Welcome

Audio-Visual Links

All links provided below were active on website launch. However, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, links do occasionally become inactive. If you find a link that has become inactive, please try using a search engine to locate the website in question.

Chapter 6

Southern lesser galago Galago moholi)

Eyes and ears; locomotion.

Greater slow loris (Nycticebus coucang)

Grasping ability and slow locomotion on various substrates.

Gray slender loris (Loris lydekkerianus)

Locomotion and feeding on insects.

Slow loris

Allogrooming (rescued animals)

Chapter 9

Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) stink fight

Stink fight. Better to watch muted.

Variety of daylight lemurs.
Eulemur, ringtails, ruffed lemurs, sifakas, and indris in various forests (also sportive lemurs). Somewhat cloying narration, but worth listening for lemur vocalizations. Great close-ups. One blatant mistake: "Madagascar has no dangerous land animals." See below:

Fossa
Brief introduction with basic narration.

Chapter 10

Tarsier

Spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier)
Excellent video of tarsiers at night: positional behavior, use of senses, hunting and feeding. No narration.

True Facts About The Tarsier
Basic facts accurate, good close-up photos and a little real video. Would-be clever narration (for really funny narration, watch "Honey Badger").

spectral tarsier vocalization and leap

Chapter 12

Platyrrhines (New World monkeys) overviews

For more, see chapters 13 through 15.

Chapter 13

Atelids

Howler monkeys: several very short videos at Arkive
Howling/roaring, positional behavior, feeding.

Spider monkeys: two successive videos

Monkeys in sanctuary at Primarily Primates: positional behavior.
Free-ranging but contact with humans, clearer video, more varied behavior

Pitheciids

Saki (Pithecia): three videos from Arkive

Facial traits, positional behavior, feeding. No narration.

Titi (Callicebus)

Zogue Zogue Rabo de Fogo (Red-tailed Titi Monkey)
Brief view of group in wild, including one infant riding on presumptive father's back.

Chapter 15

Capuchins and squirrel monkeys

Living Together - Capuchin and Squirrel Monkeys at Living Links
Both species at Living Links research station, explained by Hannah Buchanan-Smith.

New World Monkeys (Primates) - PREVIEW
Diverse behaviors of both species illustrated, described by Anne Zeller

Squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii)

Red-backed squirrel monkey
Brief videos of various behaviors. Links to videos of other Saimiri species (Arkive).

Tufted capuchins (Sapajus)

Various behaviors

Untufted capuchins (Cebus)

Monkey's bluff - Clever Monkeys - BBC EarthWhite-faced capuchins in the wild. Alarm calls, valid and deceptive.

Chapter 18

Langurs

Gray langurs (Semnopithecus)
in trees and on ground

Silvered leaf monkey (Trachypithecus)
feeding; infant care; leaping

Odd-nosed Monkeys

Snub-nosed monkeys

Proboscis monkeys (Nasalis)
sexual dimorphism; swimming

African colobines

Black and white colobus mother with infant
infant color phase; interest of other group members

Red colobus in various activities

Cercopithecines

Young macaques accumulating food in cheek pouches

Chapter 24

Gorillas

Eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei)

Lowland gorillas at a bai

silverback chest beating:
close view of chest beating and feeding, and of silverback gorilla features, including musculature, locomotion, and crest

gorilla play:
includes young individuals and silverback-infant interaction (the panting vocalization may be homologous with human laughter) and an example of solitary play in the imitation of chest beating by a juvenile

Chapter 26

Bonobo (Pan paniscus)

Bonobo behavior, including meat eating and sex (National Geographic, 7 min.)

Chapter 27

Human primate comparisons (Human origins Program, Smithsonian)

Ardipithecus, probably close to the LCA (from the journal Science)

Chimpanzee tool use

Chimpanzee food sharing

Chapter 29

Bonobo and human behavior discussed by Duke University primatologists (2:36)

Common chimpanzee and human behavior discussed by Anne Pusey

Vervets drink alcohol

Bonobo patience

Online Resources

All links provided below were active on website launch. However, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, links do occasionally become inactive. If you find a link that has become inactive, please try using a search engine to locate the website in question.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Also see chapters 6 through 9

Chapter 7

Chapter 10

Philippine tarsiers

Chapter 12

And see chapters 13 through 15

Chapter 13

Howler Monkeys

Spider and Woolly Monkeys

Seed predating pitheciins

Titis

Chapter 25

Chimpanzees

Study questions

Chapter 1

  1. What are the main features of primate anatomy? How do they differ from most mammals?
  2. What are the main features of primate behavior? How do they differ from most mammals?
  3. Why is anatomy necessary for behavior? How does anatomy limit behavior?
  4. What characteristics distinguish the three main primate lineages from each other?
  5. What is classification? What is taxonomy? How are they related to each other?
  6. What is biological evolution? What is natural selection? How are they related to each other?

Chapter 2

  1. What techniques are used to study primate behavior in the field? What kind of data do they provide?
  2. What are the various settings in which captive primates are studied?
  3. What are the benefits and limitations of primate field studies?
  4. What are the benefits and limitations of studying captive primates?
  5. What ethical issues arise from primate field studies?
  6. What ethical issues arise from the study of captive primates?
  7. What are Tinbergen's four approaches to understanding animal behavior?
  8. How have Tinbergen's questions been elaborated by recent theory?

Chapter 3

  1. What is the typical structure of a tropical rainforest?
  2. What kinds of foods do primates eat most often? What needs do they fulfill?
  3. What are preferred foods? What are fallback foods?
  4. What are secondary compounds? Why are they important to primates?
  5. What substances do primates ingest other than foods? Why?
  6. What kinds of animals typically hunt primates? How do primates respond to these predators?
  7. Where do most primates sleep and why?
  8. What are the functions of primate sleep? Which ones might be more important to primates than to other mammals?
  9. What is grooming and how is it important to primates?
  10. What are the functions of aggressive behavior in primate life?
  11. What is the Socioecological Model? How important is it in primatology?
  12. What is meant by "slow life history" in relation to primates?
  13. Why is the juvenile stage of life especially important in primates?
  14. When do primates most often emigrate from their natal groups?
  15. Describe the most important features of primate mental processes.

Chapter 4

  1. What are the ecological implications of nocturnal life?
  2. What are the behavioral implications of nocturnal life?
  3. Describe the structure and function of olfactory anatomy in strepsirrhines.
  4. Explain the ecological significance of the strepsirrhine olfactory sense.
  5. Explain the social significance of the strepsirrhine olfactory sense.
  6. Describe and explain the limitations on strepsirrhine sexual behavior.
  7. What is vertical-clinging-and-leaping? What anatomical features facilitate it?

Chapter 5

  1. What is the taxonomic relationship between lorisiforms and strepsirrhines?
  2. How is faunivory related to lorisiform evolution and ecology?
  3. What are the most typical features of lorisiform social systems?
  4. What are the most typical features of male reproductive strategy in lorisiforms?
  5. Why is the incidence of male infanticide low among lorisiforms?
  6. What is "scrounging" and what benefit does it provide?
  7. What evidence do we have that lorisiforms are motivated by curiosity?
  8. What is the "cognitive style" of lorisiforms?

Chapter 6

  1. How does the most common bushbaby locomotor pattern relate to subsistence?
  2. How does the most common lorisid locomotor pattern relate to subsistence?
  3. How do smaller and larger bushbabies differ in behavior?
  4. How flexible is bushbaby subsistence behavior?
  5. What are the characteristics of a bushbaby matrilocal cluster?
  6. How and what do bushbabies communicate?
  7. What is the meaning and function of "cache and carry?"
  8. What physical adaptations support typical lorisid locomotion?
  9. How can the low basal metabolism of lorisids be explained?
  10. How and why do lorisid mating patterns differ from those of galagids?
  11. What factors affect cognitive experiments with lorisids?
  12. What are the feeding patterns of slow lorises?
  13. How did captive studies contribute to a changing view of slow loris sociality?
  14. What role do females play in the slender loris social system?

Chapter 7

  1. What is the Madagascar environment like? How can it explain behavioral similarities across the lemuriforms?
  2. What is the Mismatch Hypothesis? How does it explain behavioral similarities across the lemuriforms?
  3. What does monomorphy mean? How is it related to social organization in lemuriforms?
  4. When and how do lemuriforms express female dominance? How common is it among them? What hypotheses account for it?
  5. Why do many nocturnal lemuriforms behave like lorisiforms?
  6. Why is lemuriform breeding strictly seasonal?

Chapter 8

  1. What is the difference between torpor and hibernation? How might they be adaptive for lemuriforms?
  2. What are the functions of various mouse lemur vocalizations?
  3. What kind of competition occurs in mouse lemur mating patterns?
  4. What are the functional connections between dwarf lemur hibernation and life history?
  5. How do sportive lemurs survive on folivory despite their small size?
  6. What are the most distinctive physical features of the aye-aye? How can they be explained in terms of function and phylogeny?
  7. How does aye-aye social behavior differ from that of other Malagasy primates?

Chapter 9

  1. How is cathemerality adaptive? How does it vary among lemuriforms?
  2. What is targeted aggression? Who performs it and why?
  3. Which lemuriforms sing duets? Why?
  4. What kind of behavior indicates female dominance? Why does it occur?
  5. Why do both male and female sifakas commit infanticide?
  6. How does ruffed lemur social organization differ from that of other lemurids?
  7. How do ruffed lemur reproduction and life history differ from other lemurids?
  8. How has recent research changed our perception of lemuriform cognition?

Chapter 10

  1. What are the distinctive physical features of tarsiers?
  2. What is nonpursuit hunting in tarsiers? How does it explain physical traits?
  3. How do the members of a spectral tarsier pair interact with each other?
  4. How is the pair relationship affected by the food supply?
  5. What does cache and carry mean? How does it differ from simple parking?
  6. How do other tarsiers resemble and differ from spectral tarsier behavior?
  7. How do female tarsiers differ from strepsirrhines in their sexual behavior?

Chapter 11

  1. What is color vision? What are its possible functions? How have they been tested?
  2. How do grooming activities in strepsirrhines and anthropoids differ? What are the functions of grooming in anthropoids?
  3. What does estrus mean? Why do some experts think it is inappropriate for anthropoids?
  4. Explain life history differences between anthropoids and strepsirrhines.
  5. What is cultural primatology? Why is there controversy about its validity?
  6. What is sexual dimorphism? How is it related to anthropoid social behavior?
  7. How does anthropoid sexuality differ from that of strepsirrhines?

Chapter 12

  1. Describe the distribution of living primates in the Americas.
  2. What is the Protein Hypothesis? How is it related to figs in the New World?
  3. How does color vision differ between male and female New World monkeys?
  4. What are prehensile tails? Which taxa have them? How are they used?
  5. What kinds of scent marking do New World monkeys use?

Chapter 13

  1. How and why does leaf consumption affect howler monkey daily activity?
  2. What does howler monkey howling sound like? Why do they do it?
  3. What is unusual about spider monkey social organization?
  4. What happens to the seeds eaten by sakis and uakaris?
  5. How do titis in a male-female pair behave toward one another?

Chapter 14

  1. Why do callitrichs depend heavily on exudates and insects?
  2. What is cooperative breeding? How is it carried out by callitrichs?
  3. How do adult males and siblings relate to infants in callitrichs?
  4. How do adult males and siblings relate to infants in owl monkeys?
  5. How does nocturnality affect owl monkey behavior?

Chapter 15

  1. What is the geographic distribution of the cebine genera?
  2. To what extent do squirrel monkeys depend on faunivory?
  3. How do squirrel monkey species differ in social organization?
  4. How did Stone's experiments with squirrel monkeys add to our knowledge of the juvenile stage in primates?
  5. What have experiments indicated about quantification by squirrel monkeys?
  6. How is anointing done? What are its possible functions?
  7. How do male capuchins interact with each other?
  8. What is distinctive about capuchin life history?
  9. How do tufted and untufted capuchins differ in social organization and behavior?
  10. How do tufted and untufted capuchins differ in the use and making of tools?
  11. What kind of tools do capuchins use?

Chapter 16

  1. What is the extent of sexual dimorphism among catarrhines? How does it affect their behavior?
  2. What are leopards like? How dangerous are they to primates?
  3. What kind of color vision do catarrhines have? How is it adaptive?
  4. What factors affect variation in catarrhine facial color?
  5. How does catarrhine breeding seasonality compare with other primates?
  6. What factors affect catarrhine flexibility in facial expression?
  7. What are female copulatory vocalizations? What are the possible functions?
  8. What is isosexual behavior? How does it differ between catarrhines and platyrrhines?
  9. How is brain size related to seasonality?
  10. What experimental evidence suggests cognitive similarities between apes and Old World monkeys?

Chapter 17

  1. Explain the ecological factors in Old World monkey terrestrial behavior.
  2. How does cercopithecoid philopatry relate to the Socioecological Model?
  3. What is isosexual behavior? How is it displayed in Old World monkeys?
  4. What are sexual swellings? How do they affect behavior? What functions have been proposed?
  5. What are ischial callosities? How do Old World monkeys use them?
  6. What is the typical philopatric pattern of Old World monkeys? How does it affect social life?
  7. How are colobine monkeys specialized in their diet?

Chapter 18

  1. Why do colobines have to conserve energy more than cercopithecines?
  2. What are social relations like in a typical colobine troop?
  3. What limits territorial defense in colobines?
  4. How and why does alloparenting differ between colobines and cercopithecines?
  5. How do Hanuman langurs (gray langurs) differ from other colobines?
  6. Why do some langurs sleep in caves?
  7. How do Mentawai langur social groups resemble pair-groups in other primates?
  8. What are the physical and behavioral similarities among odd-nosed monkeys?
  9. How do odd-nosed monkeys vary?
  10. How do red colobus react to predation by chimpanzees?
  11. Why do olive colobus have very large home ranges?
  12. Do colobus monkeys fit the Socioecological Model?
  13. What are cheek pouches? How do they benefit individual monkeys?

Chapter 19

  1. How do "tribes" fit into the taxonomic scheme?
  2. What is the significance of guenon facial markings?
  3. What are the typical mating patterns of guenon females?
  4. What are all-male groups? What role do they play in guenon societies?
  5. How did long-term study change the perception of blue monkey behavior?
  6. How are patas monkeys and vervets similar in behavior? Why?
  7. Why doesn't savanna grass sustain patas monkeys? What are the alternatives?
  8. How does "limited dispersal" explain multi-male troops in vervets?
  9. What is the red-white-and-blue display? How and when is it used?
  10. How is vervet communication referential?

Chapter 20

  1. How varied are macaque environments? How does this affect their diets?
  2. What are matrilines? How are they important in macaque troops?
  3. What is a despotic dominance system in macaques? What is a tolerant dominance system?
  4. How common is tool use among macaques? What forms does it take? What are the cognitive implications?
  5. How is gelada environment related to their diet and physical features?
  6. What are the strategies of male geladas for acquiring females?
  7. How does gelada behavior support the Social Complexity Hypothesis?
  8. How do the northern and southern mandrill populations differ in behavior?
  9. What is the basis for mate choice by female mandrills?
  10. How is arrested development adaptive for some male mandrills?
  11. How is the phylogenetic separation of the so-called mangabeys reflected in their behavior?

Chapter 21

  1. What kind of habitats do common baboons occupy? Are the baboons specialized or generalized?
  2. How do common baboons respond to leopard predation?
  3. How does baboon faunivory differ from that of most other primates?
  4. What are a female baboon's most important relationships with other adults?
  5. How closely did female baboons correspond to Biomarket Theory in Silk's analyses?
  6. What are the proximate factors in male baboon coalitions?
  7. What social factors affect longevity in female baboons and their offspring?
  8. What is "special friendship" in common baboons? How does it benefit males, females, and infants?
  9. What evidence is there for reasoning in baboons?
  10. Where do hamadryas baboons sleep and how does it affect social interactions?
  11. What are the four levels of social organization in hamadryas baboon societies?
  12. Which is more important to a hamadryas female: other females or the leader male?
  13. How does a male hamadryas acquire his first female and how does he treat her?

Chapter 22

  1. How do apes vary in positional behavior? How is this related to body size?
  2. What is brachiation? What is ricochetal brachiation?
  3. What are gibbon duets? What are their functions?
  4. What are great ape nests? When are they used? What are their functions?
  5. How do great apes use gestures to communicate? What do they communicate?
  6. How does great ape social play differ from that of other primates?
  7. Describe cognitive features that distinguish great apes from other primates.
  8. Explain the different schools of thought about great ape cognition.

Chapter 23

  1. Are orangutans solitary? What relationships does a wild orangutan have with other orangs?
  2. How is dominance expressed in adult male orangutans? How do females respond?
  3. What is male bimorphism? How does it develop in orangutans? How might it be adaptive for the smaller form?
  4. What is forced copulation in orangutans? Which males are most likely to engage in it? How might it contribute to female mate choice?
  5. How long is the orangutan interbirth interval? How does this affect maternal and social behavior?
  6. How does orangutan culture differ from cultures in monkeys?

Chapter 24

  1. What is knuckle walking? How does it differ from locomotion in other primates? Why?
  2. How important are herbs in the gorilla diet? What else do they eat? How and why does diet differ between western gorillas and mountain gorillas?
  3. What is a silverback? What role does he play in gorilla society?
  4. How does the pace of gorilla life history compare with other great apes? How does this fit with theoretical expectation?
  5. How do gorilla dispersal patterns differ between the sexes? How do they differ from other primates? Why?
  6. Do wild gorillas use tools? Does any other behavior of theirs resemble tool use or tool making?
  7. What are bais? Why are they important to western gorillas? Why are they important to primatologists who study gorillas?
  8. How do grouping patterns differ between mountain gorillas and western gorillas? What hypotheses account for this?

Chapter 25

  1. What kind of meat do common chimpanzees eat? How do they get it? How do they share it?
  2. What role do insects play in the chimpanzee diet? How do chimpanzees obtain them? Is there a gender distinction? Why?
  3. What is fission-fusion social organization? How does the concept apply to chimpanzees? What are its possible functions?
  4. How do chimpanzees display territoriality? What are the circumstances? What hypotheses can explain this behavior?
  5. Describe some tools that chimpanzees use. How do they use them and what do they use them for?
  6. What is the Theory of Mind hypothesis? Why do many scientists think that chimpanzees have it?
  7. How do mothers and other chimpanzees behave toward infants? Who adopts orphans and why?
  8. Which chimpanzee sex is philopatric? What are the consequences? What happens to those who transfer?
  9. What is the evidence for culture in chimpanzees?

Chapter 26

  1. How do bonobos differ from common chimpanzees in their fission-fusion pattern?
  2. How do bonobo heterosexual patterns differ from those of common chimpanzees?
  3. What is genito-genital rubbing? How does it mediate bonobo social relationships?
  4. What is the Self-Domestication Hypothesis? How is it a response to behavioral differences between bonobos and common chimpanzees?
  5. What distinguishes bonobo calls from those of common chimpanzees? What are the most important bonobo calls and what is their function?
  6. What does "female dominance" mean in bonobos? How is it expressed and how consistent is it?

Chapter 27

  1. What is the difference between a referential model and a conceptual model?
  2. How are correlational models and systems models similar and how do they differ?
  3. What is a functional model?
  4. How can common chimpanzees be used as a model for the Last Common Ancestor? How are chimpanzees deficient for this purpose?
  5. How can a phylogenetic approach correct single-species referential models?
  6. What do various primate models suggest about the origins of bipedalism?
  7. What do various primate models suggest about the diet of the LCA?
  8. What does chimpanzee tool use suggest about the activities of the LCA?
  9. What do great apes suggest about the social behavior of the LCA?
  10. What is the connection between "arboreal clambering" and self-conception?
  11. Why is the combination of large body size and long life history significant for the LCA?
  12. What does ape behavior suggest about the nature of culture in the LCA?

Chapter 28

  1. What are the implications of common baboon analogies for hominin sociality?
  2. What are the implications of hamadryas baboon analogies for hominin sociality?
  3. What are the implications of chimpanzee tool and weapon use for hominin ecology?
  4. What are the implications of chimpanzee tool use for hominin cognition?
  5. How do the rationales for the chimpanzee and baboon models differ?
  6. How do phylogenetic and ecological models for human ancestors differ?
  7. What do modern primates tell us about the cognitive challenges faced by evolving hominins?
  8. How did hominin environments change between eight and four million years ago?
  9. What does the baboon model suggest as to the possible origin of human mating patterns and the family?
  10. What does primate evidence suggest about the cognitive processes needed for the use of stone tools by hominins?

Chapter 29

  1. Explain human food/substance abuse in terms of primate consumption patterns.
  2. Compare human couple formation with heterosexual pairing in other primates.
  3. How can primate dominance motivation be expressed in human societies?
  4. Compare maternal and alloparental behavior in humans and other primates.
  5. How could sexually selected infanticide affect behavior in human society?
  6. What specific cognitive abilities do humans share with other primates?
  7. How could smiling and laughing have originated in primate ancestors?

Chapter 30

  1. What is habitat loss and how does it affect primates?
  2. What is habitat modification and how does it affect primates?
  3. What is habitat fragmentation and how does it affect primates?
  4. How are hunting and harvesting different? How are their effects similar?
  5. How does human warfare affect primates?
  6. How does relocation contribute to primate conservation?
  7. How does reintroduction contribute to primate conservation?
  8. How does inbreeding become a problem in primate conservation? How can it be mitigated?
  9. What happens to slow lorises in the pet trade?
  10. Why are gibbons especially vulnerable to humans?
  11. Why are great apes especially vulnerable to humans?
  12. How can habitat corridors help endangered primates?
  13. What is ethnoprimatology?

Other Learning Resources

Zoos

It should be noted that the existence of zoos raises ethical questions. However, given that they do exist, the good ones can be used to gain a better understanding of primate behavior. The following zoos have been recommended by knowledgeable people as combining good primate care with good observation conditions for at least some of the primates in residence:

  • Brookfield Zoo
  • Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
  • Columbus Zoo
  • Lincoln Park Zoo
  • Los Angeles Zoo
  • North Carolina Zoo
  • San Diego Zoo
  • ZooAtlanta

Webcams

Many zoos now have webcams that allow some of their animals to be observed on line. However, the quality of these varies greatly. A survey of student responses found that just 3 of 8 combined easy accessibility, good visibility [Cooke, C. & Rodrigues, M. (2015). Virtually there: Using live-feeding cameras to teach primate behavior. AAPA Poster Presentation, Cooke Rodrigues AAPA 2015.pptx]:
Highland Wildlife Park (Japanese macaques)
Houston Zoo (chimpanzees)
San Diego Zoo (orangutan, siamang)
Those that fell short of the criteria were Blank Park Zoo, Callicam, Edinburgh Zoo, National Zoo, and Toledo Zoo. ZooAtlanta was not functional for the study.

Video

While the availability of commercial DVDs has declined, primate videos have proliferated on YouTube and other sites. Many were made by professional researchers, and others may also be instructive. However, you should consider the source of any given video very carefully. Search by taxon and behavioral topic. Some sample links are given for each chapter.