ANTH 413 Test 1 (not me)

Scientific name of Black and White Ruffed Lemurs

Varecia Variegata

B&W Ruffed Lemurs diet

mostly frugivores

natural habitat of B&W ruffed lemurs

Eastern Rainforests of Madagascar

Social organization of B&W ruffed lemurs

multi male groups with fission fusion

Scientific name of Red fronted Lemurs

Eulemur rufifrons

Natural habitat of Red fronted lemurs

Eastern rainforests and western coast of Madagascar

Diet of Red fronted lemurs

mainly frugivorous

Scientific name of Ring Tailed lemurs

Lemur catta

natural habitat of RTL

Dry forests of SW Madagascar

diet of RTL

mainly frugivorous

Scientific name of Mandrills

Mandrillus sphinx

natural habitat of the Mandrills

Forests of Western Africa

Diet of Mandrills

Omnivorous

Social organization of Mandrills

Multi-male/Multi-female groups that may fuse into troops of > 600

Scientific name of the Black and White Colobus monkeys

Colobus guereza

Diet of B&W colobus monkeys

highly folivorous; have specialized gut and dentition

natural habitat of B&W colobus monkeys

Widespread through central Africa in all forests up to 4500m in elevation

social organization of B&W colobus monkeys

usually single male, multi female groups of up to 15 individuals

Scientific name of White handed gibbons

Hylobates lar

natural habitat of White handed gibbons

Southeast Asian rain forests; from China to Malaysia

diet of White handed gibbons

mainly frugivorous; also eat leaves and insects

social organization of White handed gibbons

pair bonded groups...

Scientific name of Western Lowland gorillas

Gorilla gorilla gorilla

diet of Western lowland gorillas

mostly leaves but 15% fruit

natural habitat of Western lowland gorillas

Western Africa

social organization of Western Lowland gorillas

exclusively uni male groups

4 Distinguishing primate characteristics

Grasping Hands and Feet, Visual system, Large Brains and Associated Behaviour, and Skeletal and dental features

primate hands and feet features

opposable pollex (thumb) and hallux (big toe), nails instead of claws, and power and precision grip

Visual System of primates

stereoscopic vision, and colour vision in many groups

Large brains and associated behaviour in primates

reliance on learning over instinct, high paternal investment, and tendency toward sociality

Skeletal and dental features in primates

reduced dentition, and post orbital bar

Ancestral traits

shared with the common ancestor, tend to be generalized; not less successful or less evolved, just older

derived traits

distinguish a group from its last common ancestor, newly evolved traits, tend to be specialized

What are the two suborders of the primate order

Strepsirrhini and Haplorhini

Features of Strepsirrhini

Lemurs, Lorises, and galagos; large eyes, mostly nocturnal, rely on sent marking, moist nose (rhinarium), Tapetum lucidum, dental comb, and grooming claw

Features of Haplorhini

Tarsiers, monkeys, and apes; mostly diurnal, reduced reliance on smell, flatter faces, shorter snouts, dry nose (rhiarium), no tapetum lucidum, post-orbital closure, larger more complex brains

Tapetum lucidum

Iridescent layer in the eye found in nocturnal animals for maximizing vision under low intensity light

two infraorders under the suborder Strepsirrhini

Lemuriformes and Lorisiformes

Families in the infraorder Lemuriformes

Lemuridae, Indiidae, Lepilemuridae, Cheirogaleidae, Daubentoniidae

Families in the infraorder Lorisiformes

Galagidae and Lorisidae

Two infraorders in the suborder Haplorhini

Platyrrhini (Monkeys of the Americas) and Catarrhini (African and Asian monkeys and apes)

Taxonomy under infraorder Platyrrhini

superfamily Ceboidea, then the three families Callithrichidae (Marmosets and Tamarins), Cebidae (capuchins), and Atelidae (Spiders and Howlers)

"Old World Monkeys" Taxonomy under the infraorder Catarrhini

superfamily Cercopithecoidea, family cercopithecidae, and the two subfamilies Cercopithecinae (Baboons and Macaques) and Colobinae (Langurs and Colobus)

Ape Taxonomy under the infraorder Catarrhini

superfamily Hominoidea, then the two families Hylobatidae (Gibbons and siamangs) and Hominidae (Orangutans, Gorillas, Chimps, and Humans)

Taxonomy of Western Lowland Gorillas

Primates -> Haplorhini -> Catarrhini -> Hominoidea -> Hominidae -> Gorilla -> Gorilla gorilla -> Gorilla gorilla gorilla

Taxonomy of B&W colobus monkeys

Primate-> Haplorhini -> Catarrhini -> Cercopithecoidea -> Cercopithecidae -> Colobinae

Taxonomy of White Handed gibbons

Primates -> Haplorhini -> Catarrhini -> Hominoidea -> Hylobatidae

Taxonomy of Mandrills

Primates -> Catarrhini -> Cercopithecoidea -> Cercopithecidae -> Cercopithecinae

Taxonomy of Ring Tailed Lemurs

Primates -> Strepsirrhini -> Lemuriformes -> Lemuridae

Taxonomy of Red fronted Lemurs

Primates -> Strepsirrhini -> Lemuriformes -> Lemuridae

Taxonomy of B&W ruffed lemurs

Primates -> Strepsirrhini -> Lemuriformes -> Lemuridae

Why do primates live in groups?

Intergroup feeding competition (female bonded groups), Predation Protection (more eyes and ears, active defense, the "selfish herd" effect), and Access to Mates

Society

social unit/social system; set of conspecific animals that interact regularly, more so with each other than with members of other such societies, three distinct components

Three components of a social system

Social organization, social structure, and mating system

Social organization in primates

the size, sexual composition, age, and spatiotemporal cohesion of a society, and patterns of cohesion and dispersal

Social structure in primates

pattern of social interactions and resulting relationships among the members of a society (e.g. kinship or dominance)

Mating systems in primates

one subset of social interactions, the distribution of matings among sexually active individuals within a social unit

Level of Cohesion in social organization

groups may be stable or reveal a fission-fusion system where the group temporarily splits into smaller subgroups

Does group composition reveal the mating system?

not always; i.e. marmosets live in extended families but one pair mates, high reproductive skey in promiscuous multimale-multifemale capuchins

Types of Primate Mating Systems

Solitary (dispersed mating pairs), Pair-bonded (monogamy), Uni-female/multimale (polyandry), Uni-male/multi-female (polygyny), and Multi-male/Multi-female (polygyandy)

Mating systems of our zoo species

B&W ruffed lemurs: polygyandry; RTL: Polygyandry; Red fronted lemurs: Polygyny; Gibbons: Pair bonded; Mandrills: Polygyny; B&W colobus: Polygyny; Gorillas: Polygyny

Principles of Natural selection

Organisms compete for limited resources within a particular habitat; There are differences among individuals within a population (variation), and these lead to differences in the ability to survive and reproduce; Differences among individuals are heritable (successful traits passed down, unsuccessful traits disappear); can act on behavioural traits

Strategy

set of behaviours occurring in specific functional context (mating, feeding, etc.); product of NS, not conscious; typically involve trade-offs relative to alternative strategies (costs and benefits)

how should a behavioural strategy be adaptive

should increase the fitness of the individual: their relative genetic contribution; based on reproductive success (offspring who survive to reproductive age)

Female reproductive strategies

are strongly constrained by access to food (requirments of pregnancy, lactation, and carrying offspring); goal of female strategies is often to maximize access to food resources

Male Reproductive strategies

less constrained by needs of creating and raising offspring; their strategies focus on gaining access to additional females; male care of infants occur when benefits of investment out weight costs of seeking a new mate

Sexual Selection

accounts for features with no obvious survival function (secondary sexual characteristics); may even be maladaptive strictly in terms of natural selection

Types of sexual selection

Intrasexual and Intersexual selection

Intrasexual selection

competition between members of the same sex, usually stronger among males, males have greater variability in reproductive potential

Intersexual selection

mate choice, usually stronger in females, females should be choosy to avoid wasting valuable and limited reproductive opportunities

Early approaches to primatology

anthropocentric: we wanted to know more about oursleves through them; natural history

Modern approaches to primatology

to understand variation across whole primate order, comparative approach, more systematic, hypothesis driven

Why study primate behaviour?

to understand ecology (interaction with environment), ethnology (social organization and structure), and anatomy and biomechanics; enables us to make some inferences about the behaviour and social organization of our ancestors; see differences in captivity vs wild

primates vs our ancestors

we can't make assumptions that ancestors were exactly like any of the existing primates; BUT similar problems of adaptation to a particular environment can lead to similar solutions; and behaviour shared by species within related groups may be due to common ancestry

Tinbergen's 4 questions

1. Causation

2. Ontogeny

3. Function

4. Phylogeny

Proximate explanations for behaviour

Mechanism/Causation: static view; what are the underlying causes/cues?; how do internal and external factors elicit and control behaviour; underlying neurobiological, psychological, or hormonal mechanisms relating to their behaviour

Ontogeny/Development: Historical view; When/hoe did behaviour arise during the individual's lifetime?

Ultimate explanations for behaviour

Function/adaptive: Static view; What is it for and why does it exist?; how does it help and individual survive or reproduce?

Phylogeny/evolution: Historical viewHow did the behaviour evolve during the history of the species? what factors may have been involved in molding the behaviour over the course of evolutionary history

Observational Biases

we make a record of behaviour, the record is subject to our ability to preceive which can be distorted by our interpretations; Anthropomorphism; Species-ism/Anthropocentrism; Idiosyncratic biases among observers can reduce comparability of research; Validity vs Reliability

Anthropomorphism

Attributing human like behaviour, values, and intention to animals

What is bad about Anthropomorphism

can strongly bias results if they are interpreted in human terms; Very difficult to demonstrate definitively similar motives, emotions, and interpretations

What is good about anthropomorphism

One of primatology's main contributions has been to demonstrate striking similarities between humans and nonhumans; Is it reasonable to assume underlying cognitive processes might be similar?

Validity

Accuracy: is measurement unbiases?

Specificity: does the measure describe what it is supposed to to?

Scientific validity: do the variables measured address the issue related to your question or hypothesis? Can they be applied to other systems or species?

Reliability

Precision: Are the measures free from random errors?

Sensitivity: Are small changes in the behaviour, etc. being studied reflected in small changes in measured values?

Consistency: Do we obtain the same results when we repeat measurements?

Environments where primates can be studied

Undisturbed natural habitat, disturbed natural habitat; free ranging or semi-free ranging; Zoological parks, university behaviour labs, other labs (biomedical)

What is free range and how does it effect studies

broad term, populations that are wild but provisioned (provide food and medical); can increase validity but not reliability

what is captivity and how does it effect studies

controlled environment: climate controlled, regular feeding, set social structures; can increase reliability of data but less validity

Ethical Concerns

Animal Welfare and Psychological Well-being; issues in captivity: manipulation of care conditions, the enclosure size, feeding schedule, etc.; issues in the wild: disease transmission, habitat modification, waste disposal, etc.; many costs and benefits; impact with local human communities: perception, communication, economy, politics, etc.

Captive issues for primates

physical or psychological harm

wild issues for primates

removing animals from the wild, risk injury or death, change natural behaviour, unintended consequences

Costs and benefits of primate studies

zoos provide captive breeding and education; understanding behaviour in captivity and/or wild can help in conservation; presence of researchers an indirect conservation benefit?

The 3 R's

developed to minimize distress and harm on study subjects ; replacement (e.g. with non-primates), reduction (fewer animals), refinement (minimize impact)

non/less invasive alternatives for primate studies

hormones or genetics from fecal or urine samples

three ways to describe and define behaviour

Atomic, Molecular, and integrated interactions descriptions

Atomic description of behaviour

essentially unbiased level, fine details of behaviour (e.g. muscle, skeletal actions)

Molecular description of bahaviour

easily recognizable categories with identifiable functions; i.e locomote, feed, rest, threat gestures, etc.

Integrated interactions description of behaviour

often formed from sequences of molecular units, definable by the context in which they occur, i.e. displace or supplant

What is an ethogram

catalog of an animal's behavioural repertoire; Goal: to provide a standard catalog with precise definitions of each and every behaviour; must be mutually exhaustive and behaviours must be mutually exclusive; research question may guide level of detail for any given behaviour

How are ethograms useful for comparative behavioural reseach

1. Compare behaviour patterns between species

2. Co-ordinate data collection for multiple observers on same species

What does Delgado and Delgado's scheme tell us

how we can look at the question we ask and how we structure our ethogram based on the perspective of who we focus on (active or passive, static or dynamic)

Individual behaviour according to Delgadox2

involve "the system in relation to itself, or its environment"; i.e. primate feeding