One subfield of biological anthropology is primatology, which studies our place in nature, through comparative analyses of our closest living relatives (Lecture 1.1). A professional organization that represents primatology is the ASP, or the American Society of Primatologists. This organization states their purposes “are exclusively educational and scientific; specifically, to promote and encourage the discovery and exchange of information regarding primates including all aspects of their anatomy, behavior, development, ecology, evolution, genetics, nutrition, physiology, reproduction, systematics, conservation, husbandry, and use in biomedical research”. Much of the research and work they do reflects not only our understanding of primatology as a subfield, but also of the whole field of anthropology.
As stated in lecture, an important part of anthropology is “comparing human populations to determine common and unique behaviors or biological traits (i.e. variation)”. To conduct research about humans, the ASP tries to understand variation and certain traits of primates, which are very similar to humans, and then make comparisons to understand human anthropology. Under “Research”, they answer a particular question they assumedly receive often: “Why are nonhuman primates studied, and what kinds of research are conducted?” The ASP state that “For the most part, nonhuman primates are research subjects because they are so similar to humans, and the principal reason for this similarity is simple: humans *are* primates”. The sole focus of primatology studies is to research these nonhuman primates and comparing them, to contribute to a better understanding of humans and the way human evolution and variation has changed over time. They can find similarities/differences between human/nonhuman primates to understand their “unique behaviors”/biological traits.
In addition to answering some questions regarding research of primates, like many other organizations, ASP have a journal to publish their findings. Their journal, titled the American Journal of Primatology, hosts thousands of articles on nonhuman primate research, with examples like “Diversity and temporal dynamics of primate milk microbiomes”; “Trait variation and trait stability in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) inhabiting ecologically distinct habitats in northeastern Brazil”.
As frequently stated throughout the lectures, human variation/variability is another broad theme of anthropology. The first of the aforementioned articles, that discusses primate milk microbiomes, has an interesting connection to variation in milk microbiome structure, and changing “infant development outcomes”. These structures “may depend on evolutionary processes acting at the host species level and ecological processes occurring over lactation time, among others”. Milk, which is used to give nutrition to the young of mammals, has microbiome structures in it that vary even within a species to produce differing outcomes for these young. In the article, they compare “rhesus macaques, humans and mantled howler monkeys” that have “notably distinct milk microbiomes”. They also state that these comparisons of the variation in these traits can be used to further benefit humans and other primates.
Another interesting article that also contributes to other broad themes of anthropology – variation and adaption. The second article suggests the ability of marmosets to adapt to their environment in northeastern Brazil. Caatinga (CAT) marmosets “were found to live in smaller groups containing fewer adult females than AF (Atlantic Forest) marmosets, and also were characterized by a greater surface area to body mass ratio, a trait that may represent an adaption to the hot and dry conditions of the Caatinga”. The article goes into further detail regarding how these marmosets have been able to adapt regarding the environments in Brazil. Seen in this example, marmosets were able to successfully adapt to their environment. The work of the ASP to research these primates to understand variation, evolution, adaption, etc. all contributes to a better understanding of anthropology.
Citation: “American Society of Primatologists.” ASP. Accessed July 02, 2019. https://www.asp.org/index.cfm.
Hi Kathrine. The sub-field of primatology has interested me as well. I have followed the work of Jane Goodall from time to time and the conservation efforts to help primates worldwide. I believe comparing genetic differences from humans to primates is very important since we are so close to them genetically. This might help explain why humans function the way we do, or how certain genes work. It may also be able to tell us how our genes will continue to change as well as giving us a small window into how we evolved. Some people still don’t want to believe that this is the case, unfortunately. Hearing about the microbiome differences in milk is interesting, but I wonder how that can benefit humans. Hopefully we will learn more about those kinds of differences!
Hello Katherine! Thank you for sharing the information you found on primatology. I took an anthropology course my sophomore year of college and the most interesting aspect of that course was by far the segment on non-human primates. It’s very interesting to learn about how similar we are to non-human primates, especially when we grow up learning that humans are some dominant race that stands apart from all other members of the animal kingdom. Instead of looking for ways to distinguish ourselves and feel like we are apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, it is much more fascinating to see just how alike we really are! In my opinion, it’s also very cool to learn about the evolution of all primates from a common ancestor to aid in educating some individuals who don’t fully understand the concept of human evolution and hold the misconception that a chimpanzee just turned into a human one day. Hopefully we will dive deeper into these topics as the semester goes on!