Primate Behavior essay READ DIRECTIONS

Knowledge Building – Week 9
Primate Behavior
We’ve now looked at some of the major groups of living primates. As we study primate behavior, it becomes clear that the complexity of this behavior has selected for increased neurological complexity, increased intelligence.

That intelligence allows for even more complex behavior.
To better understand this feedback loop and to understand how the social lives of primates has been shaped by evolution, we study primate behavior.
In this unit, we’ll look at the interaction of biology, ecology & behavior.
Primate Studies
Sometime between 7 and 8 million years ago, the lineage that would lead to humans split off from the lineage that would evolve into the modern apes.

It’s important to note that we did not evolve from gorillas or chimpanzees, but we do share a common ancestry.
We study modern primates, especially the great apes, to try to get a glimpse of what our hominid ancestors’ lifeways might have been like. We know it’s not an exact picture, but it’s as close as we can get.
We are also interested in learning about the great apes as species, as our closest relatives in the animal world, partly because we are in the process of wiping them out. All great apes are endangered, and may have only a few decades left in the wild before they are driven to extinction.
Humans are rapidly destroying the natural habitats of other primates. We currently have close to 7.6 billion humans on this planet. Some estimates suggest that by 2150 (less than 130 years from now), that number will reach 70 billion.
So we might have to get used to seeing non-human primates in zoos, unless we figure out how to resolve these issues.
Socioecology
Primatologists, people who study primates attempt to understand them in relation to their environmental context by studying Socioecology, looking at how environment and behavior interact. Primatologists look at variables such as:

availability of food and its distribution across the landscape;
availability of water;
the presence of predators, including humans;
Socioecology holds that primate social organization is determined by these variables. The size and composition of primate groups depends to a very large extent on the environment in which they live.

Sociobiology
Just as primatologists are interested in learning how primates interact and adapt to their environments, they are just as interested in learning about primate sociobiology – the study of the relationship between behavior and natural selection.

The basic assumption here is that certain behaviors have been selected for, because they increase reproductive success.
Sociobiological theory holds that behavior has evolved through natural selection in all primates, including humans.
As such, the way we primates behave on a daily basis can be understood as behavior that is effective in ensuring that we will pass on our genes.
In humans, like in apes, this means that we can come to something we think of as normal behavior – behavior that is more or less acceptable to those around us.
This is a dicey area in that sociobiologists suggest, to some extent, that certain genes contribute to behavior, and that only those individuals with those genes will reproduce.
Most animals, including mammals, and therefore humans, have behavioral patterns that are under strict genetic controls.
We cry as babies. We get jealous, angry, and sad or happy, and exhibit emotions that are manifested due to our biological nature. While culture can elaborate on our feelings and the elaboration of our responses, these emotions are very deep, and profoundly influenced by our biology.
But in most mammals, and even more so in primates, behavior is learned.
The idea is that some behavior is under genetic control, but some is learned.
Sociobiologists look at sexuality for clues to this. Humans, like other primates have a deep commitment to sexual behavior.
Culture teaches us appropriate sexual behavior, but the desire, the interest, the driving force to engage in sexual behavior is not learned; it is genetic.
The behavioral patterns that we use in pursuing our mates is learned. It is cultural. We understand that there are acceptable ways of acting on our arousal, and according to sociobiologists, this behavior that we will engage in has been selected for.
Quite simply, if we don’t behave appropriately, we will not find anyone willing to mate with us, and we therefore won’t be passing on our genes to the next generation.
The basic premise of sociobiology is that some behaviors are partly influenced by our genes, and that each of us will act to maximize our own reproductive success. We are not concerned about the species as a whole – we care about our own reproductive success, and we will plan accordingly.

Primate Social Behavior
When primatologists study Primate Social Behavior , they try to understand it in terms of Socioecology and Sociobiology.

To better understand how these mechanisms work in higher primates, primatologists are interested in studying primate social behavior, to understand how reproductive strategies are influenced by environment and behavior.
Dominance Hierarchies
Most primate societies, including humans, are organized into Dominance Hierarchies, which can be understood in terms of both socioecology & sociobiology.

Primate males tend to fall into rank or status. High status males have better access to resources and to females.
Primate females tend to fall into rank to a lesser extent.
Rank is like social status in that it can be changed. All primates can alter their rank to the extent to which they navigate complex social landscapes.
We can work to make money or to provide more for our children.
And most primates, human and non-human, have a good sense of what their status is. Status is apparent to any primate during youth and can significantly shape our adolescence and adulthood.
Status, and access to resources and mates, can be understood as reflecting our position in the dominance hierarchy.
Grooming
Grooming is another important aspect of primate social behavior.

Most primates like to groom each other. Most primates find it intensely pleasurable. We have been grooming each other for millions of years.
Humans, like most apes and monkeys, pay a lot of attention to their hair.
Grooming is pleasurable and hygienic, and the act of grooming another primate can be understood to reinforce social norms – grooming and being groomed are both parts of an elaborate social system of pleasing and being pleased, and as such, support and perpetuate dominance hierarchies, and can profoundly impact reproductive success.
Communication
Primates have intense communication skills.

All animals communicate – scents, sounds, and physical behavior.
Even though humans have language, we still utilize a number of communicative strategies shared by all primates.
Displays of virility – primates might flex muscles or accentuate posture. All primates, including humans, have elaborate mating dances.
Eye contact – primates can indicate interest or annoyance by varying their eye contact. All primates, including humans find prolonged eye contact threatening.
Our ability to communicate effectively with other primates will impact our position in dominance hierarchies, and can profoundly impact reproductive success.
Reproductive Strategies
If all of our social behavior goes well, it can lead to reproduction.

In most primates, sexual behavior is tied to the female’s reproductive cycle.
We want our DNA to be transmitted to the next generation. Primates, as well as other mammals, will go to great lengths to assure that.
Primates, like other mammals are deeply committed to sexuality.
Biologists categorize reproductive strategies in two general forms: K and r.

Some animals utilize the r strategy – producing large numbers of offspring but giving very little care in the hope that some of the young will survive. Fish, insects, and mice use this strategy.
Some animals, including primates, utilize the K strategy – producing few offspring but spending a lot of time taking care of those offspring.
Primates are helpless at birth and for some time afterwards.
Female primates want the best for their offspring. They will have few offspring and are heavily invested in their wellbeing.
Male primates have a somewhat different agenda. With much less investment in the offspring, male primates tend to strive for as many mates as possible.
n most primate species, males compete aggressively for females, as part of their reproductive strategy , looking for evidence of youth and fertility.
Females, in turn, look for the most desirable males, looking for evidence of status and stature.
In humans, culture intervenes, but many human males may still try for as many young mates as possible, and females may look for wealthier older men.
This is both genetic and learned. Human males and females are genetically coded to maximize their reproductive success, yet culture establishes normal behavior in which to strike a balance.
Humans are part of a biological continuum that includes all primates. We share behavioral traits with our primate relatives, and many of these behavioral traits are millions of years old, have been reinforced by natural selection and can be understood in terms of Socioecology and Sociobiology.

Our DNA and our environment influence our behavior as do culture and learning.
And much of primate behavior, including human behavior, can be understood by examining the ways in which biology, ecology, and behavior interact
USE TEXT TO COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT………..
Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology. Online book availble as well.

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