Lecture #3: Primate Lives

behavioral ecology

The relationship between an organism and its environment, how it monopolizes its niche, how interacts with other organisms it shares its environment with, etc

behavioral ecology

Evolutionary basis for behavior due to ecological pressures

behavior

as anything an organism does that involves action in responses to internal or external stimuli 

Biotic composition of the habitat, Distribution & density of food, space, and other species, Structural and spatial organization of the environment, Defensibility of territory, Temporal use patterns, Predators

list the 6 factors that influence a primate’s habitat

evergreen tropical rainforests

name the type of habitat:

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This is what we think of when we think of monkeys living in the lush forests with diverse flora and fauna. However, this is a busy habitat that requires specific adaptations, so not everything lives here.

dry scrub forests

name the type of habitat:

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Open area, not super wet

dry deciduous forests

name the type of habitat:

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Basically what we have around here in Washington, just not lush and things that live off of moisture

mangrove forests

name the type of habitat:

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Basically swamps. These primates will probably be strictly arboreal

montane forests

name the type of habitat:

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Mountainous. Colder. Not as many fruit trees, lots of leaves matter. Maybe lots of insects. Will probably be more seasonally impacted.

primary rainforests

name the type of habitat:

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Deep, deep, in the amazon, where everything is pristine and matured and undisturbed. These are continuous, so there is nothing between you and where you want to go.

secondary rainforests

name the type of habitat:

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Most likely here where humans have affected it and it has not grown back the way it used to be, possibly through agriculture development or oil pipelines. There may be areas that have been chopped up through logging that you have to cross, so not continuous.

arboreal

primates are primarily _________ (locomotion pattern)

false

true or false:

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terrestrial primates are truly terrestrial and never go up into trees, even to sleep

body size, group size, diet, predators, competition

name the 5 factors that influence how primates use their space (i.e. vertically such as living in the canopy vs. understory)

savannah

name the type of habitat:

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open, dry, few leaves (grasses, shrubs, nuts, tubers), primates will probably sleep in cliffs

coastal

name the type of habitat:

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remains relatively mild and consistent as the seasons don’t really affect shellfish and aquatic food sources

urban and disturbed

name the type of habitat:

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city-dwelling primates, temple-dwelling primates, etc

defined territories

live in an area that belongs to their group, with varying levels of overlap depending on species

mental maps

based on food resources within a territory; things that they learn as they go through their juvenile period and hold onto it their whole lives

nesting sites

where primates sleep; most of the time they don’t sleep in the same space because they move around following their food throughout their daily range; will frequently make new nests; apes make complex nests

mental maps

Memory of seasonal fruiting trees, nesting sites, water resources, etc

day range

distance traveled in the course of a day; can change depending on how much they need to move (ex: if there is a single tree with lots of fruit that can feed the entire group, then they may be able to stay there all day)

home range

total area in which animals may range

core area

main use area; usually organized around water and safe “anti-predator” spaces; will usually sleep here

diurnal

active during the day time

nocturnal

active at night

crepuscular

active at dawn and dusk 

cathemeral

randomly active both day and night (lemurs)

activity budget

An allocation of time spent doing whatever it is they’re doing. We choose the categories we want to look at (such as how frequently they vocalize/call to each other, how frequently they rest, how frequently they feed, and/or how frequently they travel). We usually want to look at behaviors that are shared between the species/groups we are comparing.

bridging

name the feeding posture:

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can happen with or without a prehensile tail; using your body weight to lean from one tree to pull another closer to you; even Orangutans can do this

suspensory foraging

name the feeding posture:

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with a prehensile tail → hang from it and use your limbs for feeding; without a prehensile tail works too, but you have to give up one of your limbs

social organization

demographic composition of groups (how many males/females, how many juveniles, what are the age ranges, etc)

social structure

intergroup interactions; hierarchies and individuals’ relationships (small groups may be able to just do their own things, but larger groups require some type of structure, such as matrilineal or patrilineal - these are non-changeable and consistently reinforced)

mating systems

reproductive interactions and patterns

mating systems

the social organization and social structure both impact the ________ ________ for each species/group

noyau

name the social group:

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Adult males and adult females with her offspring. The adult male encompasses both female territories. It is very rare, with small nocturnal primates and orangutans. The female and offspring tend to spend most of their time together. The male visits the females in order of availability. Works when estrous are semi-annual and when females spend a long time raising offspring, so they are not fertile or receptive. So the male needs lots of options. Provides some paternal certainty, as he can assume the offspring are his.

mated pairs (monogamous)

name the social group:

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Adult male and adult female who are exclusively paired together for a long period of time (may or may not be for life); it is just the two of them and then their offspring. Also provides paternal uncertainty. This is rare, with gibbons doing it the most often.

polyandry

name the social group:

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Single breeding adult female and multiple adult male partners; she mates regularly with all of them creating paternal uncertainty; the males will do all the work → all she has to do is birth them and then breastfeed them and then essentially her hard work is done; sometimes there are other adult females, but they are not able to breed. She suppresses their hormones with hers so that they don’t even ovulate. ONLY seen in the callitrichids.

multimale (promiscuous)

name the social group:

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A bunch of adult males and adult females; everybody has sex with everybody, however there are usually serious hierarchies that determines who gets the most access with an alpha male and alpha female being the most sought-after; estrous swelling plays a part here

one-male (harem)

name the social group:

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just like the noyau system but everybody lives together; NO OTHER males are allowed; as soon as the male offspring reach maturity they have to leave and usually form all-male bands; the main male will keep as many females as he can manage for as long as he can; this is a gorilla system, with a big silverback male and a bunch of females; the females are unrelated and don’t really interact with each other; the cercopithecine monkeys have this system but couldn’t care less about the male → they’ll mate with anybody and just really want his safety and resources

fission-fusion (fluid)

name the social group:

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based on the promiscuous system but is based on the availability of resources; when there's a lot of food the groups may come together to mate and hang out and when there isn’t a lot of food the group may separate

multilevel

name the social group:

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males live in large groups with their brothers and each have their own harems; they help each other maintain their own harems but do not share; this is probably most like what early humans did; hamadryas baboons

body size, BMR and diet, resource distribution, predation, other species (non-predatory), dispersal patterns, sleeping sites, activity patterns, life history patterns, human activity

list the 10 factors that influence social structure

predation protection, improved access to food, potential mates, allocare

list the 4 advantages to group living

allocare

parental care provided by an individual towards young that are not its own offspring (“it takes a village” → you can have babysitters and relatives who can help out)

higher, higher

Smaller bodies have _____ energy requirements and _______BMR (basal metabolic rate)

small

name the most likely body size:

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Need sufficient quantities of high-value, energy-rich foods high in proteins, fats, and carbs more frequently

increases

high group density __________ competition levels

food competition is high

why do small primates tend to live in smaller groups?

insects

name the type of food:

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can be abundant, but have to be hunted, requiring lots of energy

leaves

name the type of food:

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can be abundant and support large numbers and take barely any energy, but do not contain as much protein and are a lower-quality food source, so they will have to be like cows, eating for hours and hours

fruits/nuts

name the type of food:

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are seasonal and require travel, but they are high sugar, fat, and protein, making them high-valued food that may be worth the energy expunged, even for high-BMR primates

small

name the body size matching this diet:

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insects and gums

small-medium

name the body size matching this diet:

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insects and fruits

medium-large

name the body size matching this diet:

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fruit and leaves

large

name the body size matching this diet:

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leaves

frugivore

name the type of diet:

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mainly fruit eaters (but really anything that a tree produces that isn’t a leaf or a flower)

folivore

name the type of diet:

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mainly vegetable matter (leaves, buds, flowers, bark, etc) (not just leaves but all plant matter)

insectivore

name the type of diet:

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mainly invertebrate and arthropod insects

gumnivore

name the type of diet:

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gums (things that ooze out of trees) (not very common)

gramnivore

name the type of diet:

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seeds (very specific, picky category of foods)

nectivore

name the type of diet:

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nectars (almost exclusively from flowers) (very few tiny primates that monopolize this as an option)

predation avoidance, energy conservation, resource valuation, resource scarcity

list the 4 foraging strategies that were shaped by natural selection

no

do you think you need to defend your tree if there is high food density in small patches?

yes

do you think you need to defend your tree if there is low food density in small patches?

no

do you think you need to defend your tree if there is high food density in large patches?

yes

do you think you need to defend your tree if there is low food density in large patches?

large

insects are hard to come by and take a lot of energy to catch because they move and are not very big, so you cannot support a ______ body with an insect-based diet

sharp, high

insectivores have _____ cusps and _____molar crests (to allow them to crush exoskeletons easily to reach the gooey center)

simple

insectivores have a __________ digestive system (simple or complicated)

small

gumnivores have ______ bodies because although gums are high in sugar, it’s hard to get a lot of them at once

gumnivore

match the diet to the teeth description:

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Robust, sometimes angled incisors (front teeth are used to gouge into the sides of trees, requiring a little bit of a chisel)

gumnivore

match the diet to the digestive system description:

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Relatively simple gut, with long caecum (stomach and small intestine are short and not complicated because sugar digests quickly, but they have a longer colon in order to deal with their supplemental foods)

folivore

match the diet to the body size description:

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you can eat a low quality food if you can get a lot of it, meaning you can support larger bodies

folivore

match the diet to the teeth description:

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Sharp shearing molar crests (have to physically break up the cellulose walls because you can’t break it up in your gut)

folivore

match the diet to the digestive system description:

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Specialized, long, chambered digestive systems

moderately

It’s unrealistic to live solely off fruit as a large body, so frugivores remain _________ sized

frugivore

match the diet to the teeth description:

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large incisors, low, rounded molar cusps

frugivore

match the diet to the digestive system description:

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Long, generalized digestive system

frugivore

which diet type has the same digestive system and teeth as us?

predators

birds of prey, large canids (dog-like animals) & felids (cat-like animals), snakes, other primates including humans, etc are all examples of ___________

large

Where predation pressure is high, there is a benefit to being in a ______ group

detection, deterrence, dilution

what are the big 3 benefits to being in a large group when predation pressure is high?

semantic communication

noises that mean something (such as warning calls or territory-defining noises)

detection

detection, deterrence, or dilution:

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many primates employ warning calls and look-outs

deterrence

detection, deterrence, or dilution:

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mobbing behaviors (might be able to scare them off)

dilution

detection, deterrence, or dilution:

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may also take advantage of presence of other species for predator avoidance and perhaps, being slower than you are, are more likely to get eaten (numbers game)

polyspecific groupings

niche overlap of sympatric species (where you share a space with another group, providing more individuals and better odds for survival) (is a part of “dilution”)

dispersal patterns

Fluid, dynamic groupings based on immigration/emigrations (the timeline of when members enter/leave groups is based on when one reaches sexual and/or physical maturity)

kinship

relationships between individuals based on family ties (part of social structure)

matrilines

name the type of kinship:

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all the females are related to each other

patrilines

this type of kinship is rare due to uncertain parentage

males

________ leave to avoid inbreeding (they don’t know this, but it’s instinctual based on males leaving due to competition once they reach sexual/physical maturity)

males leaving

which is the most common dispersal pattern: females leaving, males leaving, or both?

females leaving

which is the least common dispersal pattern: females leaving, males leaving, or both?

female

Cooperation yet very strict hierarchies among ________-based groups (Alpha, Beta, etc. between as well as within families)

inbreeding avoidance, resource management

what are the 2 main reasons for dispersal patterns existing?

maximizing reproductive success

what is the main goal that mating strategies are structured around?

resources

limiting factor for female reproductive strategies

females

limiting factor for male reproductive strategies