GLOSSARY
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: A set of beliefs, morals, values, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. The shared behavior that is passed on from one generation to the next through social learning (enculturation).
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.
Enculturation: The process of learning culture.
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.
Home range: The area a group or individual uses over a given period of time (often over a year).
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.
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.
Intrasexual selection: Selection for traits that enhance the ability of members of one sex to compete amongst themselves.
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 dispersal: Emigrating from the group into which one is born.
Natal group: The group into which an organism 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 single individual mates with more than one individual of the opposite sex.
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 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.
