Primate Behavior Flashcards
3 disciplines to study primate behavior
- Ethology - naturalistic behavior; field work, lab; natural selection
- sociobiology - explains aspects of social behavior (in between CP and E)
- comparative psychology - underlying mechanisms; individual focus
Why be social - 2 views
- Ultimate view (big picture)
- proximate view (psychological, individual)
ultimate view of being social
- reproductive strategy
- predator defense
- raising offspring
- population dispersal
proximate view of being social
- sex
- fear reduction
- social bonding
- finding food
- territoriality
Solly Zuckerman
- study subject
- findings?
- “The Social Life of Monkey’s and Apes”
- study: watched baboons in the zoo
- determined that sexual attraction and dominance hierarchy were the driving forces of being social
T.C. Schneirla
- phrase he coined
- 3 aspects of sociality
- “gregarious tendency” - monkeys are social because they are naturally so
- two aspects of sociality: Obligative and Facultative
- some animals have a predisposition to be social, others are solitary
Obligative sociality
-genetic aspect of being social
Facultative sociality
-learned aspect of being social
Characteristics of social groups
- size
- number of adults
- type of dominance relations
- cohesiveness
- emigration patterns
- social structures
main way to describe social groups
-what is not a good way to describe social groups?
- social structures
- they have found that group size is not a useful attribute (used to say that group size inc as primates evolved, but this isn’t necessarily true)
types of social structures
- solitary forager
- monogamous pairs
- polygenous - 1 male, multiple females
- multi-male/multi-female - 3 types: sexually segregated, age-graded, fission/fusion
Solitary social structure
- which primates (2)
- characteristics of females
- 2 types of males
- mouse lemur, galago
- females are more social than males
- vagabond males: males that emigrate from group
- territorial males: must have access to females and keep out other males; drive out sons
- females in one territory are usually related
Robert Martin
-studied foraging patterns of mouse lemurs
P. Charles Dominique
-studied foraging patterns of galagos
Monogamous social structure
- which primates (5)
- sexual dimorphism
- who helps more?
- puberty
- what is special about siamangs?
- marmoset, tamarin, gibbon, mentawai langur, siamang
- each family is territorial
- less sexual dimorphism
- paternal care
- both male/female offspring leave or assist in rearing siblings
- don’t go through puberty until they leave the group
- siamangs - territorial calls; leave territory when old enough
One male, multi-female social structure
- which primates (6)
- sexual dimorphism
- langurs - 2 things are special about them
- person that studied baboons
- howler monkeys, patas monkeys, guenons, langurs, hamadryas and gelata baboons
- high sexual dimorphism - males establish harem and fight with other males
- langurs - infanticide and bachelor bands (sons that emigrate take over other male-dominated groups)
- females are related; daughters stay in group
- Gelata and Hamadryas baboon - social unit within sleeping herd
- Jancita Beehner
Jancita Beehner
- studied Gelata baboons in Sieme Mountains of Ethiopia
- baboons have periodic take over every 3-4 years
- if females are pregnant, new male will abort the baby
multi-male/multi-female social structure
- sexual dimorphism
- which primates?
- characteristics of structure
- variations
- ground-living OW monkeys
- sexual dimorphism
- more females than males in group
- adult male dominance heirarchy
- male emigration (sometimes females too)
- there are 4 variations: age-graded, multiple harems, sexually segregated, integrated
multiple harems
- structure
- which primates
- 1 male, several females
- at night for sleeping
- hamadryas and gelata baboon
age-graded
- structure
- which primates
- multi-male
- silver-backed gorilla
sexually segregated
- structure
- which primates
- males are antisocial, females stick together
- males satellite around females and come in to mate
- talapoin, lemur, squirrel monkey
integrated
- structure
- which pirmates
- males and females live together
- baboons, rhesus monkeys, macaques, gorillas
Robert Hinde
- British Ecologist
- studied what can be inherited that would determine the social group structure
- thought that over time, a pattern of interaction can be created
- predisposition influences relationships; larger category created
Hinde’s development of social structures
genetic heritage–>individual predispositions–>interaction patterns over time–>social relationships–>social group structure
types of females in multi-male/multi-female social groups
- possessed female - male hamadryas will chase female in group if she tries to leave
- free female - dispersed; common in olive/anubis baboon
Hans Krummer
- studied hybrids of anubis baboons and hamadryas baboons - less accepting of posessiveness
- also put them in other opposite social male group; hamadryas didn’t accept anubis; hamadryas became freer in anubis group
Squirrel monkey study
- different behaviors N and S of Amazon
- N: integrated; no avoidance; males dominant over females
- S: sexually segregated; female dominance over males; male avoidance
- mixed N males and S females; mostly incompatible, but one group did mate
