Primate behaviour

Primate behaviour

1. Why study primate behaviour? to learn more about the primate in us.there are interesting similarities in behaviours/ abilities of humans and nonhuman primates. Referential calling; vervet monkey produce 3 alarm calls of distinct referential meaning (e.g. Leopard alarm calls. Distinguishing between the self and others; mirror mark tests indicate self-recognition in humans and other primates.

2. to learn more about them; they show complex social behaviours, behaviours that need to be learned, primates undergo a long developmental period.

3. Long parental investment; Macaque mothers may show exaggerated infant- directed behaviours i.e. motherese. early communication; Neonate monkeys and apes copy behaviours others.

4. From Evolutionary relationship lecture; three sets of primate characteristics (Benton 1990); adaptation of life on trees, reproductive specialisation, complex visual system. Neurological demands; brain size and neocortex- differences between primates and most other mammals. Brain size- the primate brain is 1.5 to 7.5 times larger than expected for mammals. Neocortex; the neocortex of pimrartes is more developed than in other mammals. multiple function in primates; e.g. visual perception, vocal communicate, overall; taking over behavioural control.

5. Primates have complex social systems; social groups and dispersion; different types of social organisations e.g. harems (sexual dimorphism), often males disperse- matriline (social group around females). Aggressive behaviours; within group or fights with other groups. Affiliative behaviours; allogrooming, social plays and close social proximity, mothers and infants. Social cognition; long parental investment. Complex communication system; vocalisation, facial expressions, gestures.

6. Primates have received special research interest in psychology. close evolationary relationship to humans- adaptive functions? similarities in traits along developmental trajectories, comparable underlying mechanisms. An evolutionary tree of great apes and humans; humans, bonobo, chimps, gorilla, organutan. old world monkeys are closely linked to human and apes, however that these primates are not ancestors of humans, similarity to how people from the same generations cannot be parents and children of each other.

7. Cooperation and competition; How did human social cognition emerge? Nicholas Humphrey (1976); social intelligence hypothesis, Primate cognition was driving by competition. after fights, reconciliation often occurs... and consolation (the taking care of distressed others). non human primates also cooperate to solve problems. Henrik Moll & Michael Tomasello, Vyotskian intelligence hypothesis; primate condition was driven mainly by competition, but human-unique cognition was driving by cooperation.

8. Ape and Human cognition; whats the difference? (Tomasello & Hermann 2010), similarities in understanding; physical world (foraging), social world (competition). human-unique sets of social cognitive skills and motives for; collaborations, social learning and sharing cultural information. Understanding goals of others and helping according (Yamamoto et al. 2012); food sharing, adoption of orphans, tending of injured related and unrelated groups members, helping of threatened groups members.

9. Emerging culture; learning helps to increase the chances of survival and the reproductive success. Humans have reached cultural heights (politics, art, fashion etc). about 50 years ago, a japan masque at the island of Koshima started washing sweet potatoes, now everyone in this population does it. components of rudimentary culture; behaviours need to be socially learned, shown by community members, persist through time. young animals learn to use tools; observation, imitation & practise.

10. Social learning and tool use; some support for the culture hypothesis (or rudimentary forms of culture); phylogenetic analysis; Behaviours across chimpanzee populations (Lycett et al, 2007). population differences; only 3 populations of chimps use sticks to collect ants, others do not. Spreading of newly learned techniques; novel techniques (for artificial devices) taught to captive animals (whiten et al 2007)

11. Psychology department; field research site at Chimfunshi wildlife Orphanage, Zambia Hard Shelled fruits. Different foraging techniques across 3 chimpanzee communities; 59 semi-wild chimpanzees, world-wide largest enclosures.

12. Towards language; Animal communication, animal signals serve a specific function, where receivers are affect. Receiver may be affected via range of processes, ranging from most simplest to complex cognitive ones. By studying animal communication we learn about mechanisms of communication, independent f whether communicative behaviours may/may not be shared with humans or other species. we may learn how readily dialects may emerge (e.g. Hodun et al 1891). Example of a primate vocalisation; orangutan long calls.

13. Cross fostering and ape language research. Terrace et al (1979); did wash just imitate the multi sign utterances from the gardens? Kanzi (bonobo); far more impressive linguistic abilities than any previously language trained apes, grow up in this environment, not trained at the beginning. He seemed to understand words (at 2 years old), before he started to spontaneously use the lexigram (at 2.5 years). Does can also produce functionally referential calls, chimpanzees response to acoustically distinct food calls; 'bread' and 'apple' calls of others, accordingly (Slocombe & Zuberbuehler 2005).

14. what was the underlying behaviour for language to have evolved? vocalisations; by all land living vertebrates, Gestures; only by apes and humans. some studies suggests that vocalisations were key behaviours for language to evolve, referential cues, some social control... intentional? But other studies suggest that gestures had this role (e.g. Police & De Waal, 2007), referential cues, flexible use, intentionality.

15. Summaryl human behaviour is unique in many ways, for instance; language, complex form of cooperation and cultural heights. Nonetheless, non human primate research reveals interesting similarities in behaviours and abilities which could either be homologous or analogous. furthermore, nonhuman primates show important rudimentary components of a range of complex behavioural phenomena found in humans.