2020 Winter MeetingPoster Presentation

Ontogeny of social grooming in wild chimpanzees: effects of infant age, sex and maternal parity

• Around 3 years old, infants begin to groom and interact more with individuals other than the mother.

• In this male philopatric species, both male and female infants may benefit equally from learning this

skill. Grooming for females is important when integrating into a new group during dispersal, which

happens in adolescence, and for males grooming is used when integrating into the male social

hierarchy in early adulthood13.

• Maternal parity influences grooming development. In contrast to primiparous females, infants of

multiparous females benefit from grooming with a wider variety of conspecifics6.

• Understanding how social grooming is acquired in early life sheds light on the functions of this

behavior later in life, into adulthood.

• During infancy, infants are dependent on their mother1.2. As chimpanzee offspring

transition from infancy to juvenility, they start to gain more independence from the

mother, and social interactions become more complex3,4.

• Behavioral sex differences are observed in infancy: males participate in more

social play and travel alone at a younger age than females5.

• Infants of primiparous females may receive more grooming from mothers, and they

may nurse and play more with their mothers than infants of multiparous females6.

Infants of multiparous females can receive care from maternal kin7.

• Observations of grooming allow us to quantify the social associations between

individuals through the time spent receiving and giving this service8,9.

• Little is known about the development of grooming in primates. The objective of

this study is to assess the ontogeny of grooming in wild chimpanzees by

evaluating the effects of infant age, sex, and maternal parity on the social

grooming of infants with their mothers and with others.

Kelly Desruelle1, Cassandra Curteanu1, Iulia Bădescu1

1. Department of Anthropology, Université de Montréal

Study site Ngogo (Kibale National Park, Uganda) from January to April. The +/- 205

chimpanzees have a home range of 35 km2. The Ngogo community split in two since

2018.

Study subjects 24 infants aged 0 to 7 years old. Study subjects were “infants”

because they were observed to make nipple contacts with their mother.

Data collection 1-hour focal animal sampling of infants with continuous recording.

Data analysis 12 Generalized Estimated Equations (GEE) analyses to evaluate

effects of infant age, sex and maternal parity on grooming :

• Rate: frequency of grooming received or given / focal hours

• Probability: absence or presence of grooming

• Average duration of each grooming bout

The average rate, probability and duration of grooming towards the mother increased as infants aged.

Mother-infant grooming may reduce weaning conflicts10. Older infants were more likely to groom other

members of the group, suggesting that interactions with individuals other than the mother increase as

infants develop11. There were no sex differences in infant grooming, which may reflect equally important

social functions of grooming for males and females later in life12. Primiparous mothers tended to be

groomed by their infants longer during each grooming session than multiparous mothers, probably

because their infants have no siblings to interact with6. The rates and likelihood of being groomed by

individuals other than the mother were higher for infants of multiparous mothers because these infants

likely have access to more grooming partners, such as older maternal siblings, than infants of primiparous

mothers12. Infants of primiparous mothers may groom less with others because primiparous females are

new immigrants to the group and may be protective of their infants6.

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

Bibliography 1: Hashimoto et al. 2008 in The Bonobos: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation; 2 : Mitani 2009a in Evol Anthropol Issues News Rev & Nishida 1989 in Understanding Chimpanzees; 3 : Londsorf et al 2014 in PloS One; 4: Yerkes et Elder 1936 in

PNAS; 5: Brown et Dixson 2000 in Primates; 6: Stanton et al. 2014 in Current Anthropology; 7: Bădescu et al. 2016 in R. Soc. Open Sci. 8: Judge, Griffaton et Fincke 2006 in Am. J. Primatol; 9: Langergraber, Mitani et Vigilant 2009 in Am. J. Primatol; 10: Trivers

1972 in Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man; 11: Schino et Aureli 2008 in Biology Letters; 12: Dunbar 1991; 2010 in Current Anthopology and Neuroscience & Behavioral Reviews; 12: Goodall 1965; in Primate Behavior; 13: Wakefield 2013 in Animal behavior

1: GEE - β coefficient (circles) and their 95% confidence intervals (bars) for the effect of age (nominal variable) on grooming rate,

probability, and average duration of grooming bouts of infants toward their mothers. *p < 0.1 ***p < 0.01 - 2: GEE - β coefficient (circles)

and their 95% confidence intervals (bars) for the effect of maternal parity (binary nominal variable) on grooming rate, probability, and

average duration of grooming bouts received by infants from individuals other than the mother ***p < 0.01

2.1.

METHODS• Older infants gave (with mother: p = 0.00) and received (with mother: p = 0.02; with others: p = 0.09)

longer grooming bouts

• Infant sex had no effect on grooming parameters

• Primiparous mothers were groomed by their infants longer than multiparous mothers (p = 0.03).

Infants of multiparous mothers received more grooming by other group members than did infants of

primiparous mothers (rate: p = 0.10; likelihood of grooming presence: p = 0.00).

INTRODUCTION RESULTS

The Telegraph, photo by Suzi E.

Enclosure Use and Social Relationships of Captive Western Lowland Gorillas

(Gorilla gorilla gorilla): The Influence of Sex, Age and Hierarchal Position

Gorillas are complex and intelligent primates, with the western-lowland sub-species being a familiar favourite in zoo collectionsacross the world. Blackpool Zoo currently houses a breeding troop ofsix individuals. Captive living can raise some issues for gorillas which,in the wild, live in large family groups and travel fair distances tomaintain territory and in search for food. In captivity, these elementsare not always replicable and so smaller housing conditions are oftenalleviated by utilising vertical spaces. This project studies twoimportant elements of this group’s life: social associations andenclosure use. The gorillas were observed using interval focalsampling over a six-hour period for two months, with a differentindividual being observed daily. Inactive behaviours were mostcommon across everyone with adult gorillas displaying increasedlevels of sitting and lying in comparison with younger individuals. Itwas determined gorillas most frequently used ground level and usedgrass and straw most commonly out of all other substrate types.Juvenile individuals used moveable objects such as rope more.Additionally, the focal animal’s nearest neighbour and how far awaythey were from each other was recorded and these data wereanalysed, and by creating a cluster analysis diagram. The resultspresented that there were clear individual preferences for socialassociations, with younger individuals associating closely with theirmothers, and a mother and infant associating closely with thesilverback. A sub-adult female was less associated with anyonewhich could suggest her readiness to transfer.This study emphasizes the influence that both environment andhierarchy have on gorilla behaviour, and how animals with the sameroutine and diet can perform unique and individual behaviours.

Enclosure Use and Social Relationships of Captive Western Lowland Gorillas

(Gorilla gorilla gorilla): The Influence of Sex, Age and Hierarchal PositionRebecca Sweet BSc MScSupervisor: Dr Susan Cheynerebeccasweet@outlook.com

Methodology

Data were collected for two month period (40 days or 320 hours) by one researcher. Non-data collection days were staggered to avoid bias (and influence of visitor levels) individuals were also studied on different days to further remove bias. One individual was studied each day – this was done due to the variability of locations of individuals (making it challenging to accurately record behaviour or more than one gorilla at a time). Behavioural data were collected with reference to an in depth ethogram and utilised in both studies. Social data was collected included recording nearest neighbour to individual and how far away the individual was. These distances were then categorisedin to distance ‘levels’: 0, 1-5, 6-10 and 10+.Additionally, information on enclosure use was also collected. This included the level of enclosure use: Ground – level 6 . It also included subsrtate use or fixture being used, e.g. level 3, straw and rope. This information was then compiled into a spreadsheet and analysed using the statistical methods discussed below. Statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS v.24 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY). Contingency tables (r x c) were created. Frequency counts for enclosure substrate use per individual were compared against each other using chi-squared test for independence or association. Additionally, this was done for enclosure height per individual. Behaviours were divided into three categories: social, locomotion and independent behaviours. The most common individual behaviours were also analysed with the same statistical method. To further analyse results a post hoc test (Cramer’s V) was done to test the expected residual from observed by analysing data cell-by-cell to determine how far the observed were from the expected.

ResultsSocial RelationshipsAnalysis revealed that there are clear association preferences within thegroup (see figure). The closest association is between mother (Miliki) andinfant (Makari) who are next closely linked to the silverback Bukavu. Motherand daughter relationship between Moanda and N’Jema is also fairly strong,with Meisie having the weakest connection to all other individuals, but doesshare a link with her mother Miliki (figure 1). Discussion and conclusion Abstract

Socialness in mammals, particularly apes, plays a key element in survival(1). Hierarchies exist amongst many species, however the gorilla is perhapsthe most social of all great apes. Fundamental functional behaviours suchas feeding, and sleeping are all influenced by the hierarchal structure of thegroup (1). Hierarchies provide a framework for group living in numerousspecies: with many groups failing or struggling to survive without a solidsocial ranking in place. Much of the information known about gorillasocialisation is based on studies of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla berengeiberengei) (2) Western lowland gorilla social arrangements can vary.Bachelor groups are relatively common in the wild which consists of adultmale gorillas without any females (3). These groups can have advantagesas it provides protection and helps individuals to build social relationships,eventually leading to family groups such as the one here at Blackpool. Insuch family groups, the dominant male at the top of the hierarchy usesintragroup aggression to retain their privilege of first access to food, matesand other resources. Gorillas have a despotic social system which meansthere is a dominant individual with all other individuals being submissive (3).Animal housing facilities face a challenge when trying to encourage naturalbehaviours of animals in non-natural environments. Western lowlandgorillas in the wild travel more than other subspecies of gorillas, travellingup to 1.1 kilometres per day. They do this to search for food and to coincidewith their seasonal diet, and to maintain their territory boundaries whichcan be as large as 14 km (4). In contrast, zoo enclosures are considerablysmaller, with zoos being unable to replicate a realistic territory size for eachspecies in their collection. There are no clear guidelines on how big a gorillaenclosure should be, instead there are some recommendations. Emphasisis placed on enrichment; this includes providing areas for climbing andaccess to indoors and outdoors (5).This study focused on two elements ofcaptive gorilla life: enclosure use and social relationships. I aimed todetermine whether social relationships between individuals had aninfluence on the way they used their enclosure.

Enclosure UseThe most commonly used substrate across all individuals was Miliki usedstraw the most with Meisie using it the least. Across substrates, wall studswere the least used, with only Makari utilising them on one observation.Bukavu spent most of this time on ground level (91.3%). Meisiecomparatively spent the least amount of time on the ground level (66%) asshe spent equally 9% of the observations on the first and second floor.Miliki and Makari’s results are almost identical for enclosure level as formuch of the time, Miliki carried Makari and so shared the same enclosurelevel. Makari has a slightly higher number of observations on levels 1 and 2which is due to an increase in climbing behaviour during the observationprocess (figure 2).BehavioursAcross all individuals, independent behaviour was the most performed category. Bukavu displayed the least amount of social interaction and locomotion, whereas Moanda displayed the highest level of social interactions. Makari had the highest level of locomotion. (figure 3)

The results from both studies confirm that the gorillas housed at Blackpool Zoo haveclear individual preferences and personalities. These preferences are undoubtedlyinfluenced by their surroundings and the other individuals. In captivity, gorillas do nothave the same pressures as their wild counterparts. They do not need to maintaintheir territory, nor do they need to travel to forage for food. Because of this, captiveapes tend to travel less (4), and it is evident that the gorillas at Blackpool spend a lotof their time inactive. However, comparing wild behaviour with captive behaviourmay not be the best way to determine normality in troops (6). In a despotic socialsystem, the dominant individual has first choice over other individuals; this includedmovement and positioning. It was evident from watching the gorillas that Bukavuhad locations within the enclosure which he favoured. When you take this andneighbor associations into account, Bukavu’s location has a big influence on wherethe other gorillas position themselves.Like other captive animals, these gorillas were used to a routine. Any deviation fromthe ordinary routine had a negative impact on the behaviours of the gorillas,especially Bukavu who was observed to charge considerably more if feedings werelater than expected. (7) emphasise that a change in routine and exposure to ‘shock’stimuli (which can be something like an unexpected clean or feed) can cause stress inanimals and should be avoided. The negative impact these behaviours have is linkedto lack of control the animals have over the situation (8).To conclude, I believe that some changes in the environment could have a positiveinfluence on the behaviours and the social relationships of the gorillas at BlackpoolZoo. I recommend that longer access to the Gorilla Mountain could result in thegorillas exercising more. I emphasise the importance of creatingroutes rather than cul-de-sacs for the gorillas as this could encourage locomotion

around the elevated spaces. The introduction of new and fresh ropes, swings andgeneral climbing apparatus should also encourage the gorillas to move more.Anecdotal evidence from other gorilla keepers stated that climbing frames like thosefound in children’s play areas are most successful at providing elevated routesystems for the gorillas to utilise. The keeper stated that even elderly gorillas usedthe apparatus regularly. Although building something like this could be costly for thezoo, I believe it would be an investment as it could result in healthier gorillas, bothmentally and physically. It would also likely be a popular zoo attraction; the gorillasare a clear visitor highlight at Blackpool and so updating their enclosure wouldundoubtedly increase visitor numbers and therefore be a long-term benefitfor the zoo.

Introduction

References 1. Whitehead, H. (1997). Analysing animal social structure. Animal Behaviour, 53, 1053-1067.2. Fossey, D. (1972). Vocalizations of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei). Animal Behaviour, 20, 36-53.3. Parnell, R. (2002). The social structure and behaviour of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) a Mbeli Bai, Republic of Congo. (Philosophy), University of Stirling, Scotland, UK.4. Tutin, C. E. G., & Fernandez, M. (1993). Composition of the diet of chimpanzees and comparisons with that of sympatric lowland gorillas in the Lope Reserve, Gabon. American Journal of Primatology, 30, 195-211.5. Miller-Schroeder, P., & Paterson, J. D. (1989). Environmental influences on reproduction and maternal behavior in captive gorillas. In E. F. Segal (Ed.), Housing, Care and Psychological Wellbeing of Captive and Laboratory Primates (pp. 389-415) Park Ridge: Noyes Publications.6. Veasey, J. S., Waran, N. K. & Young, R. J. (1996) On comparing the behaviour of zoo housed animals with wild conspecifics as a welfare indicator. Animal Welfare 5, 13-24.7. Bassett, L., & Buchanan-Smith, H. (2007). Effects of predictability on the welfare of captive animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102, 223-245.8. Line, S. W., Markowitz, H., Morgan, K. N., & Strong, S. (1991). Effects of cage size and environmental enrichment on the behavioral and physiological responses of rhesus macaques to the stress of daily events. In M. A. Novak & A. J. Petto (Eds.), Through the Looking Glass: Issues of Psychological Well-Being in Captive Nonhuman Primates (pp. 160–179). Washington DC, USA: American Psychological Association.

Figure 3: % of behavioural categories for each individual.Figure 2: Cluster analysis diagram of gorilla social associations. Figure 1: % of enclosure level usage in individuals.

Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Susan Cheyne for the help, support, and her rapid email response. Thank you to Blackpool Zoo staff, particularly the ape keeper team Charlotte, Adam, and Rich for answering all my questions, taking such amazing care of the troop and for sharing my

love for all things gorilla!

This work was partially funded by Santander Universities Student Project Grant Fund.

1,2

Seasonal Colour Changes in the Slow Loris Dorsal Stripe: Evidence for Mimicry between Cobras (Naja spp.) and Slow Lorises (Nycticebus spp.)

Figure 1. The colour image (left) shows an image before

conversion and analysis in ImageJ; the monochrome image

(right) shows point selection for analysis, where 1 = dorsal

stripe neck, 2 = non-dorsal stripe neck, 3 = dorsal stripe

cervical, 4 = non-dorsal stripe cervical, 5 = dorsal stripe

thoracic, 6 = non-dorsal stripe thoracic, 7 = dorsal stripe

lumbar, and 8 = non-dorsal stripe lumbar regions.

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

REFERENCES

¹ Kikuchi, D. W. and Pfennig, D. W. (2010) 'Predator cognition permits imperfect coral snake mimicry', TheAmerican Naturalist, 176(6), pp. 830-834.

² Brower, L. P., Brower, J. V. Z. and Westcott, P. W. (1960) 'Experimental studies of mimicry. 5. The reactions oftoads (Bufo terrestris) to bumblebees (Bombus americanorum) and their robberfly mimics (Mallophorabomboides), with a discussion of aggressive mimicry', The American Naturalist, 94(878), pp. 343-355.

³ Caro, T. (2005) 'The adaptive significance of coloration in mammals', BioScience, 55(2), pp. 125-136.

⁴ Nekaris, K., Das, N., Moore, R. and Starr, C. (2010) 'Coat colouration as a form of camouflage in a group ofhighly exudativorous primates (Lorisidae: Nycticebus)', International Primatological Society Program, Japan,Abstract, 795.

⁵ Nekaris, K. A.-I., Moore, R. S., Rode, E. J. and Fry, B. G. (2013) 'Mad, bad and dangerous to know: thebiochemistry, ecology and evolution of slow loris venom', Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins includingTropical Diseases, 19(1), pp. 21.

⁶ Schneider, C. A.; Rasband, W. S. & Eliceiri, K. W. (2012), "NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis",Nature methods 9(7): 671-675, PMID 22930834 (on Google Scholar).

⁷ R Core Team, (2018) 'R: A language and environment for statistical computing', R Foundation for StatisticalComputing, Vienna, Austria.

⁸ Nekaris, K. (2014) 'Extreme primates: Ecology and evolution of Asian lorises', Evolutionary Anthropology:Issues, News, and Reviews, 23(5), pp. 177-187.

⁹ Nekaris, K. A.-I., Pimley, E. R. and Ablard, K. M. (2007) 'Predator defense by slender lorises and pottos',Primate anti-predator strategies: Springer, pp. 222-240.

¹⁰ Nekaris, K., Weldon, A., Imron, M. A., Maynard, K. Q., Nijman, V., Poindexter, S. A. and Morcatty, T. Q. (2019)'Venom in furs: Facial masks as aposematic signals in a venomous mammal', Toxins, 11(2), pp. 93.

¹¹ Streicher, U. (2004) Aspects of ecology and conservation of the pygmy loris Nycticebus pygmaeus in Vietnam.Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

¹² Whitaker, R., Captain, A. and Ahmed, F. (2004) Snakes of India. Draco Books.

ANNA R WATKINS,¹ THAIS Q MORCATTY,¹ K ANNE-ISOLA NEKARIS¹ ²1 Nocturnal Primate Research Group, Oxford Brookes University 2 Little Fireface Project, Java, IndonesiaContact: awatkins@brookes.ac.uk, info@littlefireface.org

Figure 2. A figure from Nekaris et al. (2013) illustrating similarities in

appearance between N. javanicus (1) and Na. naja (2).

Morphological

A dark

dorsal stripe

A face mask

resembling

the eye spots

of Na. naja

VenomExtra vertebrae

= serpentine

locomotion

Behavioural

A “hooded”

arms-above-head

defensive stance

Swaying when

in defensive

stance

Hissing and

spitting

vocalisations

Slow and slender lorises have a number of adaptions increasing their resemblance to snakes: ⁵ ⁸ ⁹

Literature Review: The Evidence for Mimicry

RESULTS

Results of the Mixed Generalised Linear Model

We found that the cervical region of dorsal stripe (region 5) (ΔAIC = 2,

Estimate = 5.221e-01, SE = 1.786e-01, t-value = 2.923, p-value = 0.00428),

the lumbar region of dorsal stripe (region 7) (ΔAIC = 5.74, Estimate = 5.049e-

01, SE = 1.528e-01, t-value = 3.304, p-value = 0.00129), and the lumbar

region of adjacent pelage (region 8) (ΔAIC = 2.42, Estimate = 3.144e-01, SE =

1.418e-01, t-value = 2.217, p-value = 0.00286) were higher intensity and

lighter during the wet season than the dry season, especially in region 7 (Fig.

3).

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 3. (a) Relationship between colour intensity of region 5 with season, (b)

Relationship between colour intensity of region 7 with season and (c)

Relationship between colour intensity of region 8 with season. Y-axes are

expressed as partial residuals related to the mean (μ=0). The shaded area

indicates the 95% confidence interval.

INTRODUCTION

Mimicry is the evolved resemblance of one organismto another for the purpose of predation avoidance;the two forms of mimicry are Batesian and Müllerian.

Mimicry is well documented in many reptiles,amphibians and invertebrates, but little research hasbeen conducted into its occurrence in mammals, andto date the presence of Müllerian mimicry inmammals is unknown.¹ ² ³

All Nycticebus species possess an array of unusualmarkings including a facial mask and a dorsal stripe,and several aspects of their behaviour andmorphology suggest that they may have evolved tomimic cobras Naja spp.⁴ ⁵

Indeed, an early quote by Still on the slender lorisstates: “he has one other means of defence, and avery curious one it is. For he imitates a cobra…. withhis arms and shoulders hunched up, the loris was asufficiently good imitation of a cobra to take me in, ashe swayed on his long legs, and every now and thenlet out a perfect cobra's hiss. I ….have kept cobras,and am the less likely to be easily deceived by a badimitation.”

Here we examine the possibility that a function ofthe dorsal stripe of Nycticebus is to mimic the bodyof Naja, using the Javan slow loris N. javanicus as amodel.

DISCUSSION

Nycticebus species have a number of behavioural andmorphological adaptions that suggest Müllerianmimicry with Naja.⁵ ⁸ ⁹

Whilst the dorsal stripe has likely evolved in part toaid concealment strategies such as backgroundmatching and disruptive colouration, seasonality in N.javanicus supports the theory that this markingfacilitates mimicry of Naja.⁴

The relationship between the two genera could haveevolved during the Miocene, when both taxadispersed from Africa to Asia and a selection eventresulted in a more open environment that requiredterrestrial movement by arboreal lorises to accessresources.⁵

Seasonality in the dorsal stripe of N. javanicus mayindicate mimicry as the stripe is longer and darker inthe dry season when vegetation on the ground issparse, facilitating a more snake-like resemblance toaerial predators which could register a prone loris’sdorsal stripe as the body of a snake

Terrestrial locomotion is a last resort for lorises aspredation risk is greatly increased, which is whymimicry would be advantageous; while predationevents are rarely observed, predation by raptors,primates, and reptiles has been recorded and mayhave been more common in the past.⁵ ⁸ ⁹

Seasonality of the dorsal stripe is also observed in N.pygmaeus. Presence of dorsal stripe during colderperiods with fewer leaves also suggest that the dorsalstripe may function to conceal or disrupt whenanimals are exposed.⁴

The most striking resemblance of markings is to Na.naja, which shares a distribution with other lorisspecies such as the slender lorises (Loris Spp.) and N.bengalensis – the widest distributed loris and the onemost closely related genetically to the Javan slowloris.⁸ ¹²

Whilst more research is needed to investigate thebasis for snake mimicry in the slow lorises, indicatorssuch as their venom, cobra-like threat behaviour andcalls, and serpentine gait point towards a basis for thedorsal stripe in mimicry of cobras.

METHODS

We conducted a literature review on potentialbehavioural and morphological mimicry in Nycticebus spp.and their sister clade Loris spp.

We used photographs of wild N. javanicus taken betweenMay 2012- June 2019 at the Little Fireface Project inCipaganti, Garut District, West Java, Indonesia, andmeasured several morphological characteristics.

We selected 144 images of 56 lorises across all seasonsthat displayed the neck, cervical, thoracic and lumbarregions of the dorsal stripe and surrounding pelage.

Using ImageJ, we obtained greyscale RGB values for eightregions of the dorsal stripe and its surrounding pelage(Fig.1).⁶

We converted the RGB values into Munsell scale valuesand ran Generalised Linear Mixed Models (Gamlss R-package).⁷

LT number: RPG 084

The Asia for Animals Macaque

Coalition

Conclusion: The Asia for Animals Coalition encourages the participation of individuals or groups who have worked or plan to work on the mitigation of macaque issues, whether their

focus is on conservation research, law enforcement, animal welfare, human welfare or otherwise. We would like our directory to be comprehensive; details about any and all relevant

projects are welcome. Please contact Brooke to discuss further.

Introduction: The Asia for Animals (AfA) Coalition

comprises a core membership of 23 respected animal

welfare organisations, supported by a network of hundreds

of other organisations with broadly overlapping aims. The

Coalition aims to serve as a strong, unified voice for animal

welfare in Asia, and to act as a filter point for issues and

organisations across the region. Altogether, the network

works in over 100 countries and territories, including most

Asian countries.

* Consolidate and serve as a first-stop resource for information on the welfare and

conservation of macaques, particularly those species that are most visible to, and are

most frequently exploited by, human beings.

* Bring concerned practitioners together, whether their focus is on conservation,

research, law enforcement, macaque welfare, human welfare or otherwise.

* Encourage and facilitate collaboration and the exchange of experience.

* Assemble a directory of issues, people and projects.* Identify specific areas of concern.

Coalition members are regularly contacted by the public about a wide array

of animal welfare issues. Amongst the most frequent queries are those

relating to the welfare of macaques, whether online, as pets, as circus

performers, or in urban or rural areas where they are considered to be in

conflict with humans. Although there are numerous people and groups

working on these issues, unintentional “silo working” appears to be

common; many organisations or groups wishing to address these issues

express dismay at the lack of communication amongst those working on

parallel issues worldwide. Macaques will benefit from collaboration

between animal welfare-oriented organisations, and researchers and

conservationists working (often separately) on similar issues.

Aims:The Asia for Animals Coalition is presently laying the groundwork for a global macaque network. The Coalition aims to:

Methods: Presently, coalition members can bring specific macaque issues to the working

group, who will seek to match the issue with an organisation or individual with relevant

experience and who can provide appropriate advice and guidance. We encourage

information sharing. A website is in development and will soon be available at

www.asiaforanimals.com/macaque-coalition-home. The website will include a directory of

practitioners, project and issues, basic advice, and an extensive bibliography. Its

language will be largely non-academic, will incorporate macaque-positive messaging and

promote welfare-friendly solutions and coexistence wherever possible.

Brooke Aldrich, Asia for Animals Coalition afacoalition@gmail.com

www.asiaforanimals.org

Evolution of a dispersed pair living social system in the Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus)

❖ Social systems describe the patterns of intragroup relationships, with social networks that may be described as gregarious or dispersed animals that generally live alone, in pairs or in groups.

❖ Of these groupings, pair living seems to have evolved most recently, around 16 mya.

❖ Slow lorises (genus Nycticebus) moved into Asia around this same period, and available home range overlap data suggest a multi-female single male social system for pygmy slow loris, whereas range overlap in greater and Javan slow lorises suggest they exhibit dispersed pair living.

❖ Here we for the first time, we provide detailed data over 8 years to affirm the social system of the social system of the Javan slow loris.

❖ We found that adults lived in pairs and could remain paired for up to 8 years. ❖ They shared their exclusive home ranges with 1-4 offspring.

METHODS

K.A.I. Nekaris1, Leslie Paige1, Muhammed Ali Imron2, Marco Campera1

1- Nocturnal Primate Research GroupOxford Brookes University

2- Department of Forest Resources Conservation, Universitas Gadjah Mada

INTRODUCTION

Our findings support that Javan slow lorises exhibit dispersed pair living. This informationcan be incorporated into the framework of how we understand grouping patterns in nocturnal primates, particularly pair living species, to understand better the drivers of social organisation.

DISCUSSION

What social system do Javan slow lorises exhibit and why?

RESULTS

❖ Exhibited only occasional overlap 0.13 ± SD 0.11

(Fig. 1)❖ Average home range size:

11.91 ± SD 8.99 ha (Fig. 2)❖ Animals that are not stable

can reach home ranges up to 50ha.

❖ We collected ranging and behavioural data from 2012-

2019, in Cipaganti, Java, Indonesia.

❖ Using radio tracking, we observed animals nightly over two shifts between

18:00 to 00:00 and 00:00 to 05:00, totalling 7629.1 h for

68 individuals.

❖ We gathered 26,751 location points for 25 neighbouring

adult individuals.

❖We calculated home ranges and overlap using Ranges 9 software via the 95% Fixed Kernel method. Smoothing parameter is

least-squares-cross-validation.

14 males 11 females

❖ Showed virtually no range overlap with

neighbouring females 0.04 ± SD 0.06 (Fig. 3)

❖ Average home range size: 5.72 ± SD 3.02

ha (Fig. 4)

REFERENCESACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Figure 3. Female Javan slow loris overlap index showing virtually no overlap at decreasing kernel sizes.

We would like to thank the Little FirefaceProject staff & volunteers for help in the field,

BKSDA, and RISTEK.

Males Females

Figure 4. Each color represents an individual female Javan slow loris home ranges and virtually no overlap with neighbouring females, n=11.

Figure 1. Male Javan slow loris overlap index showing the limited degree of overlap at decreasing kernel sizes.

Figure 2. Each color represents an individual male Javan slow loris home range and limited overlap with neighbouring males, n=14.

Chimpanzee lateralization across multiple behaviours

This study was carried out with a captive group of 19chimpanzees at Chester Zoo. Data collection wasconducted from January to April 2017, withadditional data collected from June to August 2019to assess temporal stability.

Measurements:▪ Quadrupedal simple reach: Pick up an object from

the ground in a quadrupedal posture.▪ Sitting simple reach: Pick up an object from the

ground while sitting.▪ Climbing simple reach: Pick up an object while

holding with three limbs to a vertical rope or net.▪ Fishing in hole: Insert a stick inside a hole in the

wall and pull it out to retrieve food.

Data analysis: Data were converted into handednessindices ranging from -1 (indicating left handedness)to 1 (right handedness). Spearman’s rho was used toinvestigate the relationship between the measures in2017 and 2019. Spearman’s rho was also used inorder to assess task consistency between simplereach and fishing in hole.

The total number of chimpanzees and total bouts observed for each behaviour can be seen in Table 1.

Sergio Díaz12, Lindsay Murray1, Paul Rodway1, Sam Roberts3

1University of Chester, 2Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 3Liverpool John Moores University

E-mail: sergio.diaz@uam.es

The study of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) laterality in captivity has often focused on investigating individual andpopulation-level laterality in experimental tasks, and only recently studies have begun to explore between-task(Hopkins et al., 2013) and longitudinal (Padrell et al., 2019) consistency of hand use . However, less is known aboutspontaneous hand use. This study examines simple reach, a common hand use behaviour in primates, together withspontaneous “fishing” behaviours in which the animals have to manipulate a stick to retrieve food from holes in theirenclosure.

The aim of this study is to investigate temporal stability and between-task consistency across spontaneous simplereaching and “fishing” behaviours across different postures.

These findings support previous research indicatingthat hand preference is stable over time (Padrell etal., 2019), showing that simple reach is stable over atwo-year period. The findings also highlight theimportance of assessing posture when investigatinghand preference, as simple reaching showedbetween-task consistency, but there was noconsistency with fishing behaviours.

The findings show clear consistency over time andbetween simple reaching tasks in different postures.Future studies could further explore temporalstability for bimanual spontaneous tasks such asgrooming.

Table 1. Number of chimpanzees and total observations per behaviour

Number of chimpanzees

Total number of bouts observed

Quadrupedal reach 19 2342

Sitting reach 19 2424

Climbing reach 8 190

Fish in hole 9 406

Results show significant strong positive correlationsbetween quadrupedal simple reach in 2017 and 2019(r(15)=.735, p=.001) as well as between sitting simplereach in 2017 and 2019 (r(13)=.849, p<.001). Resultsshow significant strong correlations betweenquadrupedal and sitting simple reach (r(17)=.661,p=.001), as well as between quadrupedal and climbingsimple reach (r(6)=.881, p=.002), although no significantcorrelation was found between simple reach tasks andfishing tasks.

Background/Introduction

Method

Results

Discussion

Figure 1. Adult female, Alice, using the right hand in sitting simple reach.

Figure 2. Juvenile female, Tina, using the left hand in a fishing behaviour.

ReferencesHopkins, W. D., Gardner, M., Mingle, M., Reamer, L., & Schapiro, S. J. (2013). Within- and between-task consistency in hand use as a means of characterizing hand preferences in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 127(4), 380–391. Padrell, M., Gómez-Martínez, C., & Llorente, M. (2019). Short and long-term temporal consistency of hand preference in sanctuary chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) for unimanual and bimanual coordinated tasks. Behavioural Processes, 167, 103911.

Kenyapithecus

Ngorora ape

Otavipithecus

Nakalipithecus

Samburupithecus

Chororapithecus

Paranthropus& Homo FADs

Ar. ramidus &Australopithecus

Ar. kadabba & Orrorin FADs

Sahelanthropus

João d’Oliveira Coelho,

René Bobe, Susana Carvalho

When did the hominin lineage split from its lastcommon ancestor with Pan? The first molecular biology studiesestimated the split occurred from around 5 Ma, to as early as 1.3 Ma.Our objective is to evaluate how the trend of estimates has changedfor this split event, and how it fits the current fossil evidence.

Introduction

Using fossil evidence to improve our understanding of

divergence estimates for the Panini and Hominini lineages

A total of 189 split estimates were sampled fromthe literature. For analysis, we built three different thresholds basedon the fossil evidence at 4.4 Ma (Australopithecus anamensis andArdipithecus ramidus), 6.2 Ma (Orrorin tugenensis and Ar. kadabba),and 7.3 Ma (Sahelanthropus tchadensis) to filter out estimates thatdo not match the hypotheses of these species being hominins.

Methods

The split event occurred during the Late Miocene(11.6—5.3 Ma), but each threshold pushes it further back, to 8.58—6.37 Ma, 10.21—7.84 Ma, and 10.90—8.77 Ma (Fig. 1). Regressionanalysis shows that the estimates have generally been gravitatingslowly from 5.5 Ma to 8.5 Ma over the past 50 years (Fig. 2).

That last threshold, based on the 7.34—7.20 datingof Sahelanthropus by Lebatard et al (2010), would reject 85.03% of allsampled molecular clock estimates. Overall, the analyses indicate thatthere was a strong bias in the first decades of molecular biologytowards underestimating the Panini/Hominini divergence. However,estimates have slowly been approaching time intervals in agreementwith the fossil evidence.

Fig. 1 – Interquartile range boxplots for divergence estimates filtered by different fossilthresholds. The arithmetic means and the medians are represented by white diamonds andblack bars, respectively. All boxplots fit within the Late Miocene interval (11.6—5.3 Ma).

Fig. 2 – Polynomial regression fitting the sample of Panini/Hominini split estimates by date ofpublication. Vertical dashed bars represent dates of publications of possible early hominins.The regression in green fits all data above the Sahelanthropus filter and since its publication.

Results

Discussion