Primate Folio

Blog post 5: positional behavior and tree-gouging in Pygmy Marmoset. presented by: Jonathan Thompson. At first there isn't much that I can research on when it comes to a specific detail to express in this blog spot. What originally caught my attention about this primate was its size. It’s one of the smallest primates in the world, often no larger than the palm of a human hand. They're described as squirrel-like primates in movement and appearance, with minimal sexual dimorphism between males and females. One of the more surprising aspects of their social behavior is the way raising pygmy babies, and how caring for the babies are mainly seen by the fathers. When it comes to fathers, they are primarily responsible for caregiving, while mothers focus on feeding and gather food to eat like insects and tree saps, which provide essential nutrients for their babies. Positional Behavior: From the article positional behavior refers to how primates move through and interact with their en...

  Blog 3: Social System: Social Organization, Social Structure, Mating System, Care System Tirra Shawcroft May 2, 2025 1. Social Organization: De Brazza’s monkeys are highly social animals that tend to live in large groups of varying sizes. Troops of 10-35 members have been recorded living in different regions. They live in a dominant hierarchy, one-male, multi-female group known as a harem system, where there is one dominant male who has access to multiple females. In order to prevent competition and inbreeding, males will leave their troop when they reach sexual maturity, where they will go to find a troop of their own. This system leaves the young females with their natal groups, continuing to learn from the other females around them the skills for motherhood they need for their success.  2. Mating System:  Figure 1: A female De Brazza’s monkey grooms a male, Wikipedia.org, September 27, 2024 De Brazzas monkeys are sexually dimorphic in size, meaning that the males are...

 Mandrill Blog Post 5 The Multidimensionality of Female Mandrill Sociality  Exploring the Multidimensionality of Female Mandrill Sociality: Insights from Recent Research      In the field of primate research, grasping social interactions is essential for understanding the complexities of animal behavior and their environment. A recent peer-reviewed study by Andres Pereira (2020) called "The multidimensionality of female mandrill sociality—A dynamic multiplex network approach" sheds light on the social connections among female mandrills by using advanced social network analysis methods. This blog post summarizes the key findings of the article and provides a thoughtful examination of what these findings mean for our knowledge of mandrill biology and their conservation efforts. Summary of Findings      The study used a multiplex network method to look at how six to seven adult female mandrills interacted in captivity. The researchers focused on thre...

  The Mandrill Blog Post 4 Communication, Social Behaviors, and Cognitive Abilities     Communication:                While Mandrills communicate in a wide variety of ways, their main form of communication is through complex vocalization. These sounds include barks, grunts, and screams all of which have a different meaning to the Mandrill. Mandrills grunts are usually used to maintain in contact with their group or as a passing greeting. Barks on the other hand are usually higher pitched noises used to warn other Mandrills of threats or as a sign of aggression. Lastly their screams are the loudest and highest pitched noise they can make. These are used to indicate fear or for alarm calls(Elster 2023).  Grunt: Low-pitched, used for basic communication Barks: Slightly higher pitched, warning or sign of aggression Scream: Very High Pitched, used for alarm calls        Video: Mandrill call at the LA Zoo...

Special Topic: Vocal communications in regards to location, familiarity, and food abundance   PEER-REVIWED ARTICLE REVIEW Article Summary & Findings: This study investigates the vocal and movement responses of mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) to loud calls from neighboring groups. The study was conducted in the La Flor de Catemaco forest in Veracruz, Mexico, from January 2016 to March 2017, and the research explored how these responses are influenced by things like familiarity with the caller, food availability, and the distance between groups. The study involved three groups of howler monkeys, with varying levels of familiarity between each other. There were the long-term residents (G1 and G2) and a short-term resident group (G3). Researchers recorded loud calls and the corresponding vocal and movement responses of the receiving groups. The Data analysis mainly focused on how these responses varied in relation to the three mentioned factors food availability, familia...

  One distinct feature of the Bornean Orangutan is their “long call.” The long call is a sound produced by flanged adult male orangutans. The call sounds similar to a roar and can sometimes be heard up to a mile away. The long call has been observed to serve two main purposes for orangutans. The first is to warn off any adversarial males from one's territory, and the other purpose is to announce a male's availability to any nearby sexually receptive females. (Orangutan Foundation International).\   Adult male Bornean orangutan long call This link takes you to a video of an orangutan performing the long call. This call was recorded by the researcher, Dr. Wendy Erb, who conducted the study being discussed in this post.  In a 2024 article (Erb et al.), researchers are analyzing the complexity of the long call. The article identifies that previous studies have found six distinct call types among orangutans. These sound types vary within individual orangutans and from orang...