Sex differences in the acoustic structure of terrestrial alarm calls in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).

The alarm calls of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) have been the subject of considerable focus by researchers, owing primarily to the purported referential qualities of different alarm call types. With this focus on reference, acoustic variation among calls elicited by the same range of predators has typically been overlooked. Specifically, at least one type of alarm call-the terrestrial alarm-was described over 50 years ago as being acoustically distinct between males and females-a description that has largely eluded more systematic scrutiny.

Minds in movement: embodied cognition in the age of artificial intelligence.

This theme issue brings together researchers from diverse fields to assess the current status and future prospects of embodied cognition in the age of generative artificial intelligence. In this introduction, we first clarify our view of embodiment as a potentially unifying concept in the study of cognition, characterizing this as a perspective that questions mind-body dualism and recognizes a profound continuity between sensorimotor action in the world and more abstract forms of cognition. We then consider how this unifying concept is developed and elaborated by the other contributions to this issue, identifying the following two key themes: (i) the role of language in cognition and its entanglement with the body and (ii) bodily mechanisms of interpersonal perception and alignment across the domains of social affiliation, teaching and learning.

Anthropofabrication and the redressing of memory: an embodied approach to comparative cognition.

On what basis do researchers posit that humans and other animals share cognitive capacities? We argue that such claims are not based on inherent, pre-existing similarities, but rather emerge through a two-step process, which we will call 'anthropofabrication'. In the initial stage, embodied action-based strategies and environmental context in human studies are ignored owing to the need for measurement and quantification. Consequently, cognitive terms become disconnected from the context to which we apply them, and human classificatory cognitive terms are transformed into broad explanatory terms, assumed to be 'species-neutral'.

Reclaiming behaviour settings: reviewing empirical applications of Barker's behaviour settings theory.

Behaviour settings theory is the product of Roger Barker and Herbert F. Wright's decades-long Midwest Field Station research programme. The theory followed from the demonstration that the best predictor of a person's behaviour was the setting (i.

People, places, things and communities: expanding behaviour settings theory in the twenty-first century.

Trends and developments in recent behavioural and cognitive sciences demonstrate the need for a well-developed theoretical and empirical framework for examining the ecology of human behaviour. The increasing recognition of the role of the environment and interaction with the environment in the organization of behaviour within the cognitive sciences has not been met with an equally disciplined and systematic account of that environment (Heft 2018 . , 99-123 (doi:10.

A Mixed-method Approach to Develop an Ambulatory Module of the SMA Independence Scale.

Background: Limited qualitative data exist on the symptoms and impacts of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) experienced by ambulant individuals. An ambulant module of the SMA Independence Scale (SMAIS) was developed to quantify the assistance required to perform everyday mobility-related activities.

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a patient-centered module that provides key insights into what constitutes independence for ambulant and near-ambulant individuals with SMA.

Estimates of life history parameters in a high latitude, arid-country vervet monkey population.

We present data on life history parameters from a long-term study of vervet monkeys in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Estimates are presented of age at first conception for females and age at natal dispersal for males, along with the probability of survival to adulthood for infants born during the study, female reproductive life-span, reproductive output (including lifetime reproductive success for a subset of females), and inter-birth interval (IBI) duration. We also assess the effect of maternal age and infant survival on length of IBI.

A Mixed-Methods Study to Better Measure Patient-Reported Pain and Fatigue in Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Introduction: Pain and fatigue are commonly reported by patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS) as distressing symptoms, yet no patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures have been validated or developed specifically for STS. This study aimed to develop novel PRO scales using existing item banks to measure pain and fatigue in STS.

Methods: A three-stage mixed-methods approach was used.

Using network synchrony to identify drivers of social dynamics.

Social animals frequently show dynamic social network patterns, the consequences of which are felt at the individual and group level. It is often difficult, however, to identify what drivers are responsible for changes in these networks. We suggest that patterns of network synchronization across multiple social groups can be used to better understand the relative contributions of extrinsic and intrinsic drivers.

Measuring the Patient Experience in Rare Disorders: Benefit of Pragmatic Mixed-Methods Research in NUT Carcinoma.

Introduction: Patient-centered outcome measurement (PCOM) is essential to capture the outcomes important to patients. However, it presents unique challenges in rare diseases, particularly those that are "young" (not diagnosed before the twenty-first century), with limited literature, lack of disease-specific patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures, and difficult sampling and data collection. One example of this is NUT (nuclear protein in testis) carcinoma (NUTca), a rare and rapidly progressing cancer, with tumors preliminary in the head, neck, and lungs.

Experts in action: why we need an embodied social brain hypothesis.

The anthropoid primates are known for their intense sociality and large brain size. The idea that these might be causally related has given rise to a large body of work testing the 'social brain hypothesis'. Here, the emphasis has been placed on the political demands of social life, and the cognitive skills that would enable animals to track the machinations of other minds in metarepresentational ways.

Development of the SMA independence scale-upper limb module (SMAIS-ULM): A novel scale for individuals with Type 2 and non-ambulant Type 3 SMA.

Background: The amount of assistance required to perform daily activities for individuals with Type 2 and non-ambulant Type 3 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is often cited as meaningful for quality of life, and important to routinely assess.

Methods: The SMA Independence Scale (SMAIS), a patient-reported outcome measure for individuals with SMA aged ≥12 years, and an observer-reported outcome measure for caregivers of individuals aged ≥2 years, was developed and evaluated in two phases. In Phase 1, 30 draft items were developed following review of the literature.

Fevers and the social costs of acute infection in wild vervet monkeys.

Fevers are considered an adaptive response by the host to infection. For gregarious animals, however, fever and the associated sickness behaviors may signal a temporary loss of capacity, offering other group members competitive opportunities. We implanted wild vervet monkeys () with miniature data loggers to obtain continuous measurements of core body temperature.

Formidable females redux: male social integration into female networks and the value of dynamic multilayer networks.

The development of multilayer network techniques is a boon for researchers who wish to understand how different interaction layers might influence each other, and how these in turn might influence group dynamics. Here, we investigate how integration between male and female grooming and aggression interaction networks influences male power trajectories in vervet monkeys . Our previous analyses of this phenomenon used a monolayer approach, and our aim here is to extend these analyses using a dynamic multilayer approach.

Tolerance of muzzle contact underpins the acquisition of foraging information in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).

Muzzle contact, where one animal brings its muzzle into close proximity to that of another, has often been hypothesized as a straightforward means of socially mediated food investigation. Using 2,707 observations of muzzle contact occurring across 3 troops of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), we tested this social learning hypothesis. We first explored the social structuring of muzzle contact by analyzing the characteristics of initiators and receivers.

Field data confirm the ability of a biophysical model to predict wild primate body temperature.

In the face of climate change there is an urgent need to understand how animal performance is affected by environmental conditions. Biophysical models that use principles of heat and mass transfer can be used to explore how an animal's morphology, physiology, and behavior interact with its environment in terms of energy, mass and water balances to affect fitness and performance. We used Niche Mapper™ (NM) to build a vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) biophysical model and tested the model's ability to predict core body temperature (T) variation and thermal stress against T and behavioral data collected from wild vervets in South Africa.

Infrared thermography cannot be used to approximate core body temperature in wild primates.

Understanding the physiological processes that underpin primate performance is key if we are to assess how a primate might respond when navigating new and changing environments. Given the connection between a mammal's ability to thermoregulate and the changing demands of its thermal environment, increasing attention is being devoted to the study of thermoregulatory processes as a means to assess primate performance. Infrared thermography can be used to record the body surface temperatures of free-ranging animals.

Climate induced stress and mortality in vervet monkeys.

As the effects of global climate change become more apparent, animal species will become increasingly affected by extreme climate and its effect on the environment. There is a pressing need to understand animal physiological and behavioural responses to climatic stressors. We used the reactive scope model as a framework to investigate the influence of drought conditions on vervet monkey () behaviour, physiological stress and survival across 2.

Keeping cool in the heat: Behavioral thermoregulation and body temperature patterns in wild vervet monkeys.

Objectives: Climate change is having a significant impact on biodiversity and increasing attention is therefore being devoted to identifying the behavioral strategies that a species uses to cope with climatic stress. We explore how wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) respond to heat stress, and how behavioral adaptations are used to regulate body temperature.

Materials And Methods: We implanted wild vervet monkeys with temperature-sensitive data loggers and related the body temperature rhythms of these animals to their use of thermoregulatory behaviors.

Insights into the evolution of social systems and species from baboon studies.

Baboons, members of the genus comprise six closely related species distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southwest Arabia. The species exhibit more ecological flexibility and a wider range of social systems than many other primates. This article summarizes our current knowledge of the natural history of baboons and highlights directions for future research.

Modeling variation in the growth of wild and captive juvenile vervet monkeys in relation to diet and resource availability.

Objectives: To compare longitudinal weight gain in captive and wild juvenile vervet monkeys and conduct an empirical assessment of different mechanistic growth models.

Methods: Weights were collected from two groups of captive monkeys and two consecutive cohorts of wild monkeys until the end of the juvenile period (~800 days). The captive groups were each fed different diets, while the wild groups experienced different ecological conditions.

Gastrointestinal Parasites of Vervet Monkeys () in a High Latitude, Semi-Arid Region of South Africa.

Given a changing climate and large-scale human migration, understanding infectious diseases in wildlife and the factors that drive the spread of these diseases is becoming increasingly important. Owing to the close phylogenetic relationship between nonhuman primates and humans, primate parasites are of particular interest due to the potential for zoonotic disease transmission and for the study of social transmission within gregarious social groups. There is a wide range of social and environmental factors that influence the prevalence and transmission of pathogens, and identifying these, and their effects, is crucial to understanding the population-level consequences of climate change for animals that live in obligate social groups.

Functional social structure in baboons: Modeling interactions between social and environmental structure in group-level foraging.

In mobile social groups, cohesion is thought to be driven by patterns of attraction at both the individual and group level. In long-lived species with high group stability and repeated interactions, such as baboons, individual-to-individual attractions have the potential to play a large role in group cohesion and overall movement patterns. In previous work, we found that the patterning of inter-individual attraction gave rise to an emergent group-level structure, whereby a core of more influential, inter-dependent individuals exerted a unidirectional influence on the movements of peripheral animals.