The Amazing Illustrations of 'Primates of the World'

Primates of the World: An Illustrated Guide by Jean-Jacques Petter & François Desbordes. Translated by Robert Martin. 2013. Princeton University Press. 192 pp. ISBN: 9780691156958. Price: $29.95

Previously available in French and recently translated to English by Robert Martin, Primates of the World by Jean-Jacques Petter & François Desbordes is a beautifully illustrated guide that is perfect for those who are interested in primates and a great reference guide to use for primate classes. Found throughout the book are 72 color plates that perfectly capture the natural movement and colors of nearly 300 species of primates by highlighting the male, female, adult and juvenile forms. Primates of the World includes concise introductory chapters that discuss the latest findings on primate origins, evolution, behavior, adaptations and classification.

In one of the chapters titled "Evolution of Madagascar's Lemurs", readers can find out what adaptive radiation is and why adaptive radiation is so important in understanding the evolution of Madagascar's lemurs. In the same chapter, readers are introduced to the Gray Mouse Lemur (Microcebus murinus) and why this species is important in understanding how the process of adaptive radiation happened in Madagascar. There is also a chapter on primate communication and sociality, complete with lifelike illustrations of howling primates that seem as if they are ready to bellow out a cacophony of songs.

The majority of the book is all about the color plates and primate descriptions. The primates are sorted by geography: Madagascar, South America, Asia and Africa. Classification, brief summary and habitat range of each genus is presented on the left while the color plates are presented on the right (except for a few genus with a large number of species) in facing page format. For a preview of this book, click here.

A color plate for howler monkeys (Aloutta sp.)

In summary, these water color illustrations are amazing and very fun to look at. Since this is not a new reference book (original French edition published in 2010), some of the newly discovered primate species are not included. Descriptions for primates are succinct yet not too wordy. For $29.95, this is a great book to have as a reference or as a coffee table book.

Jean-Jacques Petter (1927-2002) was a world authority on lemurs and one of France's leading primatologists. He was a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. François Desbordes is one of France's premier wildlife illustrators. Robert Martin is the A. Watson Armour III Curator of Biological Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago.

If you are interested, you can get this book in your local bookstore or online through Princeton University Press.

Maternal Infanticide and Cannibalism in Moustached Tamarin

Infanticide and cannibalism are two extreme behaviors seen in primates. Though extreme, the persistence of these behaviors in primates suggest that they are adapted for and had evolved to serve different purposes. Infanticide and cannibalism can be considered as both reproductive and survival strategies. Infanticide has always been associated with males killing off the progeny of former dominant males to make females more sexually receptive and to shorten the birth interval. Cannibalism, on the other hand, is not as sinister as it has always portrayed to be but just a coping mechanism. Ingestion of body parts, usually own offspring, is a response to cope with food scarcity. Lack of food resources would inevitably result in the death of the offspring thus cannibalization returns the caloric investment back into the mother. A new paper by Culot et al. (2011) has documented a case of infanticide and cannibalism in a wild female moustached tamarin (Saguinus mystax).

Moustached Tamarin (S. mystax) from The Bronx Zoo, New York City. Photo from Wikipedia.

S. mystax belong to the Callitrichid family, and like all Callitrichids has an interesting reproductive strategy unlike those of other primate families. Callitrichids form multimale-multifemale group and has a polyandrous (one female, multiple male) mating system. Callitrichids are the only primate family that consistently give birth to twins. The gestation period for S. mystax is 6 months. Usually, only one dominant female is reproductively active and shares offspring rearing responsibilities with multiple males in the group. However, an unstable dominance hierarchy among females might lead to multiple births within the group and will compromise the survivability of both the group and the offspring from stress, less parental investment and lack of food resources.

The researchers were studying how help from male moustached tamarins in the same group and the absence of female competition ensure the survival of offspring when they observed a female cannibalizing an infant. Necropsy and genetic analyses were used to rule out diseases and to determine paternity. They found that the infant has no diseases and did not die from trauma (falling from tree). Instead, it was a healthy infant and was being cannibalized by its own mother.

The mother was seen biting and then eating the head of its own infant during a period when another female was pregnant and gave birth just 1 month later. Before that, the perpetrator had given birth to twins three times successfully when four to five adult and subadult males were present in the group. Although we do not know for certain that the infant was alive when the mother started biting it, our field observations preceding the event suggest it probably was. The possible infanticide case and the two cases of births and early death of the infants occurred while only two to three adult males were present in the group. This could be the second case of maternal infanticide reported in the genus Saguinus and the similar circumstances suggest a common pattern. Culot et al. (2011).

Five common hypotheses proposed by Hrdy (1979) were used by the authors to try to explain maternal infanticide and cannibalism in this scenario. These hypotheses are resource competition, sexual selection, social pathology, exploitation, and parental manipulation.


The resource competition and sexual selection hypotheses were rejected because it was maternal infanticide, and not infanticide from another female. The social pathology hypothesis was rejected because it predicts infanticide restricted in areas that are disturbed by humans. The study group was habituated and had many successful births, therefore social pathology was ruled out. The exploitation hypothesis was also reject because the mother did not kill her infant to exploit its meat. Observation shows that the mother only consumed the brain and parts of the infant's neck. 


The parental manipulation hypothesis was accepted because the authors think that it best explains the scenario. The offspring was not pathological nor did it fell from the tree. Instead, it was a healthy infant that was killed by its own mother. According to Hrdy (1979), victim of parental manipulation does not necessarily have to be defective but also born "at the wrong place in the wrong time".

The authors concluded that parental manipulation is the best explanation for this possible maternal infanticide scenario. Parental manipulation strategy can happen in a group with poor capacity to raise the offspring from multiple breeding females, birth intervals that are shorter than 3 months, and low infant survival probability due to physical injuries or weakness.

References:

Culot, L. Lledo-Ferrer, Y. Hoelscher, O. Lazo, FJJM. Huynen, C. Heymann EW. 2011. Reproductive failure, possible maternal infanticide, and cannibalism in wild moustached tamarins, Saguinus mystax. Primates 52(2): 179-186.

Hrdy, SB. 1979. Infanticide among animals: A review, classification, and examination of the implications for the reproductive strategies of females. Ethology and Sociobiology 1(1): 13-40.

The Semantics of Vervet Monkey Alarm Calls: Part I

Anti-predatory alarm calls are important  for social animals to alert others of approaching predators. Without the presence of "language", some non-human primates are known to give out different predator-specific alarm calls to alert conspecific. These non-human primates include ring-tailed lemurs (Zuberbühler et al., 1999), white-faced capuchin monkeys (Fichtel et al., 2005), Diana monkeys (Zuberbühler, 1999), Campbell's monkeys (Ouattara et al., 2009) and vervet monkeys (Seyfarth et al., 1980).

Alarm calls are typically high frequency sounds because these calls are hard to localized by predators. On the other hand, low frequency sounds are easier to localized by predators. Calls that are hard to localized by predators are selected for because conspecific can pick up on the warning but predators cannot identify the location of the caller. If an individual successfully alert its social group of approaching predator yet does not reveal its location, it will significantly decrease the chance of the caller to be detected and increase the chance of its social group to avoid predation.

Vervet monkeys. Photo from Wikipedia.

Here, I will focus on the study of predatory alarm calls in vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) by Seyfarth et al. (1980) in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Vervet monkeys are Old World monkeys that range between Eastern and Southern Africa. These monkeys are diurnal and live in closely-knit social groups. They are quadrupedal and are both terrestrial and arboreal. Like all Old World monkeys, vervet monkeys have the characteristic cheek pouches that enables them to forage and store food to be eaten later. Male vervet monkeys have blue scrotal area and a red penis. Males and females are sexually dimorphic, with males slightly larger than females.

Male vervet monkey with blue scrotal area and red penis. Photo from Something Up Her Sleeve.

Vervet monkeys are known to elicit predator-specific alarm calls. Three well-documented vervet monkey alarm calls are those for leopard, martial eagle and python. Leopard alarm calls are short tonal calls produced in a series of inhalations and exhalations. Eagle alarm calls are low pitched grunt while python alarm calls are high pitched "chutters". Different alarm calls seem to evoke different responses to individuals that heard the alarm calls. However, the first reaction of a vervet monkey upon hearing an alarm call is to look at the direction of the caller. Looking at the direction of the caller gives them clues as to why the alarm calls were made and also where the caller is facing reveals the direction of the approaching predator. You can listen to these different alarm calls on this site.

As we said before, different alarm calls evoke different responses. Leopard alarm calls would make the monkeys run up into the tree to avoid being ambushed by the leopard. Also, these monkeys would sit on the branches further away from the tree because, even though leopards can climb trees, the branches could not support the leopard's weight. When an eagle alarm call is given, vervet monkeys would make them look up, run for the nearest bush or both to avoid an approaching aerial attack. Python alarm calls would the monkeys stand bipedally and look down on the ground.

A martial eagle. Photo by Jacques S G from Flickr.

Adult vervet monkeys are more discriminatory when eliciting alarm calls. Infants and juveniles calls however, are less discriminating as they attribute most terrestrial mammals with leopard calls, flying birds with eagle calls and stick-like figures with snake calls (although, compared to infants, juveniles are more discriminant when making alarm calls). In spite of that, adult vervet monkeys seem to elicit eagle alarm calls to different species of raptors and non-raptors (see illustration below). We can infer that adult vervet monkeys attribute eagle alarm calls to birds with the same silhouette as martial eagles. As vervet monkeys get older, they seem to have a better association between predator species and types of alarm calls. Vervet monkeys generally pay more attention to adult alarm calls than those of juveniles or infants.

Alarm calls made by infant, juvenile and adult vervet monkeys in response to sightings of birds of prey (raptors) and non-raptors. The number of calls cited for each age group refers to the total number of calls that were analysed (Gould & Gould, 1999). Click on illustration for larger view of the image.

The study of vervet monkey alarm calls by Seyfarth et al. (1980) laid an important ground work to better understand the complexity of animal communications. By showing that vervet monkeys make different alarm calls to different predatory species, we can posit that vervet monkeys have the ability to categorize different species. The ability to discriminate between terrestrial mammal, flying birds and snake-like objects starts during infancy in vervet monkeys. As they get older, they are better at associating predators with specific alarm calls.

An infant vervet monkey with its mother. Photo by Lip Kee from Flickr.

The ability to over generalize during infancy is evident in both vervet monkeys and humans. For example, upon learning the word "dog", human infants would refer to quadruped mammals they see as "dog". As the infant grows, so does the ability to associate the semantic meaning of words they learned. However, the acquisition of alarm calls in vervet monkeys is different than the acquisition of speech (language) in humans. Alarm calls in vervet monkeys are instinctual and not learned. Humans, however, have to learn their language. Failing to do so during the "critical period" generally will result in the inability to learn language in later years. Feral child are examples of human infants that lack linguistic input during their critical period of language acquisition.

Most of us interpret animal alarm calls as an uncontrollable auditory response to fear or pain, akin to humans yelping if we had our finger caught in a door. While this is not entirely false, some animal calls actually convey information from the caller to the listener. Seyfarth et al. (1980) posit that vervet monkey alarm calls are actually basic semantic signals or symbolic signals because each alarm calls seem to mean something to these vervet monkeys. While we don't know if these alarm calls actually mean "leopard" or "run up to the tree", we do know that it conveys specific information to their conspecific about approaching predators.

I will be blogging Part II of this post later this week, where I will explain in details the experiments done by Seyfarth and Cheney on vervet monkey alarm calls.

References:
Cawthon Lang KA. 2006 January 3. Primate Factsheets: Vervet (Chlorocebus) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology. http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/vervet. Accessed 2011 March 9.

Fichtel, C. Perry, S. Gros-Louis, J. 2005. Alarm calls of white-faced capuchin monkeys: an acoustic analysis. Animal Behaviour 70(1): 165-176. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.020.

Gould, JL. Gould, CG. 1999. The Animal Mind. Scientific American Library.

Ouattara, K. Lemasson, A. Zuberbühler, K. 2009. Campbell's Monkeys Use Affixation to Alter Call Meaning. PLoS ONE 4(11). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007808.

Seyfarth, RM. Cheney, DL. Marler, P. 1980. Monkey responses to Three Different Alarm Calls: Evidence of Predator Classification and Semantic Communication. Science 210(4471): 801-803.

Zuberbühler, K. Jenny, D. Bshary, R. 1999. The Predator Deterrence Function of Primate Alarm Calls. Ethology 105: 477–490. doi: 10.1046/j.1439-0310.1999.00396.x.

Zuberbuhler, K. 2000. Referential labelling in Diana monkeys. Animal Behaviour 59(5): 917-927. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1999.1317.

Apes Walking Upright: That's Just How They Roll (or Walk).

Orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees do it. Bonobos seem to love doing it. Apparently gibbons do it really well. Indeed, bipedalism is not unique to humans and is quite common among apes. Apes are known to walk upright once in awhile, although bonobos seem to do it more frequently than other apes. Bipedalism is just one of the natural repertoire of ape locomotion.

(From left to right) Upright Apes Brigade: Gibbon, Orangutan, Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Bonobo. Click photo for larger image.

Upright Gorilla Goes Viral: 

Ambam the gorilla. Photo from Dailymail.

Currently going viral on the internet is a video of Ambam, a Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) that was filmed walking upright in his enclosure. This 21 year-old, 485 lb. ape currently resides at Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent, England.

If you have not heard of Ambam or caught on to this internet sensation, you can read about him on :
Ambam, the swaggering silverback gorilla who walks around his pen on two legs (DailyMail)
Yes, he can walk. But just how close IS he to being human? (DailyMail)
Walk like a man: Gorilla strolls on hind legs (MSNBC).

It is not uncommon to see a gorilla walk upright but what's unique about Ambam is that he seems to walk upright quite frequently and good at it too. Bipedal locomotion is common in gorillas but they spend most of their time knuckle-walking. Ambam's upright gait and locomotion is definitely not an upright display to intimidate. Instead, it is most probably in response to curiosity and foraging in his enclosure. One of his keeper, Phil Ridges said:

"We think he might use it to get a height advantage to look over the wall when keepers come to feed him and standing up can also help him in looking for food generally in his enclosure as it gives him a better vantage point." Ridges added that Ambam could also carry more food if his hands were freed from walking and it also meant "he doesn't get his hands wet when it is raining."

It seems that the penchant for bipedalism runs deep in Ambam's family. His father, sister and half-sister (same father) prefer to walk upright and stand the same way as Ambam.

Ambam standing upright. Photo from Dailymail.

Is this a novel behavior in response to being in captivity? Is his skeletal and muscular structure (and in some sense his father, sister and half-sister) different than other gorillas? I think it would be interesting to see a behavioral study and an ethogram on Ambam's choice of locomotion. What are the percentage (or time spent) of him walking upright compared to knuckle-walking. Will his offspring be a fan of bipedality as well?

The Other Upright Ape:
While Ambam seem to prefer walking upright once in awhile, there is another ape that came before him who is a habitual biped. This ape is a chimpanzee named Oliver.

Oliver was a media (and science) sensation in the 60s and 70s for his preferred upright locomotion, having 47 chromosomes and a less prognathic face compared to other chimpanzees. Humans have 46 chromosomes while chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes. It was thought that Oliver is a "missing link" between chimpanzees and humans, thus nicknamed the "humanzee". While Oliver is not the missing link (Ely et al.,1998), he is truly a habitual biped.

The 52 year-old Oliver currently resides at Primarily Primates, a sanctuary in San Antonio, Texas. Below is a really good video of Oliver from his early years to his retirement. Seeing what happened to Oliver, I hope that they will not parade Ambam around like a freak of nature.

UPDATE: Oliver passed away on June 2nd 2012 at Primarily Primates. Read more here.

Reference:
Ely, J.J. Leland, M. Martino, M. Swett, W. Moore, C.M. 1998. Technical note: Chromosomal and mtDNA analysis of Oliver. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 105(3) 395-403. DOI: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/28165/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

These primates are busy!

I realized I have not updated my blog for almost a month now, so first and foremost, apologies to my avid readers. I know I have left you high and dry without any post! Since my last post, I have started volunteering at Prospect Park Zoo. The zoo has a special place in my heart (especially the hamadryas baboons) because it is there that I did my research for my Honors Thesis. I never thought I would enjoy working with kids but they DO ask the darndest things. Of all the kids that had asked me questions or talked to me, one really stood out. The kid asked if I know who Steve Irwin is and that he (the kid) enjoys his (Irwin's) work. Can you believe it? The kid even recited how primates are different than other mammals. I think he's gonna grow up to be me. I'm cereal.

Have you seen the new ASP website? It's quite spiffy. I actually contributed some photos to the site ... can you spot them?

The annual Monkey Day is fast approaching. Celebrated annually on December 14th, Monkey Day not only celebrates the simian that lend its name to the festival, it also celebrates anything primate (prosimians, monkeys and apes). Over at Serious Monkey Business, Ashlee is starting a Monkey Day Blog Carnival. If you are interested in contributing to the carnival, please contact her.

A friend of mine started a new blog, The Primate Chronicles. Kayley is a graduate student at University of Calgary and does her fieldwork in Belize. Check it out.

Call for submissions: The next edition of Four Stone Hearth will be hosted by Archive Fire on December 8th. If you have wrote or saw interesting Anthropology posts around the web, please send it to ambientdisorder at gmail dot com. Afarensis, current host of the blog carnival, needs hosts for future editions. If you are interested, please email Afarensis, afarensis1 at sbcglobal dot net.

All over the blogosphere and Twitter-land, Anthropological primates are choosing sides. Are you "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward"? Errr .... I mean, are you "for" or "against" removing the word "science" from  American Anthropological Association (AAA)'s mission statement. The controversy with removing the word "science" from mission statement even reached CNN. Some of the interesting blog posts on this subject matter includes:

• Why anthropology is ‘true’ even if it is not ‘science’ and Ethnography as a solution to #AAAfail by Savage Minds.
• Anthropology, Science, and Public Understanding by Neuroanthropology.
• What is a generous interpretation of the AAA mission statement change? by Context and Variation.
• Removing science from anthropology: Parallels with medicine by Respectful Insolence.
• No Science, Please. We're Anthropologists by Psychology Today.
• American Anthropological Association's Long-Range Plan, a rebuttal to the brouhaha.

What's your stand? I don't really have a strong reaction to this, probably because I am not an AAA member. I understand the initial shock of disbelieve or just a general WTF to the decision. But seriously, are they just fishing for publicity? Those damn non-science Anthropologist!

Last but not least, to my Jewish readers, Happy Hanukkah. Chag Sameach!

Prospect Park Zoo's Baby Hamadryas Named Azizi and Jabari

After more than a thousand suggestions submitted by the public, the two baby hamadryas baboons at Prospect Park Zoo are given the name "Azizi" and "Jabari" respectively. Their names are in Arabic, the language spoken in modern day Egypt (where these baboons can be found). "Azizi" means precious while "Jabari" means brave. Both Azizi (mother, Rebecca) and Jabari (mother, Kaia) are on exhibit daily from 10 AM to 2 PM inside the Animal Lifestyles building.

More at:
Azizi and Jabari, Prospect Park Zoo's newest baboons, get monikers inspired by their ancestry by Daily News.

The Vote Is In: Meet Jabari and Azizi from Prospect Park Zoo.

Macaques and Their "Pet" Kittens

Do you remember a post last month on pet keeping in animals? If you don't remember or never read it, here's the link (Do animals keep pets?). I just received a link from a friend of mine (Thanks Kristen!) about a long tailed macaque adopting a kitten in Ubud, a town in Bali, Indonesia. Below is a YouTube video of said macaque with his "pet" kitten taken in 2008. Read more about this story on Treehugger and on Telegraph.

There is also another "documented" incident of a macaque adopting a kitten in the city of Jhansi, India. This video was taken in 2007.

Do you think that these two incidents provide enough evidence that animals (primates) are capable of pet-keeping? Or is this merely nurturing instinct that is hardwired into some animals? Again, what is your take on pet-keeping and how would you define it? Are pet-keeping unique to humans? 
In a glance, I personally think that these two incidents merely shows a more nurturing side of the macaques than pet-keeping. Although, since this is not a longitudinal study, I can't extrapolate much from a few minutes of footage. What do you think? 
And to end this post, here's a gratuitous picture of a nurturing primate and his pet kitten.

Do animals keep pets?

After reading an article from Psychology Today by Hal Herzog, it got me thinking about the idea of pet-keeping. The article "Are Humans The Only Animals That Keep Pets?", claims that humans are the only animal that keeps members of other species for an extended point of time purely for enjoyment. Herzog points out that while some animals are documented having pets, this behavior almost always happen in captive or semi-captive environment where food and shelter are provided. The author believes that humans are "true" pet owners because the owner-pet relationship occurs in a natural setting and argues that animal pet owners are not "true" pet owners because they do so in captive or semi-captive settings. Thus, Herzog believes that humans are the only animals that keep pets.

Cited in the article is a paper by Izar et al. (2006), on cross-genus adoption of a marmoset by wild capuchin monkeys (link to the paper is below on References). While the paper specifically refers to the behavior as an adoption, Herzog and paper co-author Dorothy Fragaszy think that there is a parallel between the capuchin-marmoset adoption and pet-keeping in humans. However, these capuchins live in a site where food are provided daily. So, Despite the similarities, these capuchins are not "true" pet owners according to Herzog's definition of pet-keeping,

A young marmoset taking food (cracked palm nut) from its adoptive mother’s (capuchin) hand. Photo by Jeanne Shirley (Izar et al., 2006).

What is a pet and how would you define one? Herzog (2010) defines a pet as a member of other species that are being kept for an extended period of time for enjoyment. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a pet is "a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility". The definition of a pet in Oxford English Dictionary is "a domestic or tamed animal or bird kept for companionship or pleasure and treated with care and affection". Dr. James Serpell defines pet-keeping as a leisure activity but not necessarily without function, much like there are function in play or other recreational pursuits (Serpell, 1990). He thinks that pet-keeping is functional in a broad sense but not easily evaluable in economic terms.

Some primate pet owners include (left) Koko and (right) Tonda, who both had cats as pets. 

While it is impossible to define what a pet is from an animal standpoint, at least in humans, we can agree that a pet can be defined as a companion animal that we treat with affection whose function is to provide us with enjoyment. 

Did the behavior of animal domestication evolved into pet-keeping? Is pet-keeping a reflection of human's nurturing instinct? Or is pet-keeping a reflection of human's constant need of social interaction, even outside of our own species? What do you think? Well ... that's for another blog post.

References:

Herzog, H. 2010. Are Humans The Only Animals That Keep Pets? Retrieved July 1, 2010 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animals-and-us/201006/are-humans-the-only-animals-keep-pets

Izar, P. Verderane, MP. Visalberghi E. Ottoni, E. De Oliveira, MG. Shirley, J. Fragaszy, D. 2006. Cross-Genus Adoption of a Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) by Wild Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus libidinosus): Case Report. American Journal of Primatology 68:692-700. Retrieved July 1, 2010 http://psychology.uga.edu/primate/pub/Cross-genus%20adoption%20AJP%2068,%20692-700%202006.pdf

Serpell, JA. 1990. Pet-keeping and Animal Domestication: A reappraisal. In The Walking Larder. Clutton-Brock, J, ed. Pp. 10-21. Massachusetts: Unwin Hyman Inc. Retrieved July 1, 2010 http://research.vet.upenn.edu/Portals/36/media/Serpell_pet_keeping_domestication.pdf

Ethnoprimatology: Human-Macaque Interaction In Sulawesi

Ethnoprimatology is defined as the approach that draws from primate socioecology, ethnoecology/environmental anthropology, and conservation biology. This approach enable us to see the multifaceted interaction between humans and nonhuman primates in a dynamic ecosystem. It seems to be something I would like to do and learn more. What's a better way to incorporate the fundamentals of cultural anthropology and biological anthropology.

An ethnoprimatology paper by Riley and Priston (2010) on the American Journal of Primatology, Macaques in farms and folklore: exploring the human-nonhuman primate interface in Sulawesi, Indonesia (free abstract) explores the complex interaction between macaques and humans through overlapping resource use and cultural perceptions of macaques. If you do not have access to the paper, I can send you a copy of the pdf.

Macaca tonkeana, one of the endemic macaque species of Sulawesi. Photo from Wikipedia.

There are six species of macaques endemic to the island of Sulawesi. Macaca nigra, Macaca nigrescens, Macaca maura, Macaca tonkeana, Macaca hecki and Macaca ochreata. Despite constant crop raiding by macaques, farmers in Sulawesi show considerable tolerance to this behavior. This tolerance can be explained by a positive reinforcement in the farmer's local culture, folklore and religion. Two types of farming subsistence exists in Sulawesi: dryland crops and wet-rice agriculture.

Macaca nigra, one of the endemic macaque species of Sulawesi. Photo from Wikipedia.

Most dryland crops farmers are Muslim. They abstain from killing and/or eating these macaques (which Balinese Hindus would have no problem doing) as it is considered haram. In the Lindu highlands, the macaques are considered kin by the To Lindu people. In Buton, certain places in the forest are considered sacred, thus these places are protected by the locals. Macaques and other animals benefits from this protection, making these pockets of forest their refuge.

A New Theory On The Origin Of Primates

A new theory on the origin of primates was published on Zoologica Scripta. The paper, Evolution and biogeography of primates: a new model based on molecular phylogenetics, vicariance and plate tectonics by Michael Head, argues that the distribution of major primate groups are correlated with the Mesozoic tectonic features. The range of these primate groups correspond to them evolving locally from a widespread ancestor on the supercontinent of Pangea about 185 million years ago.

Read more about this from Science Daily, New Theory on the Origin of Primates.

Functions of Male Primate Coloration

Over at Beast Ape and The Bleeding Heart Baboons, Beast Ape posted an interesting blog about the functions of primate coloration as "badge of status" in males to indicate rank or status to other males or to convey information to females about the male's fitness or quality (think the peacock's train).

Homosexuality: Was Darwin Wrong On Sexual Selection?

The article "The effeminate sheep and other problems with Darwinian sexual selection" by Jonah Lehrer was published in the June/July 2006 issue of SEED magazine. It's been circulating around the internet this past week after news broke that a high school teacher from Piasa, Illinois was suspended for giving his students this article to read as an optional class discussion. Soon, a Facebook group was created by students from Southwestern High School in support of their beloved teacher, Dan DeLong. The author of the article, Jonah Lehrer, also showed his support on his blog The Frontal Cortex. DeLong had since been given his job back after he publicly apologize for handing out an age inappropriate article. This whole outburst just screams homophobia to me. It is a disgrace to the country's education system because a thought provoking and queer-friendly curriculum resulted in someone being suspended. I bet none of the parents would even complain if their kids were given an article explaining the extinction of dinosaurs were due to them being late to Noah's ark.

Dinosaurs, Left Behind. Illustration from CartoonStock.

Anyway, back to the article. Joan Roughgarden, a Biology professor from Stanford University thinks that Darwin got it wrong about sexual selection. She also thinks that sexual theory is still stuck in the 19th century.

 Joan Roughgarden's book Evolution's Rainbow.

Two female bonobos having sex. Bonobos are fully bisexual, they don't really care which gender they are having sex with.

Sexual selection cannot explain homosexuality in over 450 different vertebrate species, said Roughgarden. Homosexuality, long thought to be deviant and serves no purpose biologically, is actually normal and a necessary fact of life.. Her book, Evolution's Rainbow, is an attack on Darwin's theory of sexual selection citing that the pervasiveness of homosexuality in the animal kingdom is actually adaptive and had not been weeded out by natural selection. She also said that homosexuality is a necessary side effect for getting along: a necessary feature of advanced animal communities that require communal bonds to function.

 Gay mallards Anas platyrhynchos. Photo from Wikipedia.

An example of this in the primate societies are the Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).

Japanese macaques, an old world primate, illustrate this principle perfectly. Macaque society revolves around females, who form intricate dominance hierarchies within a given group. Males are transient. To help maintain the necessary social networks, female macaques engage in rampant lesbianism. These friendly copulations, which can last up to four days, form the bedrock of macaque society, preventing unnecessary violence and aggression. Females that sleep together will even defend each other from the unwanted advances of male macaques. In fact, behavioral scientist Paul Vasey has found that females will choose to mate with another female, as opposed to a horny male, 92.5% of the time. While this lesbianism probably decreases reproductive success for macaques in the short term, in the long run it is clearly beneficial for the species, since it fosters social stability. “Same-sex sexuality is just another way of maintaining physical intimacy,” Roughgarden says. “It’s like grooming, except we have lots of pleasure neurons in our genitals. When animals exhibit homosexual behavior, they are just using their genitals for a socially significant purpose.”

Read more about Jonah Lehrer's "The effeminate sheep and other problems with Darwinian sexual selection" here.

"And Tango Makes Three". A storybook based on the real story of Silo and Roy, two gay chinstrap penguins from Central Park.

I think homosexuality in primates is an interesting yet often times a taboo topic. There should be more studies on the effect of homosexuality in primate societies. Are there differences and similarities between primate and human societies when it comes to homosexuality? I also think its about time to regard homosexuality as adaptive as opposed to maladaptive and start coming up with research to see how societies benefit from homosexuality. We already have the "Grandmother Hypothesis" so what about the "Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Family Member Hypothesis"?

Actor Rosario Dawson and her gay uncle, Frank. Poster from PFLAG.

What struck a cord for me was Roughgarden's explanation of homosexuality, “Same-sex sexuality is just another way of maintaining physical intimacy ... It’s like grooming, except we have lots of pleasure neurons in our genitals. When animals exhibit homosexual behavior, they are just using their genitals for a socially significant purpose".

Reference:

Lehrer, J. 2006. The effeminate sheep and other problems with Darwinian sexual selection. SEED Retrieved November 3, 2009, from http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_gay_animal_kingdom/

When It Comes To Being The "Missing Link", Ida -- You Are NOT The Candidate

Main slab of Darwinius masillae (specimen PMO 214.214), new genus and species, from Messel in Germany. Photo from Wikipedia.

Ida or "Aunt Ida" as many might recall from this summer of craziness sent shock waves around the nation as it was herald the missing link between prosimians and anthropoids (primates and human). Deserving of its own genus, Ida was given the name Darwinius masillae by Franzen et al. (2009) as they describe this specimen in their paper. Darwinius to celebrate the bicentennial celebration of Darwin's claim to fame "Origin of Species" and masillae for the location where Ida was discovered (Messel Pit, Germany).


Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology was published this summer. Soon thereafter, the general public expressed sheer amazement and curiosity, especially the press who were all too excited to report such breaking news. Hence, "Aunt Ida" became synonymous with "Ida" due to the general public's warm family reception. Others, such as the religious nuts were quick to point out that Ida was just another god(s) creation and the notion of a "missing link" is preposterous. Even Google participated in this frenzy, much to the chagrin of religious right-wing, featuring Ida in Google's logo on May 20th, 2009.

Ida as Google icon. Illustration from Google.

American Museum of Natural History soon announced that you can see Darwinius masillae in their Extreme Mammal exhibit (which I later find out that it is just a cast). The Discovery Center at Times Square also got into the game by exhibiting Darwinius masillae. All these publicity and attention makes one wonder. Is this just a publicity stunt on a premature discovery and discussion? Not to mention all the money they made from this discovery "that changes everything".

I, for one, was on the fence. While I was amazed and interested with the discovery, all these publicity stunt just does not bode well with me. I chose not to write about Ida's discovery in this blog, not because I was too lazy to add my one cent but rather I'd prefer to sit back and listen to all the discussions. One, I'm not a paleontologist nor am I an expert on skeletal morphology. I'd love to know if  Darwinius masillae actually groomed each other though.

So what made me wrote this blog entry? My inbox is filled with new articles about Darwinius masillae but this time disproving its role as the missing link. A new paper, published by Seiffert et al. (2009), concludes that Darwinius masillae is closely related to the genus Afradapis (an adapiform or adapoid). They also conclude that Darwinius masillae sits on the dead end of the evolutionary branch, without leaving any descendants let alone being the missing link for humans. Thus the title "missing link" is not befitting of this 47 million year old Eocene primate.

Phylogenetic position of the adapiforms Afradapis and Darwinius within primates. Photo from Wired.

So now that you have both sides of the story, what's your opinion on  Darwinius masillae? I'm betting my bananas that Darwinius masillae is just another product of a highly publicized discovery. Not to undermine the important discovery of this new genus but quoting my undergraduate professor, Dr. Sara Stinson, "There is no such thing as a missing link. We know where everything goes". She's right ... in fact the idea of a "missing link" is just an agent used by those who do not believe in evolution. You know, like the idea of Crocoduck (Hint: Kirk Cameron).

Further readings:
Bone Crunching Debunks ‘First Monkey’ Ida Fossil Hype from Wired.
So Ida's not the "missing link": questions and answers with Erik Seiffert from Times Online.
'Eighth wonder' Ida is not related to humans, claim scientists from Guardian.co.uk.
Darwinius on Wikipedia.

References:
Franzen, JL. Gingerich PD. Habersetzer, J. Hurum, JH. von Koenigswald, W. Smith, BH. 2009. Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology. PLos ONE 4(5): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005723.

Seiffert, ER. Perry, JMG. Simons, EL. Boyer, DM. 2009. Convergent evolution of anthropoid-like adaptations in Eocene adapiform primates. Nature 461, 1118-1121 doi:10.1038/nature08429.

Two Rare Primates From China and Vietnam Given a Second Chance

Two new protected areas were designated in China and Vietnam recently to protect two of the world's most endangered primates by Fauna and Flora International (FFI). The Tonkin snub nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus), found only in Vietnam, numbers about only 200 individuals in the wild while the eastern black crested gibbon or cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus), second most endangered primate in the world, numbers only just 110 individuals. Both species are listed as "critically endangered" in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The Tonkin snub nosed monkeys were thought to be extinct until a small population was rediscovered in the early 1980s.

Read more about the Tonkin snub nosed monkeys, cao vit gibbons and the new nature reserves from Wildlife Extra.

Male (left) and female (right) cao vit gibbons. Photo from Fauna and Flora International.

The Tonkin snub nosed monkey. Photo from Fauna and Flora International.

Frans de Waal: A Helping Hand Or A Stab In The Back - Which Is More Human?

Dr. Frans de Waal will be having a lecture and book signing tomorrow (Thurs, Sept 24) , 7pm at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. For all you Facebook users, Dr. De Waal has a Facebook fan page as well! You really should go become his "fan" on his page. Really.

Below is the description from Hunter College's website:

Thursday, September 24, 2009
7:00 PM
A Helping Hand Or A Stab In The Back - Which Is More Human?

World-renowned primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal will discuss his ground-breaking book The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society.

An exploration of the origins of human morality that challenges many of our most basic assumptions, The Age of Empathy has been written by one of the world's leading primatologists, Dr. Frans de Waal, called one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine and the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award. De Waal's newest book looks at the question of whether competitive, selfish behavior is really "instinctive" and "natural," an outgrowth of evolution and the survival of the fittest. However, using research from anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, and animal behavior, de Waal argues that humans are equally hard-wired for empathy. We are, he says, group animals - cooperative, sensitive to injustice, and mostly peace-loving - just like other primates, elephants, and dolphins. De Waal's findings have profound implications for politics, office behavior - and perhaps our very survival.

The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College
(68th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues)

Program is free and open to the public.
To RSVP, click here or call (212) 772-4007.

When Is A Monkey Really A Monkey?

A little boy pressed his nose on the glass where a Western Lowland Gorilla is interacting with the zoo-goers. He turns around to his parents with a big smile. “Oh look, the monkey wants to kiss you”, said his mother.

At the lemur exhibit, a girl asks her parents what those black and white primates were. Her dad picks her up and said, “It’s a monkey, sweetie … let’s go”.

A pair of gibbons gracefully swings around in their exhibit. Excited, a group of kindergarteners cheered as these gibbons maneuver around its habitat with great agility. “These monkeys are so active”, said the teacher.

If this sounds familiar to you then you are not alone. I spent a great deal of time near primate exhibits mainly because I love to observe their behaviors. I also enjoy watching interaction between humans and primates. However, there are times when I just can’t control myself and felt compelled to walk over to these people and explain to them that the word “monkey” is not a general term for primates (politely, of course). It shocks me that most of the time people do not read the information panel at the exhibit (aren’t zoo trips for educational purposes?). So when is a monkey really a monkey?

Monkey is a colloquial term for any cercopithecoids (Old World monkey) and platyrrhines (New World monkey). Monkeys are not hominoids (apes) or prosimians. One of the most distinctive characteristic that differentiate monkeys and apes is the presence of a tail in monkeys. Gibbons, siamangs, orangutans, gorilla, chimpanzees and bonobos are apes because they do not have a tail.

Gorillas do not have tails, so they are not monkeys but apes.

Differentiating monkeys and prosimians are a little tricky; all prosimians have grooming claws (toilet claws) but it is generally not visible within zoo exhibits. Prosimians include lemurs, lorises, galagos, aye-ayes and tarsiers.

A ring-tailed lemur is a prosimian. Although it has a tail, it also have grooming claws so lemurs are not monkeys.

A hamadryas baboon is technically a monkey because it has a tail but has no grooming claws.

The Barbary Macaque, Macaca sylvanus, was formerly named Barbary Ape due to the absence of a tail (to be more precise, they have a vestigial tail that looks like a stump). However, we know now that it is more closely related to macaques than to apes so its name was changed to correctly reflect what they are.

A Barbary Ape (notice the lack of tail). Flickr photo from Gerald Davison.

This brings us back to the question, “when is a monkey really a monkey’? The most straightforward answer would be “when it has a tail but doesn’t have grooming claws”. However, the most convenient answer usually lies in front of you … on the information panel.

Flickr photo taken by tim ellis at the Twycross Zoo, England.
The sign reads "Who are you calling a monkey?"

Contagious Yawning in Chimpanzees

Animation of chimpanzee yawning from Emory University. Illustration from BBC News.

I'm sure we are all familiar with this scenario: Someone yawns and we would "catch" it or vice versa. This is the phenomenon of contagious yawning.

A new paper from The Proceedings of The Royal Society "Computer animations stimulate contagious yawning in chimpanzees" suggests that the phenomenon of contagious yawning and empathic response to animation occurs in chimpanzees. Computer animations of yawning chimpanzees (see illustration above) can be use to stimulate contagious yawning in chimpanzees. Previous researches have documented contagious yawning in chimpanzees through video-recorded footage.

Dr. Matthew Campbell, lead author of the paper from Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center said that they would also like to learn more about behaviors that are related to empathy such as consolation (when an individual does something nice to the victim of aggression). They want to know if individuals that are good contagious yawners are also good consolers. Understanding how chimpanzees empathize and imitate animations can help us understand how we, as human beings, empathize and imitate animations as well, said Dr. Campbell.

Wild Spider Monkeys use Tools to Scratch Their Body

A Geoffroy's Spider Monkey hanging on the branch. Photo from Primate Info Net.

Wild Geoffroy's Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) or Black-handed Spider Monkeys had been documented using tools to scratch themselves, according to a new publication "Tool use in wild spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)". Important to note that spider monkeys do not have thumbs, only four fingers (picture below) so tool manipulation is rather limited but nonetheless a rather interesting find.

The hand of a Geoffroy's Spider Monkey. Note that they do not have a thumb and only four fingers. Photo from Wikipedia.

Published in the latest issue of Primates, authors Stacy Lindshield and Michelle Rodrigues collected their data from wild spider monkeys at El Zota Biological Field Station in northeastern Costa Rica. There were three documented instances where these spider monkeys used tools to scratch themselves.

The first to scratch was an adult female. Holding a small, leafy branch in her hand, she scratched her chest and abdominal regions.
The second, another adult female, used a detached stick lacking side branches and leaves to scratch her left side. She chewed the tool tip between bouts.
The third individual, a juvenile female, first chewed the distal tip of a stick before scratching the underside of her tail and her genital region.

Seems that this publication coincide with the call for an inter-disciplinary field that seek to examine primate tool use in a long term, evolutionary context. Julio Mercader, archaeologist from University of Calgary, said "We used to think that culture and, above anything else, technology was the exclusive domain of humans, but this is not the case."
Read the full article on Discovery: Spider Monkeys Invent Medicated Body Scratcher.

New Branch of Archaeology: Paleoanthropology Meets Primatology

A chimpanzee mother using rocks (hammer and anvil) to break open nuts, an example of tool use in primates.
Photo from Duke University.

A new branch of archaeology is being introduced by international scientists. Led by University of Calgary archaeologist Julio Mercader and 17 other co-authors of the paper "Primate archaeology", advocate a new "Paleoanthropology meets Primatology" inter-disciplinary field that seek to examine primate tool use in a long term, evolutionary context.

Read more about the article from redOrbit: International Scientists Establish New Branch Of Archaeology.

A Cross-Species Comparative Study: Grooming Patterns in Captive Populations of Hamadryas Baboons and Geladas

This is the thesis that I've been working on for the past year. Finally got it graded and I am really happy about the thesis. After writing this thesis, I have more follow-up questions pertaining to grooming than I had started with so I guess it's a good thing.

Thanks to Dr. Larissa Swedell for supervising my thesis. Also, thanks to Dr. Sara Stinson and Dr. Ekaterina Pechenkina for reading the thesis and your inputs.

Abstract:
Primates groom themselves (autogrooming) and each other (allogrooming) for a variety of purposes. Allogrooming is arguably an altruistic behavior, and may be explained by kin selection. The purpose of this study is to better understand the grooming patterns of captive hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas hamadryas) and geladas (Theropithecus gelada) within the context of kin selection theory, which posits that kin will interact, especially in altruistic ways, more than non-kin.

This study hypothesizes that grooming patterns in hamadryas baboons and geladas can be explained by the patterns of philopatry, dispersal, social system and bonding that are seen in wild populations. The results of this study show that there is a higher frequency of allogrooming than autogrooming in both hamadryas baboons and geladas. It also shows that gelada leader males groomed their females more than hamadryas leader males groomed their females, which does not support the hypothesis of this study. The following results showed a trend but were not statistically significant enough to support the hypotheses: female hamadryas baboons and geladas groomed more than male hamadryas baboons and geladas; hamadryas leader males groomed their females more than females groomed among themselves in the same hamadryas group; gelada females groomed each other more than gelada leader males and their females; male hamadryas baboons groomed more than male geladas; female geladas groomed more than female hamadryas baboons; hamadryas baboons groomed more than geladas.

In addition, this study also hypothesizes that there is a correlation between grooming frequency and temperature. There is a positive correlation between grooming frequency and temperature in hamadryas baboons but a negative correlation in geladas.

A Cross-Species Comparative Study: Grooming Patterns in Captive Populations of Hamadryas Baboons and Geladas