Primate Behavior

During my research of Orangutans and Mandrills I observed them in captivity at the San Diego Zoo. My observations included a 20 minute observation of each primate as it cohabitated with other Primates and with other members of its own species. My findings will support the research of Orangutans and Mandrills through firsthand observations.

When I was taking psychology 101, we were tasked with an animal metacognition research project. Metacognition is the ability to anylize our thoughts. In other words, to be aware of our existence and our selves in the world. While conducting research, I found a very special case of a primate. This primate's name was Koko. It's thought that Koko has been one of the few primates that has been able to master a certain degree of sign language. Many think its only a case of watching and repeating, but many experiments have been conducting to reinforce the idea that Koko can actually make her own decisions based on physical cues. A very interesting case, yet theres still not a clear answer among scientists as to weather any non-human species poceses

Orangutan was the primate I decided to select for this primate observation. The monkey was enclosed in a large cage with two other monkeys (same species). It seem to be comfortable and unbothered of its surroundings. The monkey was just sitting observing everything around them, for example us the visitors. These primates are known to be unique thinkers. They are very quiet than other primates, patient, and problem solvers. The staff from the Los Angeles Zoo, provides a variety of enrichment through diet, I noticed a staff giving the monkeys vegetables: carrots, lettuce, and other that I didn’t quite notice. Being able to observe the lives of the Orangutans enclosed in the zoo, are very different

When researching primates to choose, Bonobo monkeys, caught my interest. Although, I’ve known of their existence for a few years, I never really researched into depth about the species. I chose this species for a few reasons; humankind’s closest living relatives, sharing more than 98% of our DNA, their intelligence, emotional expression, and sensitivity. While reading in chapter seven, I found out ways of categorizing a species as a primate.

     I think that if culture is defined as learned behavior, than it is reasonable to say that primates posses a form of culture. Primates have been observed making tools to aid in collecting food and developing communication system, both of which are learned behaviors.

The orangutans differ in hand size, Herald had much larger hands than my own and Taylor’s hand size was around the same size as mine. Their hands display the thickness of the fingers and knuckles, which is more likely explained by their fist walking attributes.

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

On the other side of the controversy is that human are not naturally violent, but the environment and the way a person is raised causes the person to become violent. It is not just the biological aspects that makes a person violent, but it could be that the chimpanzees are close to becoming humans than what we thought they were.

The genus Tarsius of which we have fossils from the Middle Eocene in China, the Early Miocene in northwestern Thailand, and the Middle Miocene in northern Thailand, allow us to compare ancient characters with many modern extant tarsiers. Tarsiers are subject to high levels of predation as they inhabit a specific biotope and are subject to avian predators as well as ground dwelling species (Řeháková-Petru, Peške, and Daněk 2012).

Decreased interest in olfaction may be related to early work which contrasted varying levels of olfactory abilities among animals, highlighting primates as deficient in this sense. In Turner’s 1891 paper The Convolutions of the Brain, he proposed a classification of Mammalia into three groups 1) Anasmotics, where the organs of smell are absent and included dolphins and whales, 2) Macrosmatics, defined by animals with a highly developed sense of smell and included ungulates, carnivores and most mammals, and 3) Microsmatics where the sense of smell is “feeble” as in pinnipeds, some whales, and apes and man. This idea of apes and humans, indeed, primates in general having a poor sense of smell was corroborated by Negus in 1958 and Le

I watched several documentaries which allowed me to observe different species of primates living in their natural habitats. I took notes of what I saw and researched information on the species to fully understand the meaning of each discernable behavior. The first documentary that I watched was made by KPBS San Diego and allowed me to observe a community of Bonobos living in their natural habitat in Congo. Second documentary that I watched was a BBC documentary which allowed me to observe a small community of Chimpanzees living in Uganda. I then watched a second BBC documentary in which observed Crested Black Macaques in their natural habitat, the Timbuktu Rainforest I could observe and take notes. I then reviewed the documentaries whiles listening to the observer’s comments. During my observations, I witnessed many different primate activities such as social grooming, the use of tools, and hunting. I was also able to identify several different primate behaviors and social structures. Additionally, watching different species of primate allowed me to identify their similarities and differences. Moreover, I was also able to recognize similarities between them and us, humans.

Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach

One of the main reasons why we are so interested in the other primates is that by looking at them we can obtain some ideas of what our ancestor must have been like a few millions years ago. Even though, we are not descended from any modern-type monkey or ape, our lineage does appear to have gone through stages in which we were a medium-sized, reasonably intelligent creature with good binocular vision, hands that were good at manipulation and the ability to climb trees. An evolutionary trend in primates involves the development of offspring both before and after birth and their integration into complex social systems. Another trend in primate evolution has been toward a more elaborate brain. In addition to brain size and gestation periods,

Play is expressed as being one of the most sophisticated forms of primate-to-primate interaction (Demaru et al. 2015). During play, the main form of emotional communication is through facial expression (Demaru et al. 2015). In humans, facial expressions are a universal display of non-verbal communication, and they are immediately read and responded to by conspecifics that bear witness to them (Cattaneo & Pavesi 2014). Play faces (PF) – an open mouth, or an open mouth with teeth showing- are used to signal the want to play and are influenced by characteristics of the play interaction (Demaru et al. 2015). For instance, aggressive behavior during play can influence the PF (Demaru et al. 2015).

Anthropologists over time recognized several physical and behavioral traits that connect humans to other primates, but can primates learn to manipulate tools, imitate, cooperate, communicate, and reason somewhat like humans? By studying the various characteristics of primate behavior among their various societies, many scientists are able to induce a stronger understanding of human relations among primates and further our knowledge and understandings about evolution. The existence or nonexistence of cultural patterns in subhuman primates may best be determined by observations amongst different primate groups in their natural habitats. “culture is dependent upon the ability of an animal within a social group to acquire from another group member