How To Be a Monkey – Taxonomy – Why did primates evolve to be so smart?
How To Be a Monkey – Taxonomy – Why did primates evolve to be so smart?
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hh-monkey-slides
Hill Hacks monkey slidesOn Github mziegler / hh-monkey-slides
How To Be a Monkey
Why study monkeys?
Conservation Major roles in ecosystem Learn about humans (But be careful!) Just because monkeys do something, doesn't mean that humans do it!Roadmap
How to study monkeys? Taxonomy — monkey family tree Why did monkeys evolve to be so smart? Group structures and hierarchies Behaviors Cognition Hacking opportunitiesHow to study monkeys?
Wild vs captive study
Behavioral ecology: the study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures — Wikipedia
Captive research lets you do controlled experiments, but remove the monkeys from their natural environments and create ethical issues. Wild studies usually do not allow for controlled experiments, but you can leanrn a lot through observation. Jane Goodall pioneered the research methods used today for wild studies, carefully observing the monkeys and taking notes, trying to interfere with them as little as possible.Taxonomy
Prosimians
mostly nocturnal, mostly solitary, forward-facing eyesOld World Monkeys
social, most have opposable thumbs, include most species of familiar monkeys like macaques, langurs, baboons. split about 60 myaNew World Monkeys
prehensile tails! No opposable thumbs (except cebidae), females migrate, not as smart, split about 25 myaApes
Anitomical features -- long arms for brachation, ball and socket wrists, broad shoulders. No tail highly intelligent, language experiments, variety of social structuresWhy did primates evolve to be so smart?
3 main hypothesis
1. Extractive foraging
2. Mental map making
3. Social life
Advantages to living in a group
- Can more effectively monopolize resources
- Males have access to females
- More eyes and ears to watch for predators
Group structures vary accross species
- Stable vs fission-fusion
- Matrilinial vs patrilinial
- Monogamy vs promiscuity
- Multi-male vs single-male
- Variation in group size
Capuchin group structures
- Usually 15-25 monkeys
- Matrilinial — females stay in group
- Males migrate when they reach adulthood, around 7 years old
Female hierarchies
In most species, females inherit the rank of their mothers
- Leaf eating (abundant distribution) → relaxed social structure
- Fruit eating (monopolizable) → strict hierarchy
Male hierarchies
Male hierarchies are determined by body size
- Females cycle separately → strict hierarchy
- Female cycles synchronized → relaxed hierarchy
In capuchin monkeys, adult males migrate to another group
Capuchin monkey behaviors
What do they do all day?
Foraging
Capuchin monkeys spend most of their day foraging
Traveling from fruit tree to fruit tree all day, covering 3-5km on average
Learning to forage
Juviniles closely watch and imitate the adults
Grooming
Enforces social bonds
Grooming goes "up the social hierarchy"
Sex
Sex is used for a variety of social functions — reproduction, conflict resolution, dominance assertion, social bonding
Promiscuity evolved to confuse paternity
Displays
Physical fights are risky and therefore rare. Monkeys threaten each other instead
Coalitions
Aggression + social bonding
Coalitions
Coalitions
Play
Parenting
Female capuchins love to play with babies
Social fur rubbing
With guapanol, limes, chilles
Insect repellant?
Cognition
Can you really know a monkey's thoughts and emotions?
Do monkeys have empathy?
Language aquisition studies in apes
Tool use + complex problem solving
Gorillas can invent new signs for words they don't know!
Hacking opportunities
Monkey jobs: Primate Info Netpin.primate.wisc.edu
Behavior databases: BaBase, CapuchinDB (I can get you in touch)
My pet project: How To Be a Monkey howtobeamonkey.org
These slides: mziegler.github.io/hh-monkey-slides