Lab 6 – Primate BehaviorLab 4 – Primate

Behavior

Today’s Class:- Quiz- Lab &

Lecture- Review

Taxonomy - Review

Taxonomy - Cladogram Homo

Pan

Gorilla

Pongo

Hylobatidae

Cercopithecoidea

Atelidae

Cebidae

Pitheciidae

Tarsiiformes

Lemuroidea

Lorisoidea

Primate Behavior - Ethograms

Family Trees (the capuchins of Lomas Barbudal)

• http://www.prehensileproductions.com/familytrees/index.html

Ethogram: An inventory of behaviors of a species.

• the behaviors are organized into categories

Here are some examples:• Self directed behaviors

o Self groom, yawn, solo play, sleep, rest• Social behaviors

o Social peep (vocalization), friendly touch, approach, follow• Aggressive behaviors

o Aggressive bite, vocal threat, hit, aggressive display• Sexual behavior

o Sex vocalization, sex dance, mount, thrust, ejaculate• Play behavior

o Play bite, play bounce, play invite• Locomotor behavior

o Run, jump, run up, run down• Foraging behavior

o Handle fruit, ingest, tap stick, bite

Ethogram

Sampling Protocols• SCAN SAMPLING

• Instantaneous scans = one method of recording behavior where you just record the general category of what is happening at one moment in time

• Usually done at regular intervals; every 30 seconds, or 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc)

• FOCAL SAMPLING• In focal animal sampling all the behaviors of one individual are recorded during a

predetermined sample period (e.g., one hour, full day). This method can provide an unbiased set of data relevant to a wide variety of questions, but is often very difficult and time consuming.

• ALL OCCURRENCE SAMPLING: • This type of sample focuses on a particular behavior rather than a particular

individual. This is useful for providing the rate of a behavior or for studying synchrony of behaviors within groups.

• Example) Counting all alarm calls given in a group of monkeys.

• AD LIBITUM SAMPLING: • This sampling involves recording as much as possible. It is informal, non-

systematic, and often used in field notes. Usually low reliability, precision. Main value is in research planning.

http://gargoyle.arcadia.edu/biology/tamarin/Methods/Ethogram/ethogram.htm

Ethogram for a tamarin at a zoo

Focal sampling is the most accurate method for measuring primate activity budgets, but is sometimes impractical. An alternative is scan sampling, in which the behaviour of the group is recorded at regular intervals. The simplest technique is to record whether at least one animal is engaged in the behaviour of interest. By direct comparison with focal data collected simultaneously on the same population, we assess the validity of this simple group-level sampling method for studying chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) feeding behaviour. In a 13-month study at Kanyawara, Kibale National Park, Uganda, group-level scan sampling provided statistically similar measures of broad diet composition to those produced by focal data, despite considerable seasonal variation. Monthly means of the percentage of time spent consuming non-fig fruit calculated from group-level scan sampling were highly correlated with those from focal sampling. This validates previous methodology used to identify periods of high energy availability. However, group-level scans tended to overestimate the percentage of observation time spent feeding, particularly for adult males. We conclude that this method of group-level scan sampling provides valuable data for characterising broad diet choice in chimpanzees and other species, but may be of limited use for estimating individual feeding time.

Short title: Measuring chimpanzee feeding behaviour by Ian Gilby

In press in Folia Primatologica

Primate Behaviors • Foraging/Feeding• http://www.arkive.org/born

ean-gibbon/hylobates-muelleri/video-08b.html

• Communication• http://www.arkive.org/indri

/indri-indri/video-13a.html

• Aggression/Vigilance• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSif5MR9nq8

Activity Budgets are used to determine the percentage of time spent engaged in particular activity categories.

Activity Budgets

Focal Animal Sampling – Elmo

� Use this video to record the behaviors of Elmo (as your focal animal) on your handout.� http://vimeo.com/album/1701057/video/29444657� Password: m_ _ _ _ _ _� Video: AA – Elmo sleeping with others in background

� Time will start at 4:00m and run through 6:00m – try to record the time on the video when activities occur if you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM4si1ZO4Ns

Scan Sampling Video – Chimps at Zoo