Abundance: How much food is available in a given area.
Affiliative: A description of non-aggressive social interactions and associations between individuals.
Allopatric: Two or more species that do not overlap in geographic distribution.
Anogenital: Relating to the anus and genitals.
Basal metabolic rate: The rate at which an individual uses energy when at rest.
Carnivores: Organisms whose diet consists primarily of animal tissue.
Coalition: A temporary group composed of two or more individuals who work together to achieve a common goal. It is often used in reference to male-male competition, such as when two less-competitive males join forces against a more-competitive male.
Competitive exclusion principle: The idea that two species that compete for the exact same resources cannot coexist.
Conspecifics: Members of the same species.
Culture: The transmission of behavior from one generation to the next through observation and imitation.
Cultural tradition: A distinctive pattern of behavior shared by multiple individuals in a social group, which persists over time and is acquired through social learning.
Crypsis: The ability to avoid detection by other organisms.
Day-range length: The distance traveled in a day.
Direct fitness: An individual’s genetic contribution to future generations that is due to offspring production.
Dispersal: To leave one’s group or area. This may or may not involve entering another group.
Distribution: How food is spread out.
Dominance hierarchy: The ranked organization of individuals established by the outcome of aggressive-submissive interactions.
Feeding: The act of consuming food.
Fission-fusion: Societies in which group composition is flexible, such as chimpanzee and spider monkey societies. Individuals may break up into smaller feeding groups (fission) and combine into larger groups (fusion).
Fitness: An individual’s reproductive success relative to other members of the same species.
Foraging: The act of searching for food.
Folivores: Organisms whose diet consists primarily of leaves.
Frugivores: Organisms whose diet consists primarily of fruit.
Home range: The area a group or individual uses over a given period of time (often over a year).
Inbreeding: Reproduction between relatives.
Inbreeding depression: Harmful genetic effects of breeding between relatives.
Indirect fitness: An individual’s genetic contribution to future generations that is due to the reproduction of non-descent relatives.
Infanticide: The killing of infants of one’s own species.
Insectivores: Organisms whose diets consist primarily of insects.
Intrasexual selection: Selection for traits that enhance the ability of members of one sex to compete amongst themselves.
Interbirth interval: The length of time between successive births.
Intersexual selection: The selection for traits that enhance the ability of the members of one sex to attract the attention of the other.
Mating system: A way of describing which male(s) and female(s) mate.
Mobbing: Cooperatively attacking or harassing a predator.
Monogamous: A mating system in which one male mates with one female.
Natal group: The group into which an organism is born.
Natal dispersal: Emigrating from the group into which one is born.
Niche: The role of a species in its environment; how it meets its needs for food, shelter, etc.
Niche partitioning: The process by which potentially competing species reduce competition by using the environment differently.
Omnivores: Organisms whose diet consists of plant and animal matter.
Operational sex ratio: The ratio of sexually active (or available) males to sexually active (or available) females.
Parental investment: Any time or energy a parent devotes to the current offspring that enhances its survival (and eventual reproductive success) at the expense of the parent’s ability to invest in the next offspring.
Paternity certainty: Confidence in which male fathered an offspring.
Paternity confusion: When males are uncertain if they fathered an offspring. This is often a female strategy to reduce the chance of infanticide.
Philopatric: Remaining in the group of one’s birth.
Piloerection: Raising one’s hair or fur in an effort to look bigger.
Polyandry: A mating system in which multiple males mate with a single breeding female.
Polygamy: A mating system in which multiple males mate with multiple females.
Polygyny: A mating system in which one male mates with multiple females.
Polyspecific associations: Associations between two or more different species involving behavioral changes by at least one of the associated species.
Primate community: All living organisms that occur in an area that includes primates.
Primatologist: A scientist who studies primate behavior and/or ecology.
Primatology: The scientific field that studies primate behavior and/or ecology.
Receptive: A term used to describe females who are ready for sexual reproduction (i.e., not pregnant or nursing).
Reproductive success: An individual’s genetic contribution to future generations.
Reproductive suppression: The prevention or inhibition of reproduction of healthy adults.
Secondary sexual characteristics: Characteristics that appear at time of sexual maturity. These are not directly involved in reproduction, but they provide individuals an advantage in courtship and competition for mates.
Semantic communication: The systematic use of signals to refer to objects in the environment.
Sexual dimorphism: When males and females of a species have different morphological traits.
Sexual monomorphism: When males and females of a species have similar morphological traits.
Sexual selection: The selection for traits that increase mating success. This occurs via intersexual selection and intrasexual selection.
Sexual swelling: Area of the hindquarters that change in size, shape and often color over the course of a female’s reproductive cycle, reaching maximum size at ovulation. Occurs in many Old World primate species.
Social learning: The idea that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others.
Social system: A way of describing the typical number of males and females of all age classes that live together.
Solitary: Living alone.
Species recognition: Recognition of conspecifics.
Sperm competition: Competition between sperm of two or more different males to fertilize the same egg.
Sympatric: Two or more species that overlap in geographic distribution.
Territory: A home range whose boundary is defended from intrusion by conspecifics.
Vertebrates: The group of animals characterized by an internal spinal column or backbone. This includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Vigilance: Watchful behavior to detect or in response to potential danger, usually in the form of predators or potential competitors.
