Friendly Primates

Spring 2024, By Paxton Stewart

Zoo World 

Originally a Snake-a-Torium until 1991 when it became Zoo World

Located 9008 Front Beach Rd, Panama City Beach, FL 32407

Project Goals and Background Research

For this project, my research question is "How are 2 different species of Primates able to build kinship throughout their environments and habitats?" I really hope to understand their form of being able to build relationships. Although I do not know if they can speak in the way we do, I would like to know their ability to grow and form a relationship with one another. When doing research on their relationships, I found an article by Nina G. Jablonski, called "Social and Affective Touch in Primates and its Role in the Evolution of Social Cohesion." This article really helped me understand the cognitive meaning behind primates' behaviors and their effects. One thing that really stood out to me is their need for physical touch. Physical touch promotes social bonding in primates. Physical touch is also important to humans and it affects relationships as well for us. 

In a second article by Curr Zool, called "Kinship Promotes Affiliative Behaviors in a Monkey," they describe that there is in fact a social system within primate habitats and environments. And maintaining and improving social status is also a thing within them as it is within us. Affiliative behavior accounts for more than 80% of the time that primates are doing social activities. This evidence has been found by waiting for a long period. Which included lots of research, observations, and waiting. 

Methodology

I went to Zoo World In Panama City Beach, on April 3, 2024. I visited the ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) and the White-throated Capuchin (Cebus Capuchins). These two primate species were the only ones out besides the ruffed lemurs and squirrel monkeys. We even asked an employee where the other primates were and they said they did not want to be out that day. But the two I chose allowed me to get a good compare and contrast between two completely different species' relationships. These two species allowed me to collect plenty of data about their reaction to one another. 

Species 1: Results/data collected 

The first primate I observed was the Ring-tailed Lemurs. Ring-tailed Lemurs are Promisians, which are considered to be primitive primates that evolved much earlier than other primates. These lemurs seemed to be fascinated with each other and very very cuddly. At least every lemur had a buddy to whom they were cuddling, licking, or sleeping right next. While "grooming is a social service that can be traded as a commodity in primate groups," this creates a social relationship in which they rely on one another (Jablonski). Just like us, Kinship helps them create a web of relationships socially and biologically. We rely on people in our lives as well. 

In this picture, these two lemurs are shown as one is sitting on the other one's lap. These two lemurs seemed very interested in one another and almost seemed very close friends. They would follow each other around and even make sure the other one was around when they would separate for a second.

In this picture, these two lemurs are shown licking and grooming each other. Unlike the other set of lemurs, these two seemed to only be doing business. These lemurs only licked and groomed each other for a moment and then went about their day like it had never happened 

Species 2: Results/data collected 

The second species I collected data from, was the White-throated Capuchin. In this habitat, there were only two of them and they had lots of room to roam around. These two were very very active but were always side by side when jumping and swinging on the wood or even on the side of the cage. This species has long Prehensile tails, which allows them to hold onto objects. While there were only two in this habitat they are mainly with around 20-30 other monkeys. These two very much seemed to have a strong bond with each other. They would eat and share food together and groom each other just like the lemurs. According to Primatology, "humans and nonhuman primates deprived of social touch exhibit stress," which is definitely why they had at least two of these species within the same habitat. I was not able to get a good picture of the species because they were moving around so much sadly. But I did get a picture of their sign. 

These signs help you learn more about the species. For the lemurs unlike this species, it was stated they were in danger of extinction. The White-throated Capuchin however is at least a concern. This sign also helped me learn about how many monkeys they usually reside with. 

Conclusion: 

For this project, I found out that physical touch is an extremely important thing for primates and building relationships. Their relationships are built off of trust and alliances along with trading for important objects. Doing this project made me realize how little I used to pay attention when going to the zoo. It showed me that just because an animal is cute and cuddly with one another it has a bigger meaning than just them cuddling. Relationships mean just as much to them as they do to us. While for us we can hold conversations and bond over things to create these social and biological relationships, they are not able to. They use physical touch to answer their problems. 

Works Cited/References 

Jablonski, Nina G. “Social and Affective Touch in Primates and Its Role in the Evolution of Social Cohesion.” Science Direct, 1 June 2021, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452220307405#:~:text=Mutual%20grooming%20is%20one%20of,and%20composition%20over%20many%20years.

Ren, Yi, et al. “Kinship Promotes Affiliative Behaviors in a Monkey.” Current Zoology, vol. 64, no. 4, 14     July 2017, pp. 441–447, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6084570/,https://doi.org/10.1093/c         z/zox046.