Beginning with a study of cold adaptation in the Peruvian Andes in 1962, Little went on to conduct studies of high-altitude adaptation in Quechua-speaking natives for about 15 years. In the 1970s, he began collaborating on ecological research of Turkana pastoral nomads from northwest Kenya. This 20-year project incorporated grazing-lands ecologists, cultural anthropologists, and biological anthropologists in multidisciplinary field investigations of their environment, biology, health, and behavior. For the past decade or so, he has pursued historical and biographical investigations into the history of biological anthropology.
