Primate Update E-Newsletter, Vol. 3, Issue 10, Part 3

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Special Topic: Intern Linda
Marmosets and Tamarins
Chapter 2: A vocal taxonomy of the Callitrichids

Saddleback Tamarins have highly complex vocalizations.

Vocalizations in Callitrichids serve many functions. The long or loud calls are used in species identification, mate attraction, and for defense. These calls are important in reproductive isolation and identification of species because the vocalizations are species-specific. Long calls have been well studied and are used to defend against intruders of the same species, to keep a group together, and for finding a mate.


Below is a phylogeny tree showing the evolution of marmosets, tamarins, and other closely related monkeys, by Rosenberger and Coimbra-Filho (1984). Craniodental (teeth and skull) features are used to determine the specie relationships.

Through this interpretation, it is possible that tamarins separated earlier than marmosets and therefore live in different environments. Tamarin calls have a frequency range that is lower than callitrichids and can travel for longer distances. They are found in the Atlantic Forest with much less noise than other Amazon regions. In contrast, marmoset calls are very high in frequency but rapidly decline as it goes into the distance. This is due to the immense number of competing noises that are found in the Amazon. Marmosets have adapted by having a high-pitched long call to avoid being masked by other sounds.


-Rylands, A.B. Marmosets and Tamarins. Systematics, Behavior, and Ecology. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1993.


Special Topic: Intern Caroline
The Complete Capuchin
Chapter 10. Fancy manipulators. Capuchins use objects as tools.


Capuchin monkeys use tools in the wild, as well as in captivity, to achieve a common goal. Capuchins frequently use tools in captivity similar to other primates, such as chimpanzees. However, there is less evidence of tool usage by capuchins in the wild, perhaps due to their arboreal nature. Hundreds of years ago tool usage by capuchins had already been reported. In Panama, 500 years ago, capuchins were observed cracking nuts after seeing men open the nuts with stones. The men would leave the nuts where capuchins could reach them and the capuchins would then crack the nuts with the stones.


-Fragaszy, D.M., Visalberghi, E., Fedigan, L.M. (2004) The Complete Capuchin: The Biology of the Genus Cebus. UK. Cambridge University Press


Special Topic: Intern Annabel
Chapter 6: Foraging for Prey

Marmosets at PPS hang upside down to 

access a treat filled bamboo feeder

In a study comparing habits of five new world monkey species, foraging was for all a major, if not the major activity, occupying from 15% to 49% of their waking lives. Tamarin species spend most of their time hunting on tree trunks and branches. Tamarins are dedicated leaf foragers, and devote between 85 to 90% of their attention to this class of substrate.


This foraging behavior can be seen and encouraged in the tamarin and marmoset species at PPS. Bamboo feeders can be placed inside enclosures. These require the monkeys to manipulate the feeders in order to get to the treats inside. This mimics natural behaviors with increased foraging times being more similar to what would be seen in the wild. The tamarins and marmosets also have green rooms filled with various selections of plants and trees. The monkeys can use these environments to for hunt insects on the leaves and branches, thus exhibiting natural behaviors.


-Moynihan, Martin. (1976). The New World Primates. Adaptive Radiation and the Evolution of Social Behavior, Languages, and Intelligence. Princeton University Press


Special Topic: Extern Dawn
The ethnoprimatology of spider monkeys (Ateles spp.) from past to present


Human and nonhuman primates share a relatively recent history of interaction in the New World (the Americas) in comparison with the Old World (Africa and Asia).


Primatologists tend to focus their research on understanding the behavior and ecology of a particular primate species or subspecies. One of the most studied aspects of human-nonhuman interactions has involved human development and deforestation of primate habitat over the last 500 years. With so many of the world’s primate species endangered or threatened, such an approach is logical, meaningful, and most certainly critical for understanding the consequences of human behavior to the quite literal survival of many nonhuman primate species.

Carlos at PPS

In a broad view of perceptions of human and nonhuman animal life, Viveiros de Castro (1998/1999) has made the observation that it is common in cosmologies of indigenous Amazonian peoples to view Spider monkeys as former human beings. Rather than the popular Western view of humanity representing an evolutionary ‘stage’ following an earlier, less differentiated nonhuman primate “stage”, it is thought that contemporary monkeys are transformed beings who were human in a prior form of their existence. Interestingly, it has also been noted that Spider monkeys behave differently toward women than to men (D. Urdaneta, personal communication). 


Beliefs regarding spider monkeys are categorized into those involving “transformation” and those involving “contagion”. The first involves myths where spider monkeys are transformed human beings as mentioned earlier. The second involves either positive or negative attributes that can be conferred to human beings through contact with spider monkeys (and sometimes vice versa).


In summary, given how frequently the generic category of “monkey” appears in Central and South American myths, it is clear that spider monkey symbolism remains an area that needs further exploration.


-Campbell, Christina J. Spider Monkeys: The Biology, Behaviour, and Ecology of the Genus Ateles (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology). UK. Cambridge University Press. 2008.

“Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures, the whole of nature, and all its beauty.”                — Albert Einstein




We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Pacific Primate Sanctuary’s E-Newsletter. Thank you for your support of our life saving work. Because of compassionate people, the Sanctuary can continue to provide a place of peace and happiness for 70 primates saved from research laboratories, animal dealers, and tourist attractions. Here they can heal, form families, and live free from exploitation.

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