Adult Female Baboons : A Group Of Females

-The bonobo is the most recently discovered great ape in modern times.  It was revealed in 1929 by German anatomist Ernest Schwarz that a skull once thought belonging to a juvenile chimpanzee was in fact a new subspecies of chimpanzee known now as the Pan paniscus, or bonobo. (Waal 6)  During the Pleistocene epoch approximately 1.5 million years ago, the Congo River was formed in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (San Diego Zoo 2)  The river geographically segregated groups and individual chimpanzees south of the river resulting in these chimps being reproductively isolated.  Allopatric speciation took place as a response to new

Chimpanzees are great apes that are the closest living relatives to humans (Larsen, 2014). These primates have been studied and observed intently for decades, and there are many theories that explain why they are the way they are. Chimpanzees learn the necessary skills of survival through social and cultural contexts and pass these traits along to their offspring. In researching these smart and interesting primates I have understood the social and cultural roles chimpanzees have that are necessary for survival. The mother- infant bond is crucial to the development of young chimpanzees and these females are known for teaching their young social roles and behavior, communication

Gorillas never sleep in the same place for more than one night. Even when they nap during the day and then sleep in the same area at night they will create a new nest each time. Mothers usually share their nests with nursing infants. Infants are helpless at birth, they learn to crawl at first and slowly begin walking.

Isbell and Wright’s articles both focus on monkey species and their native environments, Africa for Isbell’s (1994) vervet Old World monkey and South America, Peru area, for Wright’s (1994) owl and titis monkeys. The articles main focus is the relationship between these monkeys and their natural predators. Focusing on how the predator aspect of their lives is determined by their environment and adaptations they make to ensure survival. Isbell’s Vervets Year of Doom focuses more on the adaptations that was forced upon the vervets’ because of their changing environment, the death of fever trees. While Wright’s Night Watch on the Amazon focusses more on how the primates way of life affects their relationship with predators and the likelihood of attacks. Both articles have similar aspects however the species way of life, specifically their environment and sleep schedule, are quite different as well as the authors way of observing and studying the primates within their habitats.

Robert Sapolsky is a neuroendocrinologist who wrote about his twenty years of work out in the national park of East Africa. Sapolsky’s turned his adventure into a novel, A Primate 's Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among Baboons, where he discusses the life of baboons and how they are similar to humans. I will analyze Sapolsky’s novel by explaining the complex social hierarchy he witnessed and discuss the ways in which the social hierarchy and rank system among baboons might compare to that of humans. I will then analyze how studying non-human primates in a natural setting is valuable, and will also explain how the scientific study of these non-human primates ultimately provides insight into not only our evolutionary past

Orangutans (Figure 3) are our first cousins since they share 97 percent of our genetic material. Contrary to other apes, orangutans are semi solitary which is unique in its social organization (3). Adult males which are the most solitary, and they associate with only their current, former, and potential consorts. For the semi-solitary orangutans, the only playmate is its mother. Even female adults are more social than male ones, rarely they groom, touch, hold hands, chase, or fight. On rare occasions, female adults may groom; however, it lasts only few seconds. Sometimes, female adults meet and travel with one another to express the close relationship. The long call by a male orangutan expresses an alert to others about his presence. Usually, other orangutans only react if the call is close by or aggressive towards them. Male orangutan can use vocalization to express that he is angry and frustrated, and that call signals a threat to another male (3). Female orangutans also produce vocalization when they get upset by the presence of another male.

(Dunbar, 1983) Among mountain gorillas, half of all the groups are one male. However, females leave from one group to another. “Polygynous females might be compensated for loss of exclusive paternal care by mating with a genetically superior male, thereby increasing the likelihood of their progeny’s survival and ability to produce offspring (Alatalo and Lundberg 1986).” (Hoglund, J. 1995) The competition for these mating opportunities is driven by the female’s choice. When this occurs, the males lose females to another one male group and it exploits what males mating opportunities.

Primates have always been a fascination of author Robert Sapolsky who wrote an autobiography about a trip he took to Kenya as a research undergraduate student. Part 1 is named the adolescent years and talks about when Sapolsky first joined the baboon trip to Kenya. It introduces his research assignment, how stress affected a primates health, and the baboons he recorded his data from. Soloman was the alpha male and Leah was the alpha female. Devorah was the most eligible female in the group. Ruth, a lower-ranking baboon, who had difficulty finding a mate settled down with Joshua, another lower-ranking baboon. They soon had Obadiah. Uriah a large baboon who transferred into the group in the spring persisted a challenge against Soloman until he

Primate diversity can be strongly seen amongst the Bonobos and Chimpanzees; however, each primate species shares similar social traits that are common among the human species. In the various short videos on Bonobos and Chimps indicated that Chimps are violent creatures where males must assert social dominance by abusing their female counterpart. If a group of chimps were to encounter another group of chimps then there would be war amongst the two group. On the other hand, bonobos are the complete opposites of the chimp cousins. Bonobos are female dominant primate species and disputes are handled with intercourse. Intercourse for the bonobos species is also used to solidify relationships amongst both males and females. When two different groups of bonobos meet one another there are friendly interaction and the two groups would

The bonobos are also the only group of apes to be led by females. They live in a group of about 100 members. Bonobos are known to be one of the most peaceful animals, for example, if they come into contact with another monkey they will play with it and groom it.

In the book, A Primate 's Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among Baboons, by Robert Sapolsky is about bettering understanding the connection between animals, in this case baboons and humans. Most importantly what is the correlation if any, between the emotions and diseases of a baboon and human. Sapolsky, spent twenty years of his life studying how baboons act, react, and most importantly how they express themselves. Further understanding the relationships of baboons and how their hierarchy works, out in the wilderness. Throughout Sapolsky’s study we realize the many similarities between the baboon and humans, how we aren’t so different after all. Sapolsky, in A Primate’s Memoir, is trying to capture to the best of his

infanticide is a common occurrence amongst mountain gorillas. Infants that don't have the protection of an adult male are almost certain to be killed and as a tactic to protect against this. Until recently, infanticide had only been recorded among mountain gorillas but not other gorilla species. Evidence now shows that for eastern lowland gorillas and western lowland gorillas infanticide doe occur. males can also live in all-male groups. This tends to be a strategy generally employed by young males when their group disintegrates prior to reaching

This is a common element associated with non-human primates and is often unexplainable by researchers. However, these specialized biological anthropologists stick with their career path and added to the knowledge we have of non-human primates. Likewise, this article connects with physical anthropology because of this. The discussion on non-human primates and their behaviors is a key element in anthropology, especially physical anthropology. This behavioral concept among the monkeys ties into their culture as primates, and could vary from different species, as well as factors such as isolation and environment. In short, the research provided in Braun’s article is a key milestone in the field of anthropology and the continued study of primate

To better understand the importance of social structure in baboons it is necessary to break down the structure of a troop. Baboons are matrilineal where networks of social relationships are sustained over three generations based on the females. A troop can be broken down to bands which consist of several clans and each clan may have a number of smaller harem families. Female baboons remain with the group into which they are born for their entire lives, meanwhile once mature males leave to join other troops. Since the males leave it is clear as to why the hierarchy is matrilineal and that ranking within the group begins with females. This ranking naturally begins the mother and her female offspring ranking below her. This is the foundation for the hierarchy within baboon troops.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Los Angeles zoo on a beautiful, sunny Thursday (October 19th). Although I arrived off schedule which left a minimal amount of time to observe primates, I managed my time well. After being told that the larger animals get put away earlier, I figured my first stop would be at an ape enclosure. The ape I chose to see that day was the gorilla. The time that I began my observation was at approximately 3:05. At that time only one ape was quite visible and he was sitting at the front making eye contact with me making it seem as if he is HABITUATED. Next, post gorilla watching, I had the chance to take a gander at the ring railed lemurs at 3:40. These prosimians all had their own personalities which interested me deeply. Lastly, and certainly not least on my journey through the LA zoo, I had the chance of looking at the mandrills which were once classified as baboons. Considering that two baby mandrills were present and only a month old, this was my favorite exhibit to see because of their high energy and randomness of actions.