Toshisada Nishida

Professor
Toshisada Nishida
Toshisada Nishida (Photo: Frans de Waal, 2007)
Born3 March 1941 (1941-03-03)
Died7 June 2011(2011-06-07) (aged 70)
Scientific career
FieldsZoology, Zoopharmacognosy, Primatology
Institutions

Toshisada Nishida (3 March 1941 7 June 2011) was a Japanese primatologist who established one of the first long term chimpanzee field research sites. He was the first to discover that chimpanzees, instead of forming nuclear family-like arrangements, live a communal life with territorial boundaries. His discoveries of the medicinal use of plants by wild chimpanzees helped form the basis of the field of zoopharmacognosy.

Nishida was a full professor of Zoology at Kyoto University, the President of the Primate Society of Japan, the President of the International Primatological Society, and the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Primates. In 2008, he was a recipient of the Leakey Prize for his accomplishments in human evolutionary science.