Shahid Hameed, Tawqir Bashir, Mohammad N. Ali, Munib Khanyari, Ajith Kumar
{"title":"Population assessment of the Endangered Kashmir Gray Langur (Semnopithecus ajax, Pocock 1928) using the double-observer method","authors":"Shahid Hameed, Tawqir Bashir, Mohammad N. Ali, Munib Khanyari, Ajith Kumar","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23618","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23618","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Primates are among the most threatened taxa globally, therefore, there is a need to estimate and monitor their populations. Kashmir Gray Langur <i>Semnopithecus ajax</i> is an endangered species for which there is no population estimate. We used double-observer method to estimate its population size in the Kashmir region of North-Western Himalaya. We walked 1284 km across 31 survey blocks spanning all three divisions of Kashmir <i>viz</i>., North, Central, and South Kashmir, covering an area of 411 km<sup>2</sup>. We counted a minimum of 1367 individual langurs from 27 groups. The detection probability for observer 1 (0.719) and observer 2 (0.656) resulted in a population estimate of 1496 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1367–1899) across 30 groups (with a mean group size of 51), giving a density estimate of 3.64 (3.33–4.62) langurs/km². We found double-observer surveys to be suitable for the population estimation of langurs, and we make recommendations on how to effectively conduct primate surveys, especially in mountainous ecosystems. Our records extend the species distribution range beyond stated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Our findings also highlight that the Kashmir Himalaya is a stronghold of the species, where conservation efforts should focus.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140118477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah J. Neal, Angela M. Achorn, Steven J. Schapiro, William D. Hopkins, Joe H. Simmons
{"title":"Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in captive olive baboons (Papio anubis): The effects of age, sex, rearing, stress, and pregnancy","authors":"Sarah J. Neal, Angela M. Achorn, Steven J. Schapiro, William D. Hopkins, Joe H. Simmons","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23619","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23619","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In apes and humans, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) can be used as a predictive indicator of a variety of clinical conditions, longevity, and physiological stress. In chimpanzees specifically, NLR systematically varies with age, rearing, sex, and premature death, indicating that NLR may be a useful diagnostic tool in assessing primate health. To date, just one very recent study has investigated NLR in old world monkeys and found lower NLR in males and nursery-reared individuals, as well as a negative relationship between NLR and disease outcomes. Given that baboons are increasingly used as research models, we aimed to characterize NLR in baboons by providing descriptive data and examinations of baboon NLR heritability, and of the relationships between NLR, age, rearing, and sex in 387 olive baboons (<i>Papio anubis</i>) between 6 months and 19 years of age. We found that (1) mother-reared baboons had higher NLRs than nursery-reared baboons; (2) females had higher NLRs than males; and (3) there was a quadratic relationship between NLR and age, such that middle-aged individuals had the highest NLR values. We also examined NLR as a function of transport to a new facility using a subset of the data. Baboons exhibited significantly higher transport NLRs compared to routine exam NLRs. More specifically, adult baboons had higher transport NLRs than routine NLRs, whereas juveniles showed no such difference, suggesting that younger animals may experience transport stress differently than older animals. We also found that transport NLR was heritable, whereas routine NLR was not, possibly suggesting that stress responses (as indicated in NLR) have a strong genetic component. Consistent with research in humans and chimpanzees, these findings suggest that NLR varies with important biological and life history variables and that NLR may be a useful health biomarker in baboons.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140118476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Konstantina Margiotoudi, Joel Fagot, Adrien Meguerditchian, Isabelle Dautriche
{"title":"Humans (Homo sapiens) but not baboons (Papio papio) demonstrate crossmodal pitch-luminance correspondence","authors":"Konstantina Margiotoudi, Joel Fagot, Adrien Meguerditchian, Isabelle Dautriche","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23613","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23613","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Humans spontaneously and consistently map information coming from different sensory modalities. Surprisingly, the phylogenetic origin of such cross-modal correspondences has been under-investigated. A notable exception is the study of Ludwig et al. (Visuoauditory mappings between high luminance and high pitch are shared by chimpanzees [Pan troglodytes] and humans. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i>, <i>108</i>(51), 20661–20665) which reports that both humans and chimpanzees spontaneously map high-pitched sounds with bright objects and low-pitched sounds with dark objects. Our pre-registered study aimed to directly replicate this research on both humans and baboons (<i>Papio papio</i>), an old world monkey which is more phylogenetically distant from humans than chimpanzees. Following Ludwig et al. participants were presented with a visual classification task where they had to sort black and white square (low and high luminance), while background sounds (low or high-pitched tones) were playing. Whereas we replicated the finding that humans' performance on the visual task was affected by congruency between sound and luminance of the target, we did not find any of those effects on baboons' performance. These results question the presence of a shared cross-modal pitch-luminance mapping in other nonhuman primates.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajp.23613","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140108839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne C. Axel, Brynn M. Harshbarger, Rebecca J. Lewis, Stacey R. Tecot
{"title":"Consistency in Verreaux's sifaka home range and core area size despite seasonal variation in resource availability as assessed by Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)","authors":"Anne C. Axel, Brynn M. Harshbarger, Rebecca J. Lewis, Stacey R. Tecot","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23617","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23617","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Primates are adept at dealing with fluctuating availability of resources and display a range of responses to minimize the effects of food scarcity. An important component of primate conservation is to understand how primates adapt their foraging and ranging patterns in response to fluctuating food resources. Animals optimize resource acquisition within the home range through the selection of resource-bearing patches and choose between contrasting foraging strategies (resource-maximizing vs. area-minimizing). Our study aimed to characterize the foraging strategy of a folivorous primate, Verreaux's sifaka (<i>Propithecus verreauxi</i>), by evaluating whether group home range size varied between peak and lean leaf seasons within a seasonally dry tropical forest in Madagascar. We hypothesized that Verreaux's sifaka used the resource maximization strategy to select high-value resource patches so that during periods of resource depression, the home range area did not significantly change in size. We characterized resource availability (i.e., primary productivity) by season at Kirindy Mitea National Park using remotely-sensed Enhanced Vegetation Index data. We calculated group home ranges using 10 years of focal animal sampling data collected on eight groups using both 95% and 50% kernel density estimation. We used area accumulation curves to ensure each group had an adequate number of locations to reach seasonal home range asymptotes. Neither 95% home ranges nor 50% core areas differed across peak and lean leaf resource seasons, supporting the hypothesis that Verreaux's sifaka use a resource maximization strategy. With a better understanding of animal space use strategies, managers can model anticipated changes under environmental and/or anthropogenic resource depression scenarios. These findings demonstrate the value of long-term data for characterizing and understanding foraging and ranging patterns. We also illustrate the benefits of using satellite data for characterizing food resources for folivorous primates.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajp.23617","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140100762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pamela R. Narváez-Torres, Nicola K. Guthrie, Typhenn A. Brichieri-Colombi, Cressant P. Razafindravelo, Zachary S. Jacobson, Fredo Tera, Daniel V. Rafidimanana, Zé-Elinah Rahasivelo, Melody A. Petersen, Hasinala Ramangason, Lea Randall, Jana M. McPherson, Cynthia L. Frasier, Axel Moehrenschlager, Sheila M. Holmes, Edward E. Louis Jr., Steig E. Johnson
{"title":"Losing lemurs: Declining populations and land cover changes over space and time","authors":"Pamela R. Narváez-Torres, Nicola K. Guthrie, Typhenn A. Brichieri-Colombi, Cressant P. Razafindravelo, Zachary S. Jacobson, Fredo Tera, Daniel V. Rafidimanana, Zé-Elinah Rahasivelo, Melody A. Petersen, Hasinala Ramangason, Lea Randall, Jana M. McPherson, Cynthia L. Frasier, Axel Moehrenschlager, Sheila M. Holmes, Edward E. Louis Jr., Steig E. Johnson","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23615","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23615","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Forest loss and degradation due to land cover changes imperil biodiversity worldwide. Subtropical and tropical ecosystems experience high deforestation rates, negatively affecting species like primates. Madagascar's endemic lemurs face exceptionally high risks of population declines and extirpation. We examined how short-term land cover changes within a fragmented landscape in southeastern Madagascar impacted the density of lemur species. Using line transects, we assessed density changes in nine lemur species across five forest fragments. Diurnal surveys were conducted monthly from 2015 to 2019 on 35 transects (total effort = 1268 km). Additionally, 21 transects were surveyed nocturnally in 2015 and 2016 (total effort = 107.5 km). To quantify forest cover changes, we generated land use/land cover (LULC) maps from Sentinel-2 imagery using supervised classification for each year. For the LULC maps, we overlayed species-specific buffers around all transects and calculated the proportion of land cover classes within them. We observed declines in the annual densities of four diurnal and cathemeral lemur species between 2015 and 2019, with species-specific declines of up to 80% (<i>Varecia variegata</i>). While the density of two nocturnal species decreased, one increased fivefold (<i>Cheirogaleus major</i>) between 2015 and 2016. By 2019, Grassland was the dominant land type (50%), while Paddy Fields had the smallest coverage (1.03%). Mature Agricultural Land increased the most (63.37%), while New Agricultural Land decreased the most (–66.36%). Unexpectedly, we did not find evidence that higher forest cover supported a higher lemur population density within sampled areas, but we found support for the negative impact of degraded land cover types on three lemur species. Our study underscores the urgent need to address land-use changes and their repercussions for primate populations in tropical ecosystems. The diverse responses of lemur species to modified habitats highlight the complexity of these impacts and emphasize the importance of targeted conservation efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajp.23615","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140100763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Austen J. Ehrie, Alec A. Iruri-Tucker, Yasmin B. Lord, Heidi G. Williamson, Kevin D. Hunt, P. David Polly, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Michael D. Wasserman
{"title":"Measuring mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) testes via parallel laser photogrammetry: Expanding the use of noninvasive methods","authors":"Austen J. Ehrie, Alec A. Iruri-Tucker, Yasmin B. Lord, Heidi G. Williamson, Kevin D. Hunt, P. David Polly, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Michael D. Wasserman","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23616","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23616","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Parallel laser photogrammetry (PLP), which consists of attaching two or three parallel laser beams at a known inter-beam distance to a camera, can be used to collect morphological measurements of organisms noninvasively. The lasers project onto the photo being taken, and because the inter-beam distance is known, they act as a scale for image analysis programs like ImageJ. Traditionally, this method has been used to measure larger morphological traits (e.g., limb length, crown-rump length) to serve as proxies for overall body size, whereas applications to smaller anatomical features remain limited. To that end, we used PLP to measure the testes of 18 free-living mantled howler monkeys (<i>Alouatta palliata)</i> at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. We tested whether this method could reliably measure this relatively small and globular morphology, and whether it could detect differences among individuals. We tested reliability in three ways: within-photo (coefficient of variation [CV] = 4.7%), between-photo (CV = 5.5%), and interobserver (intraclass correlation = 0.92). We found an average volume of 36.2 cm<sup>3</sup> and a range of 16.4–54.4 cm<sup>3</sup>, indicating variation in testes size between individuals. Furthermore, these sizes are consistent with a previous study that collected measurements by hand, suggesting that PLP is a useful method for making noninvasive measurements of testes.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajp.23616","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140093273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Behavioral thermoregulation in primates: A review of literature and future avenues","authors":"Cynthia L. Thompson, Emily A. Hermann","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23614","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23614","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Primates face severe challenges from climate change, with warming expected to increase animals' thermoregulatory demands. Primates have limited long-term options to cope with climate change, but possess a remarkable capacity for behavioral plasticity. This creates an urgency to better understand the behavioral mechanisms primates use to thermoregulate. While considerable information exists on primate behavioral thermoregulation, it is often scattered in the literature in a manner that is difficult to integrate. This review evaluates the status of the available literature on primate behavioral thermoregulation to facilitate future research. We surveyed peer-reviewed publications on primate thermoregulation for <i>N</i> = 17 behaviors across four thermoregulatory categories: activity budgeting, microhabitat use, body positioning, and evaporative cooling. We recorded data on the primate taxa evaluated, support for a thermoregulatory function, thermal variable assessed, and naturalistic/manipulative study conditions. Behavioral thermoregulation was pervasive across primates, with <i>N</i> = 721 cases of thermoregulatory behaviors identified across <i>N</i> = 284 published studies. Most genera were known to utilize multiple behaviors (<span></span><math>\u0000 \u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mover>\u0000 <mi>x</mi>\u0000 \u0000 <mo>¯</mo>\u0000 </mover>\u0000 </mrow></math> = 4.5 ± 3.1 behaviors/genera). Activity budgeting behaviors were the most commonly encountered category in the literature (54.5% of cases), while evaporative cooling behaviors were the least represented (6.9% of cases). Behavioral thermoregulation studies were underrepresented for certain taxonomic groups, including lemurs, lorises, galagos, and Central/South American primates, and there were large within-taxa disparities in representation of genera. Support for a thermoregulatory function was consistently high across all behaviors, spanning both hot- and cold-avoidance strategies. This review reveals asymmetries in the current literature and avenues for future research. Increased knowledge of the impact thermoregulatory behaviors have on biologically relevant outcomes is needed to better assess primate responses to warming environments and develop early indicators of thermal stress.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140020778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prosocial or photo preferences? Gorillas' prosocial choices using a touchscreen","authors":"Jennifer Vonk","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23612","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23612","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Three male Western lowland gorillas (<i>Gorilla gorilla gorilla</i>) were given the opportunity to select their own or conspecific photos on a touchscreen to indicate whether they wished the experimenter to deliver a food reward only to them or to them and the selected conspecific(s). This is only the second symbolic test of prosocial preferences with apes using a touchscreen, and the first with gorillas. The use of self and other photographs as symbols of prosocial choices was intuitive while controlling for the distraction of visible food rewards, and allowing for tests of transfer to further validate apparent prosocial intentions. Gorillas rapidly learned to avoid selecting a photograph of an empty enclosure that resulted in no rewards for any of the gorillas and transferred this learning to a novel photograph. The gorillas did not behave in a consistently self-interested or prosocial manner but they clearly rejected the opportunity to choose spitefully. Their preferences for certain photographs did not necessarily reflect a preference to be prosocial toward that particular individual because these preferences did not transfer to novel photographs of the same individuals. The results call into question whether gorillas recognize themselves and conspecifics in photographs but cannot conclusively speak to whether gorillas have prosocial preferences. They do stress the importance of carefully probing alternative explanations when inferring intentions from observable behaviors.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139995319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
T. Hasimija Mihaminekena, Ando N. Rakotonanahary, Cynthia L. Frasier, Hery N. T. Randriahaingo, Timothy M. Sefczek, Jen Tinsman, H. Lucien Randrianarimanana, Maholy Ravaloharimanitra, Toky Hery Rakotoarinivo, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Tony King, Edward E. Louis
{"title":"Dietary flexibility of the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus), a specialized feeder, in eastern Madagascar","authors":"T. Hasimija Mihaminekena, Ando N. Rakotonanahary, Cynthia L. Frasier, Hery N. T. Randriahaingo, Timothy M. Sefczek, Jen Tinsman, H. Lucien Randrianarimanana, Maholy Ravaloharimanitra, Toky Hery Rakotoarinivo, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Tony King, Edward E. Louis","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23609","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23609","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The degree of dietary flexibility in primates is species specific; some incorporate a wider array of resources than others. Extreme interannual weather variability in Madagascar results in seasonal resource scarcity which has been linked to specialized behaviors in lemurs. <i>Prolemur simus</i>, for example, has been considered an obligate specialist on large culm bamboo with >60% of its diet composed of woody bamboos requiring morphological and physiological adaptations to process. Recent studies reported an ever-expanding list of dietary items, suggesting that this species may not be an obligate specialist. However, long-term quantitative feeding data are unavailable across this species’ range. To explore the dietary flexibility of <i>P. simus</i>, we collected data at two northern sites, Ambalafary and Sahavola, and one southern site, Vatovavy, from September 2010 to January 2016 and May 2017 to September 2018, respectively. In total, we recorded 4022 h of behavioral data using instantaneous sampling of adult males and females from one group in Ambalafary, and two groups each in Sahavola and Vatovavy. We recorded 45 plant species eaten by <i>P. simus</i> over 7 years. We also observed significant differences in seasonal dietary composition between study sites. In Ambalafary, bamboo was the most frequently observed resource consumed (92.2%); however, non-bamboo resources comprised nearly one-third of the diet of <i>P. simus</i> in Sahavola and over 60% in Vatovavy. Consumption of all bamboo resources increased during the dry season at Ambalafary and during the wet season at Vatovavy, but never exceeded non-bamboo feeding at the latter. Culm pith feeding was only observed at Ambalafary, where it was more common during the dry season. We identify <i>P. simus</i> as a bamboo facultative specialist capable of adjusting its feeding behavior to its environment, indicating greater dietary flexibility than previously documented, which may enable the species to survive in increasingly degraded habitats.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajp.23609","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139970657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sniffing behavior of semi free-ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)","authors":"Miriam Simon, Anja Widdig, Brigitte M. Weiß","doi":"10.1002/ajp.23611","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajp.23611","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Olfaction is one of the evolutionarily oldest senses and plays a fundamental role in foraging and social interactions across mammals. In primates, the role of olfaction is now well recognized, but better investigated in strepsirrhine and platyrrhine primates than in catarrhines. We observed the sniffing behavior of semi-free ranging Barbary macaques, <i>Macaca sylvanus</i>, at Affenberg Salem, Germany, to assess how frequently macaques sniff and in which contexts, and how sniffing is affected by sex and age. Focal observations of 24 males and 24 females aged 1–25 years showed that Barbary macaques sniffed, on average, 5.24 times per hour, with more than 80% of sniffs directed at food. Irrespective of the context, younger individuals sniffed more often than older ones. Females’ sniffs were more often directed at food than male sniffs, while males sniffed more often than females in a social context. Sniffs at conspecifics occurred primarily in a sexual context, with 70% of social sniffs directed at female anogenital swellings performed by males. Of the observed 176 anogenital inspections, 51 involved sniffing of the swelling. Olfactory inspections were followed by copulation significantly less often than merely visual inspections, suggesting that anogenital odors may play a role in male mating decisions, but the role of olfaction in sexual interactions warrants further investigations. In sum, results show that Barbary macaques routinely use olfaction during feeding, but also in a socio-sexual context, corroborating the relevance of the olfactory sense in the lives of catarrhine primates.</p>","PeriodicalId":7662,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Primatology","volume":"86 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajp.23611","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139970658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}