On 22/02/2019, Sarah Papworth of Royal Holloway University presented a talk about primates at Bangor University. Sarah has previously carried out research on primates in Uganda and South America.
Human Interaction
Primates in the tropics were once studied because they are in remote locations, away from human influence. 
However, humans have always populated the tropics and primates have always interacted with them.
Primates and humans interact due to several seasons, including:
- Hunting – For food, pets or hunting other animals
- Ecotourism
- Research
Anti-predator response
Sarah explains the Risk Disturbance Hypothesis which suggests that primates respond in a similar way to humans, cars and sounds as they do to predators.
Woolly Monkey
These are the most hunted species in Amazon due to their large size and fat tails. Sarah’s PhD looked into their response to humans in Ecuador. She done this by mimicking three types of people:
- HUNTER – Armed with blowpipe, looking up into trees
- GATHERER – Looking at the ground for plant material (Hunters often accompany gatherers).
- RESEARCHER – Looking up with binoculars
Her results shown that monkeys would hide in response to hunters and researchers – both of which are usually looking up. However, calling decreased in response to hunters. You’d expect them to call to their group as a warning? Maybe it’s because they don’t want hunters to know their location.
Tourism
Sarah explains how tourism can effect populations in different ways:
Human Shield hypothesis – Human presence protects monkeys from predators.
Distracted Predator response- Humans distract prey from checking for predators.
The final research topic discussed was on the effects of human voice playback on pygmy marmoset behaviour. It found an increase in alert posture and louder playback made them run away – a result not consistent with response theories.
Why does this all matter?
The aforementioned studies show humans have an effect on primate behaviour. Sarah explains this could have an effect on the survival of species due to things like reduction in feeding.
The distracted predator response also could also effect the populations of prey and consequently wildlife viewing opportunities in tourist areas.
Thoughts & my career
The final point made by Sarah is that there is no overarching theory which explains all responses. Species react in different ways. She certainly made this clear by including numerous examples of research.
As someone who has an interest in primatology, hearing all the previous research into primate responses was incredibly interesting. The cognitive abilities of non-human primates never fails to amaze me and this seminar, especially the research into woolly monkeys, only added to this amazement.
Several questions were asked afterwards but most notably was “does response differ towards poachers and rangers, both of which carry guns?” Sarah had no answer to this and said it would be a good topic to study in the future.
Research into primates is something which interests me so who knows, maybe I could be the one to answer that question one day?
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