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Primates in a Land of Plenty: The Socio-Ecological Context of Infant Development in Wild Olive Baboons (Papio anubis).
No full textThe need to successfully navigate complex social environments has been a driving force in primate cognitive evolution. Few studies, however, have addressed the developmental processes that result in the sophisticated social skills exhibited by adults. Fewer still have investigated these processes in their ecological context, through observations of wild animals. My dissertation contributes to this lacuna by adopting concepts and methods from anthropological and psychological studies of human development, and applying them to the study of wild olive baboons. As the most widespread and successful non-human primate species, and the one with arguably the greatest socio-ecological complexity, these animals are ideal study subjects.Over the course of 16 months, I collected data on infant behavior, mother-infant interactions, and infants’ attachment relationships in wild but habituated individuals at the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project site in Kenya. I then situated my data both in time and space, through the analysis of long-term UNBP data and the comparison of two baboon troops in ecologically distinct areas. My results demonstrate the validity of using visual orientation to investigate baboon cognition; the positive effect of exposure to social interactions on the development of social competence; and the crucial role played by mothers as gatekeepers of infant social exposure. I also describe the intricate and reciprocal ways that maternal responsiveness and infants’ secondary attachments interact in shaping infant behavior, supporting a developmental model whereby infants are influenced but at the same time influence those with whom they interact. Finally, rapid environmental changes have led to faster female reproductive rates in one study troop. Here I show how this has affected maternal behavior with consequences for the development of infant independence and social behavior.My research nests infant baboons’ social behavior within ever-broadening spheres of influence, from the mother-infant relationship to large-scale environmental changes, shedding light on the dynamic and dialectical relationship between individual behavior and the broader socio-ecological context. In doing so, I provide a comparative evolutionary model of the effects of developmental context on the process of socialization, thereby improving our understanding of how naïve infants – human and non-human alike – become competent social actors
Prospects for management of primate pests
No full textAmong the variety of commensal relationships between human and nonhuman primates, those of most concern today center around « conflict ». As part of a long-term study of olive baboons (Papio anubis) in Kenya, we had the opportunity to investigate the response of four wild troops to the incursion of agriculture. We also tested a variety of management techniques. The development of crop-raiding was not inevitable. In fact, baboons appeared very reluctant to raid, except for a few who had previously fed on human food. Responses ranged from enlarging home range size, decreasing troop size, shifting home range, to raiding as a secondary strategy and raiding as the main foraging orientation. Crops provided greater digestibility and increased foraging efficiency over natural foods. Eating human food altered activity budgets, increased growth and reproduction, but took its toll in injuries and deaths. Control techniques work through increasing costs and decreasing benefits of raiding. The most promising technique is taste aversion conditioning, although better emetics are needed before this method can be widely used. Shifting cultivars may also be effective, particularly if the new crops are less digestible or less palatable for baboons. The prospects for managing primate pests will vary depending on whether animals have viable alternatives. The future of existing primate commensalism is threatened by increasing human pressure on resources. It is highly unlikely that new commensal relationships will develop given these same constraints. Nevertheless, the framework of primate commensalism may provide insights into the variety of human and nonhuman primate relationships and how these might be manipulated for future primate conservation.Parmi les nombreux types de relations commensales entre l’homme et les primates non-humains, les plus problématiques sont aujourd’hui les situations de conflit. Au cours d’une étude de longue durée des babouins olive (Papio anubis) au Kenya, nous avons pu étudier la réponse de 4 troupes de babouins sauvages à l’irruption de l’agriculture. Nous avons expérimenté plusieurs techniques pour réduire les conflits ainsi créés. Le développement du comportement de pillage n’était pas inévitable, les babouins se montrant très prudents, à l’exception des individus ayant déjà consommé des aliments d’origine humaine. Nous avons observé diverses formes de réponse à cette perturbation d’origine agricole : accroissement du domaine vital, réduction de la taille des groupes, changement de zone, et enfin pillage comme ressource annexe ou principale. Les cultures sont plus digestes que la nourriture naturelle et de récolte facile. L’apport de nourriture humaine a ainsi modifié les budgets d’activité, accéléré la croissance individuelle et le taux de reproduction, mais aussi prélevé son tribut en blessures et mortalité. Les techniques de contrôle sont basées sur l’accroissement des coûts et la diminution des bénéfices liés au pillage des plantations. Parmi ces techniques, la plus prometteuse est l’aversion alimentaire conditionnée, bien que les émétiques actuels ne se prêtent pas à un usage généralisé de la méthode. Une autre solution serait le remplacement des cultures actuelles par de nouvelles cultures, moins digestes ou moins appréciées des babouins. Le résultat des mesures prises dépendra en tout état de cause de l’existence de solutions de remplacement alimentaires viables pour les babouins. L’avenir de relations commensales stables entre l’homme et les babouins est toutefois compromis par la pression croissante de l’homme sur les ressources naturelles. Il est très peu probable que de nouvelles associations commensales se forment au vu de ces dernières contraintes. Néanmoins, l’étude du commensalisme des primates permet d’éclairer la diversité des relations entre l’homme et les primates non-humains, ces connaissances permettront dans l’avenir d’assurer au mieux la conservation des primates.Strum Shirley C. Prospects for management of primate pests. In: Revue d'Écologie (La Terre et La Vie), tome 49, n°3, 1994. pp. 295-306
Corrigendum: A Severe Lack of Evidence Limits Effective Conservation of the World's Primates
No full textIn the originally published version of this article, the author's name, Kathy Slater, was incorrectly spelt in the author list and within the “Author Biographical” section. This has now been corrected online.Additional co-authors: Fabiano R de MELO, P Fan, Cyril C Grueter, Diana C Guzmán-Caro, Eckhard W Heymann, Ilka Herbinger, Minh D Hoang, Robert H Horwich, Tatyana Humle, Rachel A Ikemeh, Inaoyom S Imong, Leandro Jerusalinsky, Steig E Johnson, Peter M Kappeler, Maria Cecília M Kierulff, Inza Koné, Rebecca Kormos, Khac Q LE, Baoguo Li, Andrew J Marshall, Erik Meijaard, Russel A Mittermeier, Yasuyuki Muroyama, Eleonora Neugebauer, Lisa Orth, Erwin Palacios, Sarah K Papworth, Andrew J Plumptre, Ben M Rawson, Johannes Refisch, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Christian Roos, Joanna M Setchell, Rebecca K Smith, Tene Sop, Christoph Schwitzer, Kathy Slater, Shirley C Strum, William J Sutherland, Maurício Talebi, Janette Wallis, Serge Wich, Roman M Wittig, Hjalmar S Küh
The Development of Primate Raiding: Implications for Management and Conservation
No full textEcosystems and habitats are fast becoming human dominated, which means that more species, including primates, are compelled to exploit new human resources to survive and compete. Primate “pests” pose major management and conservation challenges. I here present the results from a unique opportunity to document how well-known individuals and groups respond to the new opportunity to feed on human foods. Data are from a long-term study of a single population in Kenya at Kekopey, near Gilgil, Kenya. Some of the naïve research baboons became raiders while others did not. I compare diet, activity budgets, and home range use of raiders and nonraiders both simultaneously, after the incursion of agriculture, and historically compared to the period before agriculture appeared. I present measures of the relative benefits (female reproduction) and costs (injuries, mortality, and survivorship) of incorporating human food into the diet and discuss why the baboons raid and their variations in raiding tendencies. Guarding and chasing are evaluated as control techniques. I also suggest conflict mitigation strategies by identifying the most likely options in different contexts. I end with a proposal for a rapid field assessment of human wildlife conflict involving primates
Animal and human aggression. By Pierre Karli. New York: Oxford University Press. 1991 viii +294 pp. ISBN 0‐19‐852186‐3. $85.00 (cloth)
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