Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
However, Wheatley clearly stresses that the infant deaths in these cases
probably did not result from “intent to kill” but rather from higher-ranking
females' attempts to harass lower ranking females (Wheatley,
1999
). While
infants are frequently held by females other than their mothers, we suggest
it still remains unclear why in a few instances this results in the death of an
infant. The two cases we observed are substantially different from each other
precluding any single explanatory hypothesis. A possible byproduct of infant
taking is the potential for successful adoption. Between 1998 and 2002 we
observed the successful adoption of two infants younger than six months
whose mothers died.
Object manipulation
While early reports suggested that the majority of manipulation behavior may
be a form of food acquisition (Wheatley,
1988
,
1999
), recent research sug-
gests that food preparation may account for only a relatively small fraction of
the object manipulation observed at monkey forest sites (Fuentes,
1992
; Truce
and Fuentes,
2002
). In fact, preliminary research suggests that variation in,
and overall rates of, object manipulation may be tied to the levels of macaque-
human interaction, provisioning, and specific structural factors associated with
monkey forests and their proximity to human villages (Fuentes,
1992
; Truce
and Fuentes,
2002
). That is, low-foraging pressure, no predator pressure, high
degree of time spent on the ground, and exposure to a variety of diverse objects
may lead to high frequencies of object manipulation. However, there are also
reports of stone tool use on this species in wild populations (Gumert
et al
.,
2009b
) suggesting that this species uses objects across a wide range of eco-
logical and social circumstances.
Relevance of studying a macaque population in a highly
anthropogenic environment
There is a great need for the study of long-term sympatry between human and
non-human primates. Most socioecological investigations into primate groups
do not incorporate their interactions (i.e., beyond predation or crop raiding),
potential pathogen sharing, or the role of the anthropogenically impacted
environment. This and other ongoing research projects, and a growing num-
ber of publications, demonstrate that long-term sympatry between human
and non-human primates can create a complex web of behavioral, ecological,
