I've Been Busy: NEEP and Departmental Talk

I gave a poster presentation at Northeastern Evolutionary Primatologists (NEEP) earlier this month, held at Hunter College. It's my first time at NEEP and it's nice to see my regional colleagues. And yes, that's a "floating tablet". Command Strips are great to affix your tablet during poster presentation. They come off easily after you are done!

Northeastern Evolutionary Primatologists (NEEP) is the northeast "chapter" of primatologists that focus on evolution, ecology, and behavior. You can read more about this organization on their website, as well as on their Facebook group.

I also gave a short talk on my ruffed lemur color vision research for my department's Pre-Graduation event. This is the first time I actually presented with my preliminary data. I'm right on track for graduation next Spring. 

[Please don't jinx myself. Please don't jinx myself. Please don't jinx myself.]

The Animal Behavior and Conservation Program at Hunter College is offered as a Master's Program for those that are interested in behavior, evolution, conservation, welfare, and cognition.

Bon Voyage, Magellan!

We said goodbye to Magellan this week as he transitioned into the next chapter of his life at Dickerson Park Zoo --- fatherhood (hopefully!). I can't wait to see him in his new environment so hopefully one of these days, I'll plan a trip out to Springfield, MO. Bon voyage, Magellan!

BUT WHY IS MAGELLAN LEAVING THE DUKE LEMUR CENTER?

According to the Duke Lemur Center, Magellan's mother and brothers were acting aggressively towards him.

This is actually a natural phenomenon. Lemurs are "kicked out" of their natal group at a certain point of their life, and this is induced by aggressive behavior towards the lemur individual. This is a common mechanism for animals that dispersal. Literally getting the boot from the group. There are no helicopter parents in the lemur world. Ruffed lemurs live in a fission fusion group, so generally both sexes are kicked out of the group.

COLOR VISION STUDY

Magellan was one of my research subject at the Duke Lemur Center. Along with his brothers (AJ and Rees) and mother (Kizzy), they participated in my color vision study last summer and fall.

Mine! Mine! Mine! MINE! Kizzy and her boys (AJ, Magellan, and Rees) can't seem to get enough of my apparatus. SMARTA or Subject-Mediated Automatic Remote Testing Apparatus is what I used to train and test these ruffed lemurs. I will post about why I am training these lemurs to touch the red square tomorrow. Stay tuned. Any questions in the meantime? Ask away. Photo by @prancingpapio #dukelemurcenter #lemurs #lemur #lemuria #lemurian #animaltraining #positivereinforcement #primate #primateofinstagram #primates #ruffedlemur #blackandwhiteruffedlemur #varecia #variegata #colsci #color #colorvision #colorscience #psychophysics #psychophysiology #psychology #anthropology #primatology #SMARTA #prancingpapio

A photo posted by Duke Lemur Center (@dukelemurcenter) on Jun 30, 2015 at 4:03pm PDT