NON-HUMAN PRIMATE BEHAVIOUR STUDY

Submitted by:
ID NO. 100122270410 REG NO. 10012227214000410 YEAR: 2012-2013

TOPIC: NON-HUMAN PRIMATE BEHAVIOUR STUDY

Submitted For The partial fulfilment of M.sc 1st semester examination Course: 227104: PRACTICAL West Bengal State University

Presented & Submitted by:

ID NO. 100122270410 REG NO. 10012227214000410 YEAR: 2012-2013

THE ASSAM MACAQUE (Macaca assamensis)

The Assam macaque (Macaca assamensis) is a macaque of the old world monkey family native to South and Southeast Asia. Since 2008, the species is listed as Near Threatened by IUCN, as it is experiencing significant declines due to hunting, habitat degradation and fragmentation.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Assam macaque has yellowish-grey to dark brown pelage. The facial skin is dark brownish to purplish. The head has a dark fringe of hair on the cheeks directed backwards to the ears. The hair on the crown is parted in the middle. Shoulders, head and arms tend to be paler than hindquarters, which are greyish The tail is well-haired and short. Head-to-body-length measures 51 to 73.5 cm (20 to 28.9 in) with a 15 to 30 cm (5.9 to 12 in) long tail. Adult weight is 5 to 10 kg (11 to22 lb). Group sizes range from 10 to 50 individuals in the world. This is a diurnal species.

DISTRIBUTION
The assamese macaque is found in the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. This species is found in various forest habitats throughout its range, from montane forests to semideciduous forests. There is a gap in the northeastern India between the two main population pockets, specifically between central Bhutan and the south side of the Brahmaputre River; the east bank of its upper course marks the division between the two recognized subspecies. The Eastern Assamese macaque, Macaca assamensis assamensis, occurs in Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura in northeastern India, into northern mayanmar, southeast through the Mayanmar- Thailand border ranges as far as Chongkrong, to the upper Mekong in Tibet, into the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Tibet and Yunnam in southweastern China, in Thateng in northern Laos, and Hoi Xuan in northern Vietnam; The Western Assamese macaque macaca assamensis pelops, is found from central Nepal through Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and northernmost West Bengal in northern India, into central Bhutan and the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. They are apparently absent from areas west of the kaligandaki River. In India, they live in tropical and subtropical semi-evergreen forests, dry deciduous and montane forests, from the sea level to altitudes of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft). They usually inhabit hill areas above 1,000 m (3,300 ft), but in the wetter east they may occur

even in the lowlands and frequent areas that only marginally reach this altitude. In Laos and Vietnam they prefer high altitudes, usually above 500 m (1,600 ft.). In forests on limestone karst, they occur in much lower elevation.

MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
Morphological variation within and among macaque species tends to conform to ecogeographic patterns. This species has cheek pouches to carry food in while it forages The average boddy mass for an adult male assamese macaque is around 7 kilograms, and for the females it is 5 kilograms. This species has a short tail and there is no hair on the face. The pelage color ranges from dark to yellowishbrown.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Behaviour includes locomotion (running, jumping, walking and climbing) and specifies of foraging behaviour. Socio-biological principles give us the tools to objectively investigate these things, but we should not be blinded by the perfection of the method. And like most of these things, it is open to interpretation too. The assamese macaque has a multimale-multifemale social system. Females remain in their natal group with the onset of maturity, but males will disperse shortly before adolescence. There is a hierarchical system amongst group members based upon the matriline. Assam macaques are Group sizes varied between 13 to35 individuals with a mean group size of 23.66 individuals, and comprised 31% adult females, 16% adult males and their young of various ages. Reciprocity and social bonding hypotheses were evaluated as explanations for observed patterns of social grooming in assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis). In accordance with social bonding, females, as the long-term residents of this matrifocal group, groomed each other and juveniles more often than males groomed one another or juveniles. On the other hand, males groomed females more often and for longer durations than females groomed males and, whereas both males and females groomed juveniles more often than juveniles groomed them, juveniles groomed their elders for longer durations. Male grooming for females did not seem directly related to matings as males are single mount ejaculators and use coercive mating tactics. Male grooming of females could not be

accounted for in terms of reciprocity; it was not a simple function of dominance. Although both sexes groomed subordinate females more than vice versa, males groomed dominant males more and females groomed subordinate males more than they received grooming from them. Grooming was concluded to function to establish and maintain affiliative social bonds rather than as a specific mechanism to obtain matingns or any other specific reciprocation in terms of services or favors.

COMMUNICATIONS o VOCAL COMMUNICATION:

scream calls: this call is given by the assamese macaque when they approached by a non-group conspecific.

o VISUAL COMMUNICATION:
Fear grimace: the lips are retracted so that the teeth are shown; the teeth are clenched together (Estes, 1991). This display functions as an appeasement signal to reduce aggression in aggressive encounters (Estes, 1991).

FOOD
The assamese macaque consumes fruits, leaves, insects and small mammals; this species especially likes to eat immature leaves. They are omnivorous and feed on fruits, leaves, invertebrates and cereals. They preferred maize cobs followed by potato tubers, but also raided fields with wheat, buck wheat and millet.

LOCOMOTION
The assamese macaque is a quadrupedal species (Fleagle, 1988). This Primate species move by branchiation, bipedalism, leaping, arboreal and terrestrialquadrupedalism, climbing, knuckle-walking or by a combination of these methods.

PHLOGENETIC POSITION
Kingdom: animalia Class: mammalian Order: primates Family: cercopithecidae Genus: macaca Species: assamensis Scientific Name: macaca assamensis

OBJECT OF STUDY
We can compare the inter relationship between the human ancestors and contemporary primates bio-cultural features. It probably shows a woodland species characters which was omnivorous though mainly vegetarian, showing some sharing behaviour. Grouping behaviour would have depended on diet and habitat. Sexual relationships might have varied from relatively exclusive to more promiscuous and it is quite likely that there would have been friendships.

AREA OF STUDY
Alipore zoological garden. The Alipore Zoological Gardens (also informally called the Alipoor Zoo or KolkataZoo) is Indias largest and oldest formally started zoological park (as opposed to royal and British menegeries) and a big tourists attraction in Kolkata, West Bengal. It has been open as a zoo since 1876, and covers 45 acres (18 ha).

METHOD OF STUDY
We study the primate behaviour on Assamese macaque in 10 to 15 focal and with 5 interval in each focal.

OUR STUDY
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
For the study of non-human social behaviour we went to alipore Zoological Garden under the supervision of Dr. Subir Biswas (Head of Dpt. Of Anthropology in W.B.B.S.U.). We selected assamese macaque for the Study of non human social behaviour. We study the primate behaviour on Assamese macaque in 12 focal and with 5 interval in each focal. 12 focals are mentioned below-

FOCAL-1
TIME AGE & SEX ACTIVITIES RESULT USE OF HAND Both Both Right Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 0.18 0.35 0.51 1.11 1.21 2.31 4.31 TIME (OUT) 0.17 0.34 0.50 1.10 1.20 2.30 4.30 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 17 17 16 20 10 70 120 30

12.05 To 12.10

10 Years Male

Locomotion Sitting Locomotion Sitting Eating Locomotion Sitting Locomotion

Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do

FOCAL-2
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Locomotion Eating Sitting Eating Sittting Locomotion RESULT Do Do Do Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both Left Left Both TIME (IN) 0.00 0.21 0.36 0.51 1.21 3.51 TIME (OUT) 0.20 0.37 0.50 1.10 3.50 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) TIME 15 15 30 150 70

12.15 To 12.20

FOCAL-3
TIME 12.25 To 12.30 AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Eating Sitting Locomotion RESULT Do Do Do USE OF HAND Right Both TIME (IN) 0.00 1.21 4.01 TIME (OUT) 1.20 4.00 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 80 160 60

FOCAL-4
TIME 12.35 To 12.40 AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Hoping Sitting Locomotion RESULT Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 1.21 4.01 TIME (OUT) 2.20 4.00 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 140 100 60

FOCAL-5
TIME 12.45 To 12.50 AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Sitting Hoping Locomotion RESULT Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both TIME (IN) 0.00 3.51 4.11 TIME (OUT) 3.50 4.10 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 230 20 50

FOCAL-6
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Locomotion Sitting Locomotion Grooming Locomotion Sitting RESULT Do Do Do Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 0.26 0.58 1.03 1.11 3.31 TIME (OUT) 0.25 0.57 1.02 1.10 2.30 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 25 32 5 8 80 150

12.55 To 1.00

FOCAL-7
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Sitting Locomotion Sitting Hoping Locomotion RESULT Do Do Do Do Do 1.05 To 1.10 USE OF HAND Both Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 0.26 0.58 1.03 1.11 TIME (OUT) 0.25 0.57 1.02 1.10 2.30 TOTAL TIME (S) 25 32 5 8 80

FOCAL-8
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Locomotion Sitting Standing Locomotion Sitting Hoping RESULT Do Do Do Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 1.21 2.21 2.26 3.21 4.21 TIME (OUT) 1.20 2.20 2.25 3.20 4.20 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 80 60 5 55 60 40

1.15 To 1.20

FOCAL-9
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Hoping Sitting Locomotion Sitting RESULT Do Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 2.11 2.21 4.01 TIME (OUT) 2.10 2.20 4.00 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 130 10 100 60

1.25 To 1.30

FOCAL-10
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Sitting Lying on the floor Grooming Sitting Locomotion RESULT Do Do Do Do Do USE OF HAND Right Both TIME (IN) 0.00 1.11 2.11 2.51 3.31 TIME (OUT) 1.10 2.10 2.50 3.30 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 70 60 40 40 90

1.35 To 1.40

FOCAL-11
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Sitting Locomotion Sitting Hoping Sitting RESULT Do Do Do Do Do 1.45 To 1.50 USE OF HAND Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 1.01 2.21 3.51 4.11 TIME (OUT) 1.00 2.20 3.50 4.10 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 60 80 90 20 50

FOCAL-12
TIME AGE & SEX 10 Years Male ACTIVITIES Sitting Locomotion Sitting Hoping Sitting RESULT Do Do Do Do Do USE OF HAND Both Both TIME (IN) 0.00 1.01 2.21 3.51 4.11 TIME (OUT) 1.00 2.20 3.50 4.10 5.00 TOTAL TIME (S) 60 80 90 20 50

1.55 To 2.00

Their all activities (in second)

1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

OBSERVATION:
Our study was held on 31st December between 12:05 to 1:05. We observed that he spend their maximum time in sitting and locomotion. Hoping is frequent in him. Sometime, he was eating grass. Grooming was not so common in him.

REFERRENCES:
1. ^ Groves, c. (2005). Wilson, D. E., & Reeder, D. M, eds. Ed. Mammal Species of the World(3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 161. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-80188221-4. 2. ^a b c d Boonratana, R., Chalise, M., Das, J., Htun, S. And Timmins, R. J. (2008). "Macaca assamensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. International Union for Conservation of Nature. 3. ^ Francis, C. M. (2008) A field guide to the mammals of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 1845377354 4. ^Groves, C. P. (2001) Primate taxonomy. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA. 5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam_macaque 6. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Assam_Macaque_area.png 7. www.theprimata.com/macaca_assamensis.html