Anthro

Stepsirrhini

A suborder of Primates that are 'Wet-nosed. ' Includes Lemurs, Aye-Ayes, Galagos, and Pottos. Usually nocturnal and small, found in tropics and subtropics. Physical traits include: fully opposable feet, GLO gene, post-orbital bar, 'groomer' claw, and tooth comb. Create their own vitamin C. Rigid breeding schedule.

Haplorrhini

A Suborder of Primates that are 'Dry-nosed.' Includes Humans, Apes, and Langurs. Have larger brains and body sizes when compared to Strepsirhini. Includes a postorbital enclosure, less reliance on smell, and diastema (except in humans.)

Diastema

The space between the upper lateral incisor and the upper Canine tooth in Haplorhini, EXCEPT in humans.

Tarsiers

Part of the primate group Prosimians. They are incredibly small, with eyes that each weigh more than their brain. They cannot move their eyes because they are too heavy! They can twist their heads like an owl, and they're nocturnal. They're found in Southeast Asia, and eat primarily insects, but are also carnivores--they will eat things much larger than they are. Monogamy is common. They can also break down chitin, what insects are made of--which is very rare.

Ring-tailed Lemurs

Lack of sexual dimorphism gives females dominance. They give birth to one young and will wait 2-3 years to have another. They also eat basically everything.

Subfossil Lemurs

Includes Megaladapis, the lemurs' common ancestor, which was bigger than a gorilla, and disappeared after humans migrated to Madagascar.

Colobinae

Old World monkeys. (A subfamily of Ceropithecidae.) Mostly Folivorus, with specialized, multi-chamber stomachs for digesting leaves, with high-cusped molars for slicing plant materials. They typically live in social groups including one male and several females. (EX. Colobus monkeys, Langurs, and Proboscis monkeys.)

Folivorous/Folivore

Leaf eaters.

Frugivore/Frugivores

Fruit eaters.

Insectivore/insectivores

Insect eaters.

Cercopithecinae

A subfamily of Old World (Catarrhines.) Includes Baboons, Vervets, and Macaques.

Monogamous Social Systems

Males and females are similarly sized, with similar-sized canines. They usually have one life partner (root word mono), and sometimes, the females can be the dominant party in the relationship.

Polygamous Social Systems

Usually have differing sexual dimorphism between sexes. Males canines are usually larger, and they usually have multiple partners.

Brachiation

A type of arboreal locomotion, swinging from tree limbs using one's arms. Only Gibbons are specialized in this motion. Others, like spider monkeys, are learning but are not specialized. This is possible due to having long, curved fingers to take pressure off of muscles.

Harlow

A researcher who highlighted the importance of physical contact comfort in monkeys. (Wire mother vs. Cloth mother)

Behavioral ecology

Looks at behaviors evolved through natural selection, cooperation, and competition within and between species that affect fitness.

Socioecology

relationship between environment and social behaviors (ex, group size affected by food availability)

Sociobiology

The relationship between natural selection and behavior.

Home range territory

The area where a primate group stays for a set time period. This includes a core area that is used as the social area for the group. This home range can overlap between primates, but they're more vigilant when this occurs.

Estrus

Recurring period of sexual proceptivity (female approaches male), receptivity (female accepts a male's advances), and fertility. Commonly referred to as a 'heat.'

Infanticide

The act of killing an infant. Common in male primates.

Alloparenting

The act of assisting in the raising of children that are not one's own. Can assist in social structure building. (Ex, lemurs give birth often because alloparenting is common in their communities.)

Loris

Are all nocturnal. One loris, the Slow Loris, is slow, capable of freezing for hours when around predators (crypsis), and has a gland in its body that secretes a toxin that it can lick to cause a toxic bite, or lick and spread over their fur to deter predators. They can also fall from trees and not get hurt due to their small bodies.

Galagos

Often called bushbabies due to their high-pitched shrieks, they are nocturnal, arboreal, solitary, and can jump from tree to tree very quickly. They have highly mobile ears for hunting, with a diet that includes lots of insects. Greater Galagos prefer fruit and gums.

Ovulation

The period in which a female's ovary releases an egg to become fertilized. (This is also the time when one is most likely to get pregnant during their reproductive cycle.)

Tapetum Lucidum

A layer of tissue in the eye that acts like a mirror to reflect light to the photoreceptors again, improving an animal's night vision.

Rhinarium

The moist nose found on the Stepsirrhini Primates.

Grooming

The act of cleaning and maintaining one another. (picking off parasites, dirt, and salt crystals from another's fur (primates)). While it is an effective way to keep clean, it is also a source of pleasure and peace. (beatific contentment.) The Alpha will get groomed the most and will groom others the least.

R-Selected Species

These primates are smaller, have many offspring, and provide little to no parental care.

K-Selective Species

These primates are larger, have fewer offspring, and have increased parental care.

Sexual Selection

Depends on mate choice and competition. Sexes that compete for the other's attention (mate choice) are often more colorful, larger, or performative than the other sex. They use these to compete with each other, as well. The prettier male gets the girl.

Relative brain neocortex size

Dunbar believed the smaller your cortex, the smaller your social group. The bigger your cortex is, the more room you have for memories and relationship comprehension.

Gibbons and Siamangs

Gibbons are very small, spend most of their time in the trees, are frugivores, fast when swinging with their arms, and are only bipedal on the ground. Males and females stay with their young. They're by far the most monogamous of the primates (other than humans) and are most distantly related to us in the ape classification. They also like to sing with each other!

Sexual Dimorphism

Different sexes have different observable characteristics, such as size or flanges.

Sexual dichromatism

Different sexes have different colors.

Chimpanzees

Chimpanzee offspring have a light face in infancy, and it darkens as they grow. Females venture to find new groups, while males stay with their own group. The focus for us is the Pan troglodytes. They are primarily frugivorous, but can use medicinal plants when fruit is scarce or illness has spread. Figs are an incredibly important part of their diet. They make nests, walk bipedally when the need to carry things arises, use tools, and hunt cooperatively.

Tai National Forest, Fongoli, and Gombe

In the Tai National Forest, chimpanzees cooperate to sneak up on Red Colobus Monkeys, then share their meat once killed, which is an unusual behavior. In Fongoli, chimps use spears to kill bush babies. Females are the predominant spear hunters here, as they are more effective than the males. In Gombe, there is a special hand clasp that is absent —every other chimpanzee species has it, but Gombe does not. Gombe was also one of the first places where chimp wars were viewed and confirmed.

Hominoid traits

These traits include larger body size, larger brains, no bilophodont molars (replaced with y-5), no tails, longer arms, a broad nose and palate, and longer forlimbs. They also include the relative position of the scapulae, where the shoulder blades are not oriented for overhead or quadrupod movements. Apes have short and stiff lower backs, with little ability to move them.

Orangutans

Are "four-handed" (very good with their feet and hands), spend most of their lives in trees, and walk on their fists when on the ground as their fingers are very long. The focus here is the Borian, p. Pigmaeus, who have flanged males, are semi-solitary, and have a very forceful sexual approach. Females often don't want to reproduce with males who don't have flanges. They store fat and can burn it in times with little food, and eat mostly fruit (though their diets can vary).

Mountain gorillas

Focus on the Gorilla, Gorilla, who is usually on the ground, walks on their knuckles, eats the most leaves, and is usually very chill (unless two males are fighting). Their social groups usually consist of one silverback male and multiple females with offspring.

Bonobos

Focus on the Pan Paniscus, who get along well with other groups, are slender with slightly longer legs, have a middle hair part, and infants are born with a dark face. They do not overlap territory with cimps due to their differing temperaments. They are monogamous, with males and females being similar sizes and similar dominance levels. They're inclined to bipedalism and spend most of their time in trees eating fruit, but also enjoy meat. Sometimes they just play with small monkeys and then let them go. They will mate at any point during the female's reproductive cycle, and females can be dominant (mostly due to females ganging up on males), and the males are philopatric, while females disperse, which is rare in primates. They show homosexual tendencies and have sex not just for reproduction but also for pleasure.

Primate conservation

Population pressure continues to increase, while economic incentives favor habitat destruction. Generalist species survive while specialist species go extinct, and about 1/5th of mammals are threatened, but 1/2 of all primates are threatened. Human deforestation has a huge impact--and local community partnerships show promise but face scale challenges.

Vervets

Have their own semantic language! They reside in South Africa and have specific alarm calls for different predators. They have also shown they are capable of deceiving one another with these calls, connecting to the "theory of mind."

Theory of Mind

Being able to place your mind/perspective into the mind/perspective of others.

BMR

Meaning basal metabolic rate, this describes the energy requirements for larger and smaller mammals.

Kleibers Law

The biological principle where an animal's metabolic rate is proportional to its body mass to the power of 3/4ths. For example, a dog 100 times heavier than a guinea pig has a metabolic rate about 34 times greater than the guinea pig.

Language experiments with primates

Washoe- Chimpanzee taught ASL instead of vocalizing. Preferred chimps that could sign back to her.

Kanzi- A bonobo who was taught symbols that correlated to English words, and had a rudimentary understanding of English grammar as well as English vocabulary.

Lucy- a chimpanzee who was raised around humans, and was able to classify pictures as human or animal, but viewed herself as a human.

Koko- a Gorilla who was taught spoken words and over 1,000 signs.

Chimpanzee female integration

New chimpanzee females to a group must slowly build relationships before they are welcomed into alliances and social groups. This can take months to years.