Primates

Question 1

Behaviour ________ anatomical evolution

Answer 1

Precedes

Question 2

What are the requirements for fitness?

Answer 2

• find food
• find and cooperate with a mate
• have and rear offspring
• avoid parasites
• avoid predators

Question 3

What are the costs of group living?

Answer 3

• increased competition for resources (food, mates)
• increased likelihood of disease and parasite transmission
• increased conspucuousness (predation)

Question 4

What are the benefits of group living?

Answer 4

• defence of resources and territory from competitors

- less risk of predation

Question 5

Why does group living lower the chances of predation?

Answer 5

• detection: more eyes to detect predators
• deterrence: more individuals to mob or chase predators away
• dilution: smaller chance that any one individual is the prey when the groups is larger

Question 6

What do males compete over?

Answer 6

Females

Question 7

What do females compete over?

Answer 7

Access to males

Question 8

Correlation of diet with body size

Answer 8

Insectivores < frugivores < folivores

Question 9

What do small primates require?

Answer 9

Small quantities of high quality food

Question 10

What do larger primates require?

Answer 10

Large quantities of lower quality food

Question 11

Why do frugivores have large brains?

Answer 11

Need larger brains to remember the location and phenological status of fruit trees

Question 12

What is sexual dimorphism suggestive of?

Answer 12

Male to male competition

Question 13

Clumped distributions of food

Answer 13

May be defended

Territorial

Question 14

Even distribution of food ie grass

Answer 14

Difficult or not worth defending

Home ranges without defence

Question 15

Why do both sexes not remain in their natal group?

Answer 15

• in order to increase genetic variation and avoid inbreeding
• seeking better resources
• result of intrasexual competition

Question 16

What primates live in monogamous pairs?

Answer 16

Gibbons and titi monkeys

Question 17

What is polyandry?

Answer 17

Several males associate with one reproductive female

Question 18

What is polygyny?

Answer 18

One male harems

Question 19

What is a reproductive skew?

Answer 19

One male has access to lots of females, lots of males have access to no females

Question 20

What are the differences between monkeys and apes?

Answer 20

• tail
• laterally flattened thorax
• fore and hind limbs of equal length