralick is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bryn Mawr College outside Philadelphia. As a four-field trained biological anthropologist, she studies sex differences in the human and great ape skeleton from an interdisciplinary, intersectionally femininist approach.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology where her dissertation examined the life history and functional morphology of sex differences in the orangutan skeleton. She focused on two types of male orangutans, flanged and unflanged, and developed an osteobiographic approach to identify the morphology and maturation of flanging status in museum collections. Her work engages with contextual reflexivity, decolonial theory, queer feminist theory, and discussions of ethics and equity in great ape skeletal remains research.
She recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in gender and science at the Harvard University GenderSci Lab. She earned her B.S. in Biological Anthropology from The George Washington University in 2014 where she studied gorilla dental development and wrist bone shape.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Alexandra E. Kralick, Babette S. Zemel, Clara Nolan, Phillip Lin, Matthew W. Tocheri. (2024). Relative leg-to-arm skeletal strength proportions in orangutans by species and sex. Journal of Human Evolution 188: 103496.
Specimens as individuals: Four interventions and recommendations for great ape skeletal collections research and curation
Alexandra E. Kralick, Stephanie Canington, Andrea Eller, and Kate McGrath.Specimens as Individuals: Four interventions and recommendations for great ape skeletal collections research and curation. (2023) Evolutionary Anthropology.1:20. doi: 10.1002/evan.22002
Beyond Dimorphism: Body Size Variation among Adult Orangutans is not Dichotomous by Sex
Open Access Publication available here
Alexandra E Kralick, Caitlin A O'Connell, Meredith L Bastian, Morgan K Hoke, Babette S Zemel, Theodore G Schurr, Matthew W Tocheri. (2023). Beyond Dimorphism: Body Size Variation among Adult Orangutans is not Dichotomous by Sex, Integrative and Comparative Biology, icad015, https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad015
Sex and Biology: Broader Impacts Beyond the Binary
Sam Sharpe, Andrew P.Anderson, Idelle Cooper, Alexandra E. Kralick, Timothy James, HansLindahl, Sara Lipshutz, J. F. McLaughlin, Banu Subramaniam, Alicia Roth Weigel,A. Kelsey Lewis. Sex and Biology: Broader Impacts Beyond the Binary. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 1:8. doi: 10.1093/icb/icad113
More severe stress markers in the teeth of flanged versus unflanged orangutans (Pongo spp.)
Alexandra E. Kralick and Kate McGrath. (2021). More severe stress markersin the teeth of flanged versus unflanged orangutans (Pongo spp.). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 1:13. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24387
Faster growth corresponds with shallower linear hypoplastic defects in great ape canines
McGrath, K., Reid, D.J., Guatelli-Steinberg, D., Arbenz-Smith, K., El Zaatari, S., Fatica, L.M., Kralick, A.E., Cranfield, M.R., Stoinski, T.S., Bromage, T.G. and Mudakikwa, A., 2019. Faster growth corresponds with shallower linear hypoplastic defects in great ape canines. Journal of Human Evolution, 137, p.102691
Evolutionary perspectives on the developing skeleton and implications for lifelong health
Open access Publication available here
Alexandra E. Kralick and Babette S. Zemel. (2020). Evolutionary perspectives on the developing skeleton and implications for lifelong health. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 11: 99. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00099
A radiographic study of permanent molar development in wild Virunga mountain gorillas of known chronological age from Rwanda
Alexandra E. Kralick, M. Loring Burgess, Halszka Golwacka, Keely Arbenz-Smith, Kate McGrath, Christopher B. Ruff, King Chan, Michael R. Cranfield, Tara S. Stoinski, Timothy G. Bromage, Antoine Mudakikwa, Shannon C. McFarlin. (2017). A radiographic study of permanent molar development in wild Virunga mountain gorillas of known chronological age from Rwanda. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 163(1):129-147.
Public Science Communication
"Habitat Destruction Is Affecting The Facial Features Of Orangutans"
Frontiers for Young Minds is an open access scientific journal that brings the latest research in real time to school kids
A big thank you to my funding sources
NSF (National Science Foundation)
The Leakey Foundation
P.E.O. (Philanthropic Education Organization)
AABA (American Association of Biological Anthropologists)
Penn Museum
University of Pennsylvania
George Washington University
Contact
Feel free to each out over email or twitter.
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