Chapter 6 Flashcards
Primatology
The branch of science that focuses on the study of primate behavior
What major conclusion did the author come to about primate behavior from her experience watching the responses of vervets and patas monkeys?
The implication is clear: these monkeys, our
close relatives, with their highly developed intelligence and ability to learn, do assess key features of their habitat and
use this information to alter their behavior and maximize their chance of escape.
Primatologists.
people, like myself, who study primates
solitary
lives alone
foraging
the act of finding and handling food
feeding
the act of consuming food
omnivores
who ingest a variety of foods in order to obtain appropriate levels of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and fluids, but one
type of food often makes up the majority of each species’ diet.
What are some major reasons people study primates?
cognitive principles involved in deceptive or cooperative behavior, principles of communication, conservation issues, and social complexity and ecological and behavioral
variation.
abundance
how much is available in a given area
distribution
how it is spread out
basal metabolic rate
energy is used to maintain the body while at rest. It increases more slowly than body size.
insects
high-quality food filled with protein and calories
Most primates do not rely on insects for their entire diet
Why aren’t all primates insectivores?
larger primates simply cannot capture and consume enough insects every day to survive.
What does it mean if a primate has a basal metabolic rate?
Heavier animals must consume
absolutely more food, but they have a slower metabolism so they need fewer calories per unit of body weight.
Do tarsiers need to consume more food?
No, because of their small size, but they convert food very quickly
medium-size primates are
highly frugivorous
Smaller frugivores vs larger frugivores
Smaller frugivores tend to supplement
with insects, while larger frugivores tend to supplement with leaves.
Food abundance
how much food is available in a given area
Plentiful vs scarce
How does food abundance and distribution of food affect primates?
It makes primates determine how far they need to travel in search of food and how much they must compete to obtain it
Distribution
how food is spread out.
How is food distributed?
uniformly, clumps, or randomly
Higher quality foods like fruit and insects are
less abundant and have patchier distributions than lower quality food
Higher quality food is harder to find
Leaves are abundant or no?
Yes, and uniformly distributed
Foliovres regarding food
They do not have to travel far nor do they burn calories searching for food since leaves are everywhere