12 months of scholarly bliss: Reflections on being a Primate Research Intern

A couple of months ago I discussed, in detail, an approximate week in the life of a Primate Research Intern, and I am here, writing to you again, following up on my promise of updating y’all on what my independent project became.  

There were a number of iterations and ideas that were passed around and evolved. Originally, I wanted to design a puzzle that I would give to multiple species and study how they manipulated and interacted with the object. For example: Giving the same puzzle to a beaded lizard, an orangutan, an otter, and a vulture, then recording how they manipulate it, may shed some interesting light on problem solving strategies from a species and individual level.   

However, I learned that, because of the specifics of my internship, I could only work with the primates, and designing a puzzle that, for example, both a gorilla and golden lion tamarin could comparably manipulate is quite difficult, as they are drastically different sizes. So, I went back to the drawing board, played around with a couple of other ideas, but ultimately turned to our Primate Keepers around the holidays to see if they had any unanswered questions. Sometimes the Animal Care Teams have little behavioral questions they don’t have time to answer themselves. That’s when having a top-notch Research Department comes in.  

With winter in full swing and spring on the horizon, it was the perfect time of year to investigate thermoregulatory behaviors, and with a recent change in their troop, our lemurs were the perfect specimens to watch. 

We are interested in the social dynamics of our lemur troop as it relates to sunbathing/thermoregulatory behaviors and affiliative behaviors. Simply put, we are interested in who interacts with whom, and where.  

Affiliative behaviors are things like cuddling, playing, or grooming one another. These friendly, positive social actions build and maintain bonds between individuals, and they both promote group cohesion and reinforce inherent hierarchies among the group.   

Thermoregulation is the process of maintaining a stable internal temperature. The easiest real-world example of thermoregulation is reptiles and other ectothermic species, but all animals thermoregulate. Even you and I thermoregulate, whether it’s conscious (ex: you’re cold, you put on a sweater) or unconscious (ex: you’re hot, you sweat). 

Before I began conducting observations, I formulated two hypotheses. First, affiliative behavior will occur in greater frequency when coupled with thermoregulatory behaviors. Second, affiliative and thermoregulatory behavior will occur in greater frequency between like-species.  

It became apparent early on that Hypothesis 1 was going to be incredibly difficult to parse out. One key behavior I was investigating was “Huddling/Cuddling,” which is both an affiliative and thermoregulatory behavior. As a result of me being unable to ask them directly, it is quite difficult to determine the motivation behind the behavior. So, I had to pivot a bit.  

After six months of observations, I have learned that temperature does not significantly influence affiliative behaviors. And while this may not seem like a groundbreaking revelation, think of it from a wider view: The temperature influences neither how, nor how much, they interact with one other. Their affiliations with each other are not temperature dependent. 

There are some individual differences among our lemurs and lemur species. Luna, our female black-and-white-ruffed lemur, vocalized in greater frequency than her other lemur roommates. Our ringtailed lemur boys, Neal and Julius, spend almost twice as much time as the others feeding/foraging around their space. Sava and Xonsu, our crowd lemur husband and wife duo, were most frequently huddling (often with each other). However, Xonsu would socially groom and huddle with the ringtailed boys from time to time.  

In terms of thermoregulation, temperature only partially played a role in our lemurs’ use of their space heaters, which are only turned on when they are outside, and the temp is below 65. So, while it might appear that they do not use the heaters sometimes, it is actually that they cannot use them. Pulling apart this relationship might take place during data analysis or may need to be investigated in another study. Lastly, unsurprisingly, the presence of the sun limited the frequency of our lemurs’ sunbathing behaviors. 

Before I go, I wanted to extend a massive thank you to the amazing Research Team (Dr. Marieke Gartner, Alexz Allen, Dr. Joe Mendelson, former Post-Doc Eridia Pacheco, and current Post-Doc Matt Babb), the Gorilla and Small Primate Teams, the fantastic folks at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, and honestly, everyone here at Zoo Atlanta for making this an amazing experience. This was a bit of a dream come true and truly an opportunity of a lifetime. Thank y’all so much! 

Chandler E.
Primate Research Intern