The subfield of biological/physical anthropology that I will focus on is primatology. Primatology focuses on the understanding of the similarities and differences between humans and nonhuman primates. A professional organization that represents this subfield of medical/ physical anthropology is the American Society of Primatologists. The American Society of Primatologists aims to educate and inform about nonhuman primates. They do so by offering education, research, and other opportunities that improve our understanding for anthropology as a whole. 

While exploring this website I ran across their journal, American Journal of Primatology.This journal publishes original research and much more on primates. It covers a wide variety of topics from primate anatomy to primate behavior. Every month, the American Society of Primatologists features an article published in the American Journal of Primatology. This way it can be viewed for free to spark more interest in education of this topic. This month’s featured article is “Monkey business: Collaborating to grow an ecological physiology of primates”by Cynthia L. Thompson and Christopher J. Vinyard. Another aspect of this website I really liked was the educational aspect. Teaching materials are offered for teachers who want to incorporate nonhuman primates into their curriculum. There is also a link provided for more information on careers and educational institutions in primatology for anyone who wants to build on their knowledge or share their knowledge. There is also a section where educational committee workshops are offered. 

Another interesting aspect is joining the society. Membership to the American Society of Primatologists is open to all and has many valuable benefits. These benefits include online access to the American Journal of Primatology, access to the newsletter to have knowledge of what is going on, access to membership directory for networking, and being able to apply for the grants offered by the American Society of Primatologists. The American Society of Primatologists has annual meetings to be aware of what is going on. During these meetings, research is shared which helps bring together the advances of this society. This society also provides grants and awards. These grants and awards are provided in order to support primatological research and ensure valuable new primatologists to continue the hard work that previous primatologists have put in. 

Exploring this website showed me how important primatology is. So much work is put in by so many people to better understand nonhuman primates and how humans relate to them. Primatology gives us a better understanding of the course of human evolution. An important part of anthropology is comparing unique and similar behaviors. Primatology focuses on this aspect of uniqueness and similarities which might seem uncommon, but they are not. An example of this was mentioned in the lecture. The example was of communication and how it might seem like a unique thing to humans, but it is not. Nonhuman primates also engage in forms of communication. Maybe not exactly the same but similar. Understanding, comparing, and contrasting nonhuman primates is what gives us a better understanding of anthropology as a whole.