The American Society of Primatologists (ASP) is a professional organization with a Journal, focusing on the conservation, education and research of primatology. Their work includes educating the public on their work in primates to help with the conservation of primates and to further the understanding of the connection between humans and one of our closest living relatives, being able to understand their intellect, eating habits and why they move the way they do. Their society includes the American Journal of Primatology which includes all of what was mentioned above, including articles on how primates have developed, studies of how their brains work in relation to humans, the conservation of them among other topics. Current articles posted on the home page of the website entail topics such as the studying of primate biology and how their research has made certain leaps into the ecological physiology of primates. They also have a recently published article on the act of primates acquiring food through scavenging nuts and plants and the semantics behind it including how the primates find the nuts to scavenge, what kinds of species are more likely to do this kind of scavenging, and how they perceive if obtaining this kind of food will be a predatory threat of some sort. This study was done because of the lack of research on scavenging for plants and nuts specifically, instead of the carrion scavenging, which usually includes heavier foods such as meat. Help with understanding the eating habits and physiology of certain primate species help with the understanding of how they go about in everyday life, without having to actively observe the species all the time. If we are able to generalize the reasoning behind the actions of primates, then it will be more simplified in a way of relating back to homo sapiens, and help with the conservation of them. If people know how they work in every which way, then it will be easier to help create an environment that species will be more comfortable in if there is ever a need to save them from endangerment or extinction.
This society is important in the way it involves people to further understanding, while also actively making efforts to save and keep certain species alive. They actively give the information out to inform individuals on certain ways to conserve the species, while also giving out rewards and recognition to people who actively help progress the conservation of primate species.
Going back to a previously mentioned article on primate biology and the ecological physiology, the article addressed the complications with studying primate adaptation and the certain theories that have been developed on the ways primates may adapt. They stress the collaboration of researchers on a topic that is as hard as this one to study, as it would be near impossible to study this with a single researcher. Further, to study the primate biology, a mix of lab and field research is also heavily suggested as it will help overcome gaps and challenges that researchers might face when studying primate biology and adaptation.
Sources: https://asp.org/index.cfm
I think primatology is super interesting and a subfield that I would like to familiarize myself with a bit more. Primates are inherently very similar to humans so it makes a lot of sense as to why they can be used to learn more about humans. I read an article about how anthropologists were able to learn a lot about what primates are eating through the study of their teeth, and how we can use this knowledge to learn more about human eating habits. I am very curious about just how similar we are to primates, and what kinds of anthropological questions we can answer through the study of primates and how they relate to humans. I hope that with the study of primates we can figure out a way to co-exist peacefully with the other species living on this planet with us.