ANT 203 Lab 4

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University of Toronto, Mississauga *

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203

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Anthropology

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Apr 3, 2024

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First and last name: _____________________ ANT 203: Biological Anthropology Laboratory Exercise 4 Primate Behaviour /40 marks total, worth 5% This laboratory exercise is in three parts. You need to print this laboratory exercise document, bring it to your scheduled lab section, and complete the exercises and questions using the space provided during your lab period, then hand in the completed worksheet to your TA at the end of your lab period. All labs are due and should be submitted in hard copy at the end of the scheduled lab session. Late lab assignments will not be accepted, with no exceptions. Of the 12 scheduled labs, 8 lab assignments will be graded. Students will not know which labs will be graded until the end of each lab session. Purpose: This assignment will give you practical experience in using techniques common to primate behavioural study. You will learn to perceive, categorize, and record the behaviour of animal subjects using standard behavioural field methods. You will watch a short video (less than 1 minute) multiple times, enabling you to record the range of behaviours you see and to complete all parts of the assignment below. Learning to classify primate behaviour The video you will be shown features two male ring-tailed lemurs interacting. The first individual we see at the beginning of the video is called Humphrey, and the second lemur that comes in later is called Barrington. You will watch the video a number of times. You should just watch what happens the first time. Then, you should watch the video several times in order to complete the ethogram (Part 1). When this is finished, you should watch the video and concentrate just on Humphrey, in order to note his behaviour and fill in his part of the chart in Part 2 . When you’re finished with Humphrey, you should watch the video to note Barrington’s behaviour and fill in the chart in Part 2. You will see some, but not all of the behaviours listed in the chart in Part 2 (below). After completing Parts 1 and 2, you should answer all of the questions in Part 3. You should watch the video multiple times until you’re able to complete Parts 1-3 of the assignment. Part 1. Completing an Ethogram, /12 marks The concept of an ethogram is central to the study of animal behaviour. An ethogram is simply a catalogue of an an imal’s behavioural r epertoire – essentially a listing of the forms of behaviour displayed by the animal species being studied. You should formulate an ethogram with discrete categories of behaviour and clear definitions of how behaviours differ from one another (i.e. each behaviour is clearly different from the other behaviours listed, with no ambiguity or no cases of overlap). Create an ethogram in the chart below by listing the different behaviours that you observe any lemur (i.e. Humphrey, Barrington, or any of the background lemurs seen at the end of the video) performing during the video, along with a definition of the behaviour you observe. You only need to list each different behaviour you observe once (e.g. resting should only be listed once, not each time you observe resting). All students may observe slightly different behaviours and construct slightly different ethograms, and that’s okay. Some people tend to notice and observe different things than

Name _______________, ANT 203, Lab 4, page 2 others, and ethograms allow individual observers to record what they think is noteworthy about the actions of a species. Your ethogram will also contain different behaviours than may be listed in Part 2 of the assignment, and that’s also fine. Once you’ve listed all of the unique behaviours you’ve observed, you should add a definition for each behaviour. Beware of the cardinal rule of a definition: a term may not be described using the term being defined. It is NOT acceptable to define sleeping as “the activity of sleeping,” but “remaining in a relaxed posture with closed eye s, regular breathing, no movement for three minutes” is one satisfactory definition. In the table below, feel free to add more rows by hand or to leave some rows blank if not needed. /12 marks Each ethogram is different, but for an example of a primate ethogram, see http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/aboutp/behavior/gorillas2.html. Table 1. Ring-tailed lemur ( Lemur catta ) ethogram Behaviour Definition

Name _______________, ANT 203, Lab 4, page 3 Part 2. Sampling Methods for Primate Behaviour, /18 marks There are two main categories of behaviour: states and events . A behavioural state is any behaviour that has an appreciable duration (i.e. typically lasts for more than a few seconds) while an event is an instantaneous behaviour. There are several methods of behavioural sampling commonly used in primatology; some of these are used to sample state behaviours, while others sample events. This assignment will give you practical experience in using one data collection method that effectively samples both state and event behaviours: one-zero sampling . While using this sampling method, a researcher observes and collects data on a single animal at a time. During a specified time period (e.g. 1 min or 2 mins or 30 seconds), a researcher notes whether a behaviour occurs (which would be noted as a “one” in the chart below) or not (which would be noted as a “zero”) during a given time frame. Using one-zero sampling , you will watch the video provided and note whether or not each lemur performs each behaviour listed in the chart below during the time it takes to play this short video (i.e. your sampling interval is the duration of the video). If the individual you are focused on engages in the behaviour at least once during the video, write a “1” in the appropriate column of the chart below. If the individual does not engage in a behaviour listed in the chart below, write a “0” in the appropriate column. Next, classify each listed behaviour as a state or event behaviour. Write on the table to do this. /18 marks

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