ANTH 161 Name ________________________________

Human Origins
Section ________________________
Lab 5
Primate Behavior Observation Methods
Introduction:
The purpose of this lab is to prepare you to do a primate
observation study for your next assignment. Ethology is the
study of animal behavior (Ethnology is the study of human
behavior). Until Jane Gooodall did a long term study of
Chimpanzee behavior in the wild, virtually all primate
behavior studies took place in zoos where researchers could
watch them with relative comfort and ease. While studies in
the wild are preferable, there is still a great deal to be
learned from observing animals in captivity. The primates at
Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia have all been born and bred in
captivity. They live in enriched environments that challenge
them mentally, physically and socially. These environments
are not copies of the environments in which their wild
counterparts live, but they do provide the kinds of stimulus
that are considered necessary for mental and physical
health, and the animals react to them in ways that are
characteristic of their species.
In this lab you will learn the skills you will need to do primate
observation at Riverbanks Zoo for your next assignment.

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PART 1: Primate Observation
Observation is an important research skill that must be learned. A good observer is able to
dispassionately watch and record the activities happening around them without interpreting or judging.
Observations are used to formulate hypotheses that are tested to see if they hold true. Interpretations
are withheld until the hypotheses have been tested. Judgments are moral opinions about the observed
behavior and these should be avoided at all costs.
Examples of Observations, interpretations and judgements:
 Observation: Animal A jumps on Animal B. Animal B vocalizes loudly. Animal B grabs
Animal A by the neck and throws it on the ground. Both animals vocalize loudly.
 Interpretation: Animals A and B have a fight
 Judgment: Violence is endemic to this group
We cannot know what the activity means unless we know more about it. Calling the activity a “fight”
is an interpretation because it could have been two young animals playing, or a prelude to mating.
Even if it is a fight, the details of what happened may be important in understanding how these animals
fight, and under what kinds of conditions. By interpreting this activity as fighting, and leaping to the
conclusion that the animals are naturally violent, the observer has made a judgment. Primatologists
(and Anthropologists of all sorts) are trained to understand behaviors within their social, historical and
environmental contexts and it is important to undertake repeated observations and hypothesis testing
before drawing conclusions of any sort.
It is particularly challenging to observe primates without making interpretations or judgments
because they look so much like humans that we think we understand their motivations. One way to get
around the problem of interpretation and judgment is to use an Ethogram which is a table of animal
behaviors.

The Exercise: In this exercise you will watch a video on monkeys and use two different methods to
record the behaviors you observe with the aid of an ethogram.

The Video: The video was recorded by Dr. Lisa Rapaport (Professor at Clemson) at the National Zoo
in Washington, DC as part of an experiment regarding foraging and food transfer in captive golden lion
tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia). In the video, the tamarins search for grapes that are hidden behind
the doors of a large puzzle box. Dr. Rapaport constructed the ethogram below to record observations.
These are carefully defined, mutually exclusive behaviors. No individual can engage in two of these
activities at the same time (see the description under “search”). Note that the activities listed here are
specifically defined for this particular study. Other types of studies would have picked different activities
and possibly defined them in other ways.
ETHOGRAM

Activity Code Definition

Begging BEG One individual approaches another who has a food item and closely examines or
reaches for the food item. Individuals should be within an arm’s length of each other.

Food FT Food changes possession from one individual to another. The individual that possesses
Transfer the food may passively allow the food to be taken, or the food may change hands
despite resistance

Resistance RES The individual that possesses the food moves away, pushes or otherwise attempts to
dissuade a begging individual

Aggression AGG One individual bites, snaps, swats, feints or lunges at another individual. Score the
entire sequence as AGG. You do not need to score each type of aggressive behavior

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Search SCH The subject is within an arm’s reach of the puzzlebox, is facing and/or touching the front
of the box with one or both hands and is not engaged in any other behavior. If the
individual is engaged in another behavior such as eating, it must be actively
manipulating the box or cocking the head while facing the box in order to be considered
searching.
Handle HAN Food is in the hand but not in the mouth

Capture CAP Individual obtains a grape or part of a grape from the puzzle box or elsewhere in the
cage, but not from another individual

Eat EAT Food in mouth

Active ACT Locomoting or otherwise active but not engaged in any of the defined behaviors

Inactive INA No major body movements and not performing any of the activities outlined above

Not Visible NVV Individual is not visible or individual’s behavior cannot be determined because the
critical part of the individual is not visible

The tamarin group in the video consists of four individuals:

 Cary – slightly larger than the others, tail uniformly light colored, male
 Deena – an overall slight build, a faded broad black stripe in the middle of her tail
 Ori – a well-defined black band in the middle of the tail and near the tail tip, male
 Oops – very short tail, female

The narration gives the identity of the tamarins, so keep the sound on as you watch the tape. The
purpose of the study is to observe food capture and transfer so locating interactions with the grapes is
key. It is fairly easy to determine when a tamarin has found a grape, even if the grape itself is obscured
from view, because the grape is invariably eaten or passed to another tamarin.
Method 1: Instantaneous Sampling
In this sampling method, the observation session is divided into short sample intervals of 30 seconds.
The idea is to take a mental snapshot of an individual’s behavior at the instant each interval begins.
We will divide the class into four groups, and each group will note observations for one tamarin. Each
member of the group must make their own observations.
Use the abbreviations on the ethogram to cut down on the amount of time spent looking at the paper
rather than at the tamarins and what they are doing.

 Intervals begin with an audible “beep”

 Immediately write down what the focal animal is doing at the beginning of the observation
interval on the spread sheet below

Exercise 1: Timed observations

Interval Cary Ori Deena Oops

0:10
0:40
1:10
1:40

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 2:10
2:40
3:10
3:40
4:10
4:40
5:10
5:40 END END END END

Exercise 2: Time Budget for Individual Tamarins

Calculate the amount of time your animal spent in each of the activities. Compare your results with
those of others in your group.

Fill in the rest of the chart as the other groups give their times to the instructor

Behavior Cary Ori Deena Oops

BEG
FT
RES
AGG
SCH
CAP
HAN
EAT
ACT
INA
NVV

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TOTAL

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Method 2: Ad libitum (diary entry) sampling
Ad libitum is Latin for “at one’s pleasure” or “as you
desire”. You are likely most familiar with the term in its
shortened form “Ad-lib” when it is used in drama to mean
unscripted dialogue or actions. In ethology, ad libitum
observations are obtained by recording everything the
observer can see, and which they think is relevant at the
given time. These are also known as opportunistic,
spontaneous, or unsystematic observations.
Despite its relaxed-sounding name, Ad Libitum
observations can be very challenging especially if there
are many individuals and lots of activity. Furthermore,
when observing a new species it can be difficult to know
what kinds of activities are “relevant”.

Exercise 3: Watch the 5-minute clip and record all the

activities of the group. You must survey the group as a whole
and note the times at which the activities occur. Write your
notes in the space provided on the next page.

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Ad Libitum observations:

Questions Comparing the Sampling Methods:

1. Which of the two methods (ad lib and instantaneous) provides the best assessment of getting
grapes? Why?

2. Which behaviors did you record in Method 2 (ad lib) but not in Method 1 (instantaneous) for
your group’s focal animal?

3. Are there differences in the kinds of behaviors observed in the two methods?

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4. What types of behaviors are likely to be underrepresented by the Instantaneous method
compared to the Ad Libitum method? Why?

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Instantaneous sampling versus Ad Libitum
sampling?

6. The number of food items transferred to others is one measure of generosity. Which of the
two methods would be the best to gather data for this measure?

7. A comparison of food-capture frequency to time spent eating is another measure of

generosity. You can calculate this by using this equation: % CAP
% EAT
Figure out the percentage of time spent in each activity and divide the bottom into the top.
By this measure, which tamarin is the most generous?

8. In what other way(s) might one measure generosity in these tamarins?

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PART 2: Primate Behaviors

Below is a link to the Nature film Clever Monkeys, available in a 6 part series on YouTube. This film
presents a range of different monkey species.

Exercise 4: For next week, please watch the film, and observe and take note of the behavior of 4
(four) species of monkeys. To receive full credit for this portion you must write down the name of
the monkey (common or scientific) and at least 2 sentences about their behavior in the space
provided below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSVF4CuXYno&list=PL6F98B69CCC755C6B

1.

2.

3.

4.

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References
Altmann, J.
1974 Observational study of behavior: Sampling methods. Behavior 49: 227-267.
Martin, P., & Bateson, P.
2007 Measuring Behaviour: An introductory Guide. 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Rapaport, L.G.
1998 Optimal foraging theory predicts effects of environmental enrichment in a group of adult
golden lion tamarins. Zoo Biology 17(3): 231-244.

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