primate social behavior

Question 1

hominoid classifications?

Answer 1

super family hominoidea
○ Family hylobatidae (lesser ape - gibbons)
○ Family hoiminidae (great apes and humans)

Question 2

orangutans - describe behavior and classification

Answer 2

• Not social
  
  • Pongo pygmaeus - KNOW
  • Indonesia
  • Solitary
  • Diet consists of fruit
  • Sexual dimorphism - males much larger than females, look very different
  • Mostly arboreal

Question 3

gorillas- describe behavior and classification

Answer 3

• Gorilla gorilla
  
  • Lowland areas of western equatorial Africa, mountain areas of uganda, rowanda, and the DR congo
  • Knuckle walking - derived trait - not from our MCA
  • Sexual dimorphism - males much larger
  • Group contains silverback male (so only one), females and offspring
  • In contrast humans do not tend to choose just one group, but other primates do

Question 4

chimp behavior and name

Answer 4

• Pan troglodytes
  
  • Equatorial africa
  • Knuckle walking
  • Arboreal and terrestrial
  • Highly excitable

Question 5

bonobos behav and name

Answer 5

• Pan paniscus (same genus dif species)
  
  • Found in the DR congo
  • Resemble chimps but smaller, diff hair patterns
  • Less excitable, often form groups of females - chimps usually have a male bugging solidary female

Question 6

jane goodalls work

Answer 6

• Tanzania
  
  • Decades of work, learned a lot about primates bc of her
  • At the time chimps were thought as very different from humans- but they are similar - transfer knowledge like us, use tools (found out by jane)
  • Her approach was different - she interacted with the chimps and connected with them in a personal way

Question 7

primitologists are interested in

Answer 7

• Why are primates social?
• How do primates acquire food?
• How do primates communicate?

Question 8

are primate relationships long or short

Answer 8

long term - they live long

Question 9

harlows experiment

Answer 9

• Harlow’s experiments
  
  • 40s/50s, bonding if real mother is taken away and replaced with experimental ones? - babies needed comfort beyond just food - sad, unethical, the monkeys involved did not learn the parental behaviors and could not transfer them later on
  • Mother/infant bond
  • Social learning

Question 10

main guesses for cooperation in primates?

Answer 10

• Altruism - is it bc of long term connections ie will the favor be returned?
• Kin selection - chosen or selected for behavior?
Mutualism

Question 11

Other reasons for coperation

Answer 11

with more group members a 
	potential predator will be 
	spotted faster 
	• a larger group can defend 
	themselves easier. 
	• statistical probability - less likely to get eaten in a bigger group

Question 12

6 primate residence patterns?

Answer 12

1. 1 male multifemale
2. one female multi male
3. multi male multi female
4. all male
5. one male one female
6. solitary

Question 13

how much do primates forage? what does good nutrition lead to

Answer 13

• Primates foraging time is up to 50% of waking time
  
  • Good nutrition leads to:
  • earlier first birth
  • healthier infants
  • short interbirth interval
  • longer lifespan

Question 14

primate culture as a part of food acquisition - describe use of tools

Answer 14

• Lots of localized behaviors
  
  • Use of tools to solve problems - also recognized that they have localized behaviors
  • Fossil evidence - focused in on stone tools mostly (bc preservation) - tools made out of organic materials are not preserved well
  • Watching primates helps us see what materials they use
  • Chimps usually vegetarians but might modify a stick to eat others

Question 15

how do primate communicate

Answer 15

• Primate vocalizations complex
• Playback experiment
○ Record calls and play it again to them with a particular time or group etc
○ Primate tends to return call if it’s a primate that would be a part of its group
• Ex. Howler monkey calls

Question 16

kanzi study?

Answer 16

• Kanzi, a bonobo, has been
taught to communicate
using symbols on a
keyboard (lexigrams)
• It was thought that maybe a researcher could find ways to communicate with primates
• Removes them out of their environment = changes their behaviors
• Non-human primates are known to imitate - are you sure they are doing it by their own volition?
• Social isolation was a huge problem - many of these primates would normally be in a completely different social program

Question 17

koko study? did her or kanzi yield real results

Answer 17

• Koko
○ Gorilla taught ASL by a researcher
○ Imitation/training - was it really koko deciding to communicate or just doing them to get rewarded
Neither one resulted In real academic results