Matilda Brindle

Matilda Brindle is an evolutionary biologist and postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the evolution of [...] and social traits in primates and other mammals, including [...], kissing, wet dreams, and same-[...] [...] behaviour.

Education

She completed a doctoral thesis in biological anthropology at University College London in 2021. Her thesis, titled The evolution of postcopulatory [...] selection in mammals, was dated 25 September 2021.

Research

Brindle uses comparative and Bayesian phylogenetic methods to study behaviour, morphology, and ecology across species. Her research combines field observation, reviews of scientific literature, expert questionnaires, phylogenetic comparative methods, and evolutionary modelling. Her early research examined mammalian morphology, including the evolution and function of the baculum, a bone present in the [...] of some mammals. In 2016, she co-authored a study on postcopulatory [...] selection and baculum evolution in primates and carnivores. In 2019, Brindle received support from the Leakey Foundation for a project examining whether [...] serves an adaptive function in male rhesus macaques. The foundation also described Brindle as being in Danum Valley, Borneo, during fieldwork associated with its 2019 grantee programme. In 2023, Brindle co-authored a study on the evolution of [...] in primates. The study reported an association between the behaviour, postcopulatory selection, and pathogen avoidance. Brindle has also researched the evolution of kissing. In 2025, she co-authored A comparative approach to the evolution of kissing with Catherine F. Talbot and Stuart West. The University of Oxford reported that Brindle's research on the evolution of kissing received the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize in Biomechanics.

Public communication

Brindle has written and spoken AbOUT evolutionary biology and animal behaviour in public-facing publications and media. Her essays and publications include articles for The Conversation and Scientific American.

Selected publications

  1. Brindle, Matilda; Opie, Christopher (2016). "Postcopulatory [...] selection influences baculum evolution in primates and carnivores.
  2. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1837): 20161736. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.1736. Brindle, Matilda; Ferguson-Gow, Hannah; Williamson, Jo; Thomsen, Rasmus; Cowlishaw, Guy; Sommer, Volker (2023).
  3. "The evolution of [...] is associated with postcopulatory selection and pathogen avoidance in primates- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 290 (2000): 20230061. doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.0061.
  4. Brindle, Matilda; Talbot, Catherine F.; West, Stuart A. (2025). "A comparative approach to the evolution of kissing". Evolution and Human Behaviour. 47: 106788. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106788.