Hare obtained his
Bachelor of Arts degree in
Anthropology and
Psychology from
Emory University in 1998. As an undergraduate, he conducted research with
Michael Tomasello, where he found that chimpanzees are sensitive to what other chimpanzees can and cannot see, and that domestic dogs can follow humans’ pointing gestures to find food. Hare continued his study of primate and canid cognition at
Harvard University, where he was advised by
Richard Wrangham. In 2004, he obtained his
Ph.D in Biological Anthropology. He joined the
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in
Leipzig,
Germany, where he founded the Hominoid Psychology Research Group. He studied great ape cognition in several African sanctuaries, including
bonobos at
Lola ya Bonobo and
chimpanzees at
Tchimpounga and
Ngamba Island. Since 2008, Hare has been a professor at
Duke University. In 2009, he founded the Duke Canine Cognition Center, which has tested the cognitive abilities of pet dogs in the
Research Triangle area as well as working dogs from organizations such as
Canine Companions for Independence. He has also researched
lemur cognition at the
Duke Lemur Center. Hare co-founded Dognition, a
citizen science enterprise where dog owners play a variety of games with their dogs to test the dogs’ cognitive skills. With his wife,
Vanessa Woods, Hare co-authored the popular science book
The Genius of Dogs, which was a New York Times Best Seller. ==Publications==