Primate Observation
Part 1: For this project, you will be gathering information on your chosen primates and doing three, 20-minute primate observations. You will use the same group of animals for each observation. You need to observe for 20 minutes at 3 different times of the day and one of those observations needs to be feeding. This means you will need to make several short observations to determine when feeding occurs. In order for your observations to be fruitful, you need to observe when activity is taking place. So you will need to check in on the webcams often to see what is going on. Observations of chimps sleeping or empty observation areas are not useful and can not be used. I have included an excel spreadsheet for you to record your information. Once you have completed your observations make sure you upload your spreadsheet in the answer area. Primate Observation Worksheet Resources: Some of these resources may not be available. Primate Info Net Ape Cam San Diego Zoo Chimpanzee Window Cam Houston Zoo Gorilla Cam Houston Zoo Snow Monkey Cam KC Zoo Cam Any other that you may find – make sure you add it to your observation sheet What you need to do: Make your observations Fill out your spreadsheet. There are two pages make sure you gather the classification, morphology and locomotion information on your primates on sheet 1. You can use Primate Info Net (also listed above) to help you. Post your spreadsheet Part Two: Write a summary of your observations. This summary is posted with your spreadsheet – in the same post. When writing your summary consider the following: Mother/infant activities. How the design of the exhibit affects social behavior. Grooming cluster (a group of females that groom one another) Play activities engaged in by young animals that teach them skills necessary for adult survival) Playgroup (age-mates that play together) Threat gesture (an action that shows aggression but stops short of a physical attack) Presenting (the act in which a submissive individual positions the anal region toward a dominant individual). Dominance (where one animal displaces another and takes preference over food, sexual access, etc.). Submission (where one animal moves away from or gives up food or space to a dominant animal). Mounting (where a dominant animal mounts a subordinate one). Call (usually a short simple vocalization that transmits a message such as danger). Yawn (not necessarily an expression of boredom, may also be a display of large projecting canines in a threat gesture.) Stare (a simple stare can act as a threat gesture). Lip-smacking (animal opens and closes its lips rapidly with the tongue darting in and out, used as an appeasement gesture by a subordinate animal and can also occur during grooming.) Types of grooming: auto grooming (grooming oneself) allogrooming (grooming another animal) Sexual behavior (where an estrus female presents herself to an interested male for the purpose of sexual activity) Part Three: FOCUS ANIMAL Human Primate Find another primate – this time a human. I recommend using a park on a sunny afternoon for this observation. For the next 15 minutes, observe just one human primate’s behavior, noting who it interacts with, etc. After this pick a second focus human primate and observe it for 15 minutes. Note your data on the spreadsheet (Human 1, Human 2). Write up a summary comparing the behaviors of these two human primates animals. Include it as an additional paragraph in Part 2. how do their behaviors express their differences in regards to sex, age, and dominance? how do their behaviors compare with the non-human primates you observed during part 1 of your observation. Draw a conclusion – this conclusion needs to be based on what you observed (not what you think or feel). Use examples from your observation to support your conclusions. Your conclusion should be a separate paragraph and more than one sentence long. Drawing a conclusion is standard for any research paper. PROPER RESEARCH OUTLINE An introductory paragraph – who, what, why, etc. What is the task you are accomplishing (thesis statement). Next comes your data – in our case observations 3 for the non-humans, 2 for the humans – each as a separate paragraph. This should include as much data as possible. Like the time of day, what you were observing, where you were observing and what you observed. Next is a paragraph explaining what you saw – and or comparing what you saw. NOT – what you think or feel but, just what you saw. No assumptions and personal opinions – neither should be in your paper. Next is your conclusion – based on what you observed! If it wasn’t in your observed data – it should not be in your conclusions. Your conclusions should also be supported by examples from your observations. Don’t overthink this. You not going to come up with something stunning or new – at least not at this point. Just stick with your data. CHECKLIST – for posting RUBRIC You did three 20 minute non-primate observations using the live webcam links – use the same cam for each observation. You filled out both pages of your Excell spreadsheet. Classification and observation. You wrote a summary of your observations for the non-human primates You observed two human primates for 15 minutes each and recorded this information on your spreadsheet. You wrote a summary of your observation comparing the two human activities in terms of age, sex, and dominance. You wrote a summary comparing the activities of the non-human primates and the human primates. You uploaded your spreadsheet properly – only xls or xlsx files will be accepted. If you don’t know how to upload your spreadsheet and assignment check out this link. You included your 3 part summary which should be about 1500 words. This is an attachment and must be saved as a word or pdf. zIt should be uploaded at the same time as your spreadsheet and in the same manner using the ADD Another File button – see the link above. If your assignment is incomplete you will not get full credit. You did your own work – this assignment is checked for plagiarism. look at the files for the example
