International Journal of Primatology最新文献

People's attitudes toward wildlife and how humans perceive themselves in relation to the natural environment are essential components of human-wildlife interactions. Iguazú National Park (INP), in northern Argentina, is visited daily by thousands of tourists. We studied tourists’ knowledge of the diet and daily activity patterns of capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) and tourists’ beliefs about why monkeys and people interact. We administered a questionnaire (N = 601) at four locations where tourists tend to concentrate between December 2015 and February 2016. We used generalized linear models to examine factors influencing tourists’ knowledge. Our results indicate that tourists had accurate knowledge of the monkeys’ daily activities and diet. Visual contact with monkeys and the presence of a tour guide was linked to better knowledge about daily activities but not about diet. People older than 50 years with a university degree and/or a profession had higher levels of knowledge about diet than younger people without it. We found no effect of whether tourists came from regions with or without monkeys as native fauna or sex on tourists’ levels of knowledge. Most of the tourists believed that monkeys approach people because they are looking for food. Taking photos, curiosity, and feeding monkeys were the most important reasons given for why people approach the monkeys. We found no differences between the sexes in their beliefs about interactions taking place because of food. Our results strengthen the need to move the focus of management strategies from wildlife behavior to human behavior, knowledge, and perceptions about wildlife if we want to improve conservation strategies.

Bacterial communities present in the host digestive tract are important for the breakdown and absorption of nutrients required by the host. Changes in diet and the environment are major factors affecting the composition and diversity of the fecal microbiome. In addition to changes in ambient temperature and rainfall, primates living in seasonal temperate environments also need to adapt to seasonal changes in food resource quantity and quality. However, there is a lack of information about the fecal microbiome in African strepsirrhines relative to other primate taxa. We examined the effects of seasonal dietary and environmental changes on fecal microbial alpha diversity and composition in wild greater thick-tailed galagos (Otolemur crassicaudatus) at Lajuma Research Centre, South Africa. We collected fecal samples and assessed food availability and weather in summer and winter across 1 year and used 16S rRNA next-generation sequencing to characterise the fecal microbiome of 49 animals. We found significant increases in rainfall, ambient temperature, and food availability in summer compared with winter. However, we found no significant changes in body mass or in the overall diversity of bacterial species present in fecal samples between the two seasons. We found significant decreases in the abundance of certain bacterial families in winter, suggesting a change in diet. Our findings suggest that greater thick-tailed galagos can find food resources to maintain their body mass throughout the year. Our insights into the seasonal fecal microbiome of greater thick-tailed galagos add to the growing knowledge and understanding of fecal microbiomes in primates and how they help primates cope with changes to their environments.

In 1952, Kinji Imanishi wrote a thought-provoking essay on the nature of animal societies. In this essay, he applied the concept of human culture (which he referred to as Karuchua) to nonhuman animals by giving different taxa a voice in a fable-like conversation, thereby aptly transcending speciesism. While thoroughly inspiring for scholars who have mastered the Japanese language, the essay was only known to non-Japanese-speakers by its English abstract. Here, we unveil the rest of the essay for the English-speaking community. Furthermore, to contextualize the seminal text, we asked contemporary scholars working in the field of (animal) culture to comment on the essay in a conversational manner akin to the structure of the essay itself. To guide this conversation, we asked the scholars to answer the questions: “What was your first impression of the essay, and how has your own work been influenced, either directly or indirectly, by Dr Imanishi’s work?” and “In what way has Dr Imanishi’s concept of Karuchua been encompassed by Western approaches?” What ensued now lies before you. We feel privileged to present to you the first English translation of the original Japanese essay by Kinji Imanishi that has already inspired so many scholars and nonscholars alike in their quest for understanding the nature of social life.