˗ˏˋ primate behavior ´ˎ˗

Question 1

what is primatology?

Answer 1

• scientific field that studies primate behavior and/or ecology
• different fields and focuses (evolutionary theories, intelligence, conservation studies, social complexity, and behavioral variation)

Question 2

what is ecology?

Answer 2

the relationship between organisms and their physical surroundings.

Question 3

how many species of primate are there?

Answer 3

over 600.

Question 4

what is the primate diet?

Answer 4

• omnivores (animals and plants)
• food factors (abundance, distribution, and quality)
• highly quality foods are less abundant, patchy

Question 5

what is the abundance of food based on diet?

Answer 5

• folivores (everywhere)
• frugivores (scarcee, in clumps)
• insectivores (scarce and randomly distributed)

Question 6

what is direct competition?

Answer 6

• fight over resources
• indirect (eat food first)

Question 7

what is community ecology?

Answer 7

the branch of ecology that deals with the relationships and interactions between different organisms that occupy the same habitat.

Question 8

what are conspecifics?

Answer 8

• members of the same species
• heterospecifics (members of different species)

Question 9

what are niches?

Answer 9

the role of a species in its environment; how it meets its needs for food, shelter, etc.

Question 10

what is sympatric?

Answer 10

two species in the same area.

Question 11

what is allopatric?

Answer 11

two species in different areas.

Question 12

what is the competitive exclusion principle?

Answer 12

two species competing for the same resources cannot occupy the same niche.

Question 13

what is niche partitioning?

Answer 13

two species avoid competition through different uses of an environment.

Question 14

what is predation in primates?

Answer 14

many primates preyed upon by carnivores, birds of prey, reptiles.

Question 15

what are predation avoidance tactics in primates?

Answer 15

• crypsis (avoiding detection, camoflouge)
• nocturnal behavior
• vigliance
• alarm calling
• mobbing
• venom (slow loris)

Question 16

what is dispersal?

Answer 16

to leave one’s group/area.

Question 17

what is fission-fusion?

Answer 17

• societies in which group composition is flexible, such as chimpanzees and spider monkeys
• individuals may break up into smaller groups or combine into larger ones

Question 18

why do primates live in groups?

Answer 18

• feeding competition (dominance hierarchy reduces aggression)
• females in larger groups had shorter birth intervals
• intergroup conflict (larger groups are more successful)
• predation avoidance

Question 19

what are polyspecific associations?

Answer 19

an association between two or more different species that involves behavioral changes in at least one of them to maintain the association.

Question 20

what does it mean to be philopatric?

Answer 20

remaining in one’s birth group.

Question 21

what is parental investment?

Answer 21

spending more time with current offspring to ensure that they survive at the expense of other potential offspring.

Question 22

what is sexual selection?

Answer 22

selection of traits that increase mating success.

Question 23

what is intrasexual selection?

Answer 23

selection of traits that enhance the ability of members of one sex to compete amongst themselves.

Question 24

what is intersexual selection?

Answer 24

selection of traits that enhance the ability of members of one sex to attract the attention of the other.

Question 25

what is a social system?

Answer 25

way of describing the typical number of males and females of all age classes that live together.

Question 26

what is monogamy?

Answer 26

• mating system with one male and one female
• gibbons
• low sexual dimorphism

Question 27

what is polygyny?

Answer 27

• mating system with one male and multiple females
• orangutans
• high sexual dimorphism

Question 28

what is polyandry?

Answer 28

• mating system with multiple males and one female
• tamarins and marmosets

Question 29

what is polygamy?

Answer 29

multiple males mate with multiple females.

Question 30

what is vocal primate communication?

Answer 30

• loud calls, screeches
• semantic communication (use of signals to refer to objects in the environment)

Question 31

what is visual primate communication?

Answer 31

• facial expressions
• piloerection (raising one’s hair to look bigger)
• sexual swelling
• facial coloration

Question 32

what is olfactory primate communication?

Answer 32

• anogenital scents
• urine washing

Question 33

what is tactile primate communication?

Answer 33

• grooming
• affiliative (non-aggressive social interactions between individuals)

Question 34

what is culture?

Answer 34

• transmission of behavior via social learning
• in humans it is shared, symbolic, and learned
• in chimpanzees, includes population-specific pray preferences, tool-use techniques, hunting strategies, and social behaviors
• in macaques, unique foraging behaviors and hot springs bathing.

Question 35

what are cultural traditions?

Answer 35

a distinctive pattern of behavior shared by multiple individuals in a social group, which persists over time and is acquired through social learning.