Biological Anthropology: Primates - Monkeys and Apes

Primates: Monkeys and Apes

  • Focus on Monkeys and some Apes within the broader field of Biological Anthropology.

Diversity of Macaques

  • Macaques are a diverse group found across various geographic locations:
    • Africa
    • Philippines
    • Indonesia
    • South Asia
    • Japan

Macaque Cheek Pouches

  • Macaques possess cheek pouches.
  • Function: These pouches allow them to temporarily store excess food in their mouths without immediately consuming it.

Macaque Social Transmission: Koshima Island Example

  • Location: Koshima Island, Japan.
  • Behavior: A macaque colony exhibits social learning.
  • Learned Behavior: The macaques learned to wash sand off sweet potatoes and rice.
  • Context: This behavior emerged after these food items were thrown onto the beach.

Sweet Potato Washing

  • Yoshida Wildlife Photo Museum is presumably a source or location related to documentation of sweet potato washing behavior.

Baboon Species and Habitat

  • Distribution: Baboon species are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Social Structure: They often live in large, multi-male, multi-female troops.
  • Foraging Behavior: Baboons tend to forage on the ground.

Baboon Social Behavior

  • Observed behaviors:
    • Fighting
    • Threat yawn (a display of dominance)
    • Carnivory (occasional meat-eating)
    • Female perineal swelling: This indicates estrus, signaling fertility in females.
    • Subordinate behavior: A subordinate male or female may present to a dominant individual as a sign of submission.

Baboon Learning

  • Baboons exhibit the capacity to learn about new food resources in their environment.

Baboon Hunting

  • Baboons engage in hunting behavior.

Sexual Dimorphism and Social Structure

  • Graphs illustrating the relationship between sexual dimorphism and social structure, considering:
    • Male and female body weight
    • Male and female canine length
    • Observed vs. expected testes size
  • Body Size:
    • x-axis: ranges from Monogamous to One-male, multi-female to Multimale, multifemale
    • y-axis: ranges from 1.0 to 1.8
  • Canine Size:
    • x-axis: ranges from Monogamous to One-male, multi-female to Multimale, multifemale
    • y-axis: ranges from 1.0 to 1.4
  • Testes size:
    • x-axis: ranges from Monogamous to One-male, multi-female to Multimale, multifemale
    • y-axis: ranges from 0.5 to 2.0

Macaque and Baboon Social Structures

  • Macaque monkeys and many baboon species live in multi-male, multi-female troops.
  • Male Emigration: Males typically leave their birth troop to join a new one.
  • Female Philopatry: Females generally remain in their natal troop with their kin.
  • Hierarchies: These social dynamics lead to both male and female hierarchies within the troop.
  • Male Coalitions: Males frequently form small coalitions.
  • Inherited Dominance: Female dominance tends to be inherited from the mother's rank.

Mandrills

  • Habitat: Forest dwelling baboon species.
  • Social Structure: They form single-male polygynous groups.
  • Behavior: Known to abduct females from other troops.
  • Sexual Dimorphism: Mandrills exhibit the most pronounced sexual dimorphism in size and coloration among baboons.

Diversity of Baboon Species

  • Baboon species are physically and socially diverse.
  • Hamadryas Baboons:
    • Habitat: Live in more arid regions.
    • Social Structure: Form smaller polygynous bands defended by a single adult male.
    • Sexual Dimorphism: Greater sexual dimorphism in size and appearance compared to savannah baboons.
  • Gelada Baboons:
    • Habitat: Live in highland regions.
    • Social Structure: Live in single-male polygynous troops.
    • Sexual Dimorphism: High degree of sexual dimorphism.

Hamadryas Baboons

  • Social structure reiterated: Single-male, multi-female groups.

Gelada Baboon Foraging

  • Gelada baboons can forage on grasses in very large troops composed of smaller families.
  • Dominance: Troops controlled by highly aggressive, dominant males.

Social Grazing

  • Highlights social aspect of grazing behavior in Gelada baboons within large aggregations. Further details would be required for full summarization.