Book Description

The selective pressures exerted on primate populations from threat of predation have led to numerous behavioral and morphological adaptations that allow for pre-emptive detection and evasion of predators. Predators evolve counterstrategies, and an arms race is born. Anti-predator strategies are costly, in the sense that employing them may divert energy from activities more directly related to fitness, such foraging or mating. Therefore, one would expect higher frequencies of more severe anti-predator behaviors to be expressed by primates who have regular interactions with potential predators, because temporal allocation of those behaviors would be reinforced. A snapshot of natural primate populations reveals that predation is often a substantial source of mortality. Here I investigate the anti-predator strategies of eight sympatric primates in Suriname, South America, to examine how astute wild primates are at detecting predators by only audio cues, how strategies vary by taxa, and whether these strategies vary depending on level or perception of risk within a location. The results suggest that neotropical primates can identify predators as such by vocalizations alone, that anti-predator strategies are highly variable, and that some degree of experience and reinforcement is required for an appropriate level of response behavior. Further, primates in the neotropics appear to evaluate the relative safety of their surroundings and make decisions based on them when confronted with the perceived presence of predators.