Measuring personality in the field: An in situ comparison of personality quantification methods in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus).

Three popular approaches exist for quantifying personality in animals: behavioral coding in unconstrained and experimental settings and trait assessment. Both behavioral coding in an unconstrained setting and trait assessment aim to identify an overview of personality structure by reducing the behavioral repertoire of a species into broad personality dimensions, whereas experimental assays quantify personality as reactive tendencies to particular stimuli. Criticisms of these methods include that they generate personality dimensions with low levels of cross-study or cross-species comparability (behavioral coding in unconstrained and experimental settings) or that the personality dimensions generated are not ecologically valid, that is, not reflecting naturally occurring behavior (trait assessment and experimental assays).

A protocol for training group-housed rhesus macaques () to cooperate with husbandry and research procedures using positive reinforcement.

There has been increased recognition of the 3Rs in laboratory animal management over the last decade, including improvements in animal handling and housing. For example, positive reinforcement is now more widely used to encourage primates to cooperate with husbandry procedures, and improved enclosure design allows housing in social groups with opportunity to escape and avoid other primates and humans. Both practices have become gold standards in captive primate care resulting in improved health and behavioural outcomes.

Implications of Tourist-Macaque Interactions for Disease Transmission.

During wildlife tourism, proximity or actual contact between people and animals may lead to a significant risk of anthropozoonotic disease transmission. In this paper, we use social network analysis, disease simulation modelling and data on animal health and behaviour to investigate such risks at a site in Morocco, where tourists come to see wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Measures of individual macaques' network centrality-an index of the strength and distribution of their social relationships and thus potentially their ability to spread disease-did not show clear and consistent relationships with their time spent in close proximity to, or rate of interacting with, tourists.

Correlates of androgens in wild male Barbary macaques: Testing the challenge hypothesis.

Investigating causes and consequences of variation in hormonal expression is a key focus in behavioral ecology. Many studies have explored patterns of secretion of the androgen testosterone in male vertebrates, using the challenge hypothesis (Wingfield, Hegner, Dufty, & Ball, 1990; The American Naturalist, 136(6), 829-846) as a theoretical framework. Rather than the classic association of testosterone with male sexual behavior, this hypothesis predicts that high levels of testosterone are associated with male-male reproductive competition but also inhibit paternal care.

Primates' behavioural responses to tourists: evidence for a trade-off between potential risks and benefits.

The presence of, and interactions with tourists can be both risky and beneficial for wild animals. In wildlife tourism settings, animals often experience elevated rates of aggression from conspecifics, and they may also be threatened or physically aggressed by the tourists themselves. However, tourist provisioning of wild animals provides them with highly desirable foods.

Assessing the Effects of Tourist Provisioning on the Health of Wild Barbary Macaques in Morocco.

Feeding wildlife is a very popular tourist activity, largely because it facilitates the close observation of animals in their natural habitat. Such provisioning may benefit animals by improving their survival and reproductive success, especially during periods of natural food shortage. However, provisioning by tourists may also have negative impacts on the health of the animals involved; to date such impacts are poorly understood.

Metabolic strategies in wild male Barbary macaques: evidence from faecal measurement of thyroid hormone.

Selection is expected to favour the evolution of flexible metabolic strategies, in response to environmental conditions. Here, we use a non-invasive index of basal metabolic rate (BMR), faecal thyroid hormone (T3) levels, to explore metabolic flexibility in a wild mammal inhabiting a highly seasonal, challenging environment. T3 levels of adult male Barbary macaques in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco, varied markedly over the year; temporal patterns of variation differed between a wild-feeding and a provisioned group.

Foraging with finesse: A hard-fruit-eating primate selects the weakest areas as bite sites.

Objectives: Fruit husks are rarely uniformly hard, varying in penetrability via sulci and changes in thickness. We tested whether a hard-food specialist primate i) bites randomly on food fruit husk surfaces to access seeds, or ii) selects areas most easily penetrated by canines. We consider this would occur so as to minimize deployed mechanical force, energetic expenditure and risk of dental breakage when feeding.

Emotion Evaluation and Response Slowing in a Non-Human Primate: New Directions for Cognitive Bias Measures of Animal Emotion?

The cognitive bias model of animal welfare assessment is informed by studies with humans demonstrating that the interaction between emotion and cognition can be detected using laboratory tasks. A limitation of cognitive bias tasks is the amount of training required by animals prior to testing. A potential solution is to use biologically relevant stimuli that trigger innate emotional responses.

Associations between spatial position, stress and anxiety in forest baboons Papio anubis.

Spatial position within a group affects the value of group-living benefits such as reduced predation risk and improved foraging. The threat of predation, poor nutrition or increased competition from conspecifics can all cause stress. In many species, central positions are known to be more beneficial than peripheral positions in terms of reduced predation, vigilance and foraging.

Personality Traits in Rhesus Macaques () Are Heritable but Do Not Predict Reproductive Output.

There is growing evidence that behavioral tendencies, or "personalities," in animals are an important aspect of their biology, yet their evolutionary basis is poorly understood. Specifically, how individual variation in personality arises and is subsequently maintained by selection remains unclear. To address this gap, studies of personality require explicit incorporation of genetic information.

Seasonal changes in the structure of rhesus macaque social networks.

Social structure emerges from the patterning of interactions between individuals and plays a critical role in shaping some of the main characteristics of animal populations. The topological features of social structure, such as the extent to which individuals interact in clusters, can influence many biologically important factors, including the persistence of cooperation, and the rate of spread of disease. Yet the extent to which social structure topology fluctuates over relatively short periods of time in relation to social, demographic or environmental events remains unclear.

Terrestrial foraging by Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary (primates) in Amazonian Brazil: is choice of seed patch size and position related to predation risk?

We analyse the behaviour of Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary feeding at patches of germinating seedlings in dried-out flooded forest. Seedlings of Eschweilera tenuifolia (Lecythidaceae) were the most commonly eaten (88.9%).

Evidence that emotion mediates social attention in rhesus macaques.

Background: Recent work on non-human primates indicates that the allocation of social attention is mediated by characteristics of the attending animal, such as social status and genotype, as well as by the value of the target to which attention is directed. Studies of humans indicate that an individual's emotion state also plays a crucial role in mediating their social attention; for example, individuals look for longer towards aggressive faces when they are feeling more anxious, and this bias leads to increased negative arousal and distraction from other ongoing tasks. To our knowledge, no studies have tested for an effect of emotion state on allocation of social attention in any non-human species.

Terrestrial activity in pitheciins (Cacajao, Chiropotes, and Pithecia).

Neotropical monkeys of the genera Cacajao, Chiropotes, and Pithecia (Pitheciidae) are considered to be highly arboreal, spending most of their time feeding and traveling in the upper canopy. Until now, the use of terrestrial substrates has not been analyzed in detail in this group. Here, we review the frequency of terrestrial use among pitheciin taxa to determine the ecological and social conditions that might lead to such behavior.

Sleeping site selection by golden-backed uacaris, Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary (Pitheciidae), in Amazonian flooded forests.

In Amazonian seasonally flooded forest (igapó), golden-backed uacaris, Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary, show high selectivity for sleeping trees. Of 89 tree species in igapó, only 16 were used for sleeping (18%). Hydrochorea marginata (Fabaceae) and Ormosia paraensis (Fabaceae) were used most frequently (41% of records) despite being uncommon (Ivlev electivity ratios were 0.

An experimental study of behavioural coping strategies in free-ranging female Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus).

A fundamental goal of stress research is to understand how individuals cope with challenges. Studies on a range of vertebrate species suggest that three groups of behaviour--affiliative, aggressive and self-directed behaviours--serve as coping strategies. To date, experimental studies of coping behaviour have tended to be conducted in captive conditions; the limited number of studies in free-ranging or wild settings have been observational in nature.

Rates of self-directed behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels are not correlated in female wild olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis).

Non-invasive methods to quantify components of stress in non-human animals rely typically on the use of physiological or behavioural measures. At the physiological level, stress is usually measured non-invasively in terms of faecal or urinary glucocorticoid output. A common group of behavioural measures used are self-directed behaviours (SDBs), which have been shown to be linked to anxiety, a subset of stress, although a number of authors have explicitly linked SDBs to stress more generally.

Living on the edge: life-history of olive baboons at Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria.

Baboons are the most successful and ubiquitous African primates, renowned for their behavioral and reproductive flexibility, which enable them to inhabit a wide variety of habitat types. Owing to a number of long-term field studies, comparative behavioral, developmental, demographic, and life-history data are available from several populations, but study sites show a heavy bias toward South and East African savannahs, with little research in West or Central Africa. Life-history data from such areas are important if we are fully to understand the nature of the environmental factors that limit baboon distribution.

The timing of ovulation with respect to sexual swelling detumescence in wild olive baboons.

Baboon researchers commonly use the timing of sexual swelling detumescence to infer the timing of ovulation. These estimates are then used for a variety of purposes, including the interpretation of male and female behaviour, assessment of likely paternity, and the calculation of gestation lengths. Although captive studies have measured the timing of ovulation with respect to detumescence, this has not been measured in wild baboons.

Female reproductive signaling, and male mating behavior, in the olive baboon.

Baboon sexual swellings are among the largest and most colorful signals displayed by any mammal, and many baboon studies have shown an association between sexual swellings and both female and male sexual behavior. However, the extent to which female behavior and sexual swellings combine to signal the timing of ovulation and the fertile period to males, and the extent to which males use these and other signals when determining patterns of mating behavior, remain key topics of research. Here we assess the social and sexual behavior of both female and male olive baboons with respect to detailed measures of swelling size made from digital photographs, measures of fecal progestogen and estrogen levels, and estimates of the timing of ovulation and the fertile period based on those levels.

Baboon sexual swellings: information content of size and color.

Primate sexual swellings are hormone-dependent sexual signals that play a key role in determining patterns of behavior. They are among the most conspicuous signals exhibited by any mammal, and their large size and bright coloration have fascinated evolutionary biologists for well over a century. A number of different adaptive hypotheses have been proposed for the evolution of sexual swellings, and there have been several recent attempts to test some of these using precise swelling measurements made in the field.

Reduced reproductive function in wild baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) related to natural consumption of the African black plum (Vitex doniana).

Several authors have suggested that the consumption of plant compounds may have direct effects on wild primate reproductive biology, but no studies have presented physiological evidence of such effects. Here, for two troops of olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) at Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria, we show major seasonal increases in levels of fecal progesterone metabolites in females, and provide evidence that this is linked to the consumption of natural plant compounds. Increases in fecal progestogen excretion occurred seasonally in all females, in all reproductive states, including lactation.

Grooming in Barbary macaques: better to give than to receive?

It is well established that grooming underpins sociality in group-living primates, and a number of studies have documented the stress-reducing effects of being groomed. In this study, we quantified grooming behaviour and physiological stress (assessed by faecal glucocorticoid analysis) in free-ranging Barbary macaques, Macaca sylvanus. Our results indicate that it is the giving rather than the receiving of grooming that is associated with lower stress levels.

Flores hominid: new species or microcephalic dwarf?

The proposed new hominid "Homo floresiensis" is based on specimens from cave deposits on the Indonesian island Flores. The primary evidence, dated at approximately 18,000 y, is a skull and partial skeleton of a very small but dentally adult individual (LB1). Incomplete specimens are attributed to eight additional individuals.