77CHAPTER 4
Primate Behavior
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What Determines the Behavior
of Nonhuman Primates?
Diet, type of social organization, reproductive patterning,
differences between the sexes, and the particular ecosystem
a group of primates inhabits all contribute to the behavior of
nonhuman primates. For many years primate behavior was seen as environmentally determined
and tied to a certain diet and characteristics of the ecosystem. Today primatologists have estab-
lished a strong socially learned component to primate behavior. Compared to other mammals,
primates are characterized by a relatively long growth and development period that allows young
primates to learn the behaviors of their social group. Some of these behaviors are influenced by
the biology of the species while other behaviors derive from the traditions of the group.
Why Do Anthropologists Study the Social
Behavior of Primates?
The study of the social behavior of primates has contributed
significantly to ecology and evolutionary theory. In addition,
analysis of the behavior of monkeys and apes living today—
especially those most closely related to us—provides impor-
tant clues from which to reconstruct the adaptations and
behavior patterns involved in the emergence of our earliest
ancestors. The more we know about our nearest living rela-
tives, the more it becomes clear that many of the differences
between apes and humans reflect differences in degree of ex-
pression of shared characteristics.
Do Nonhuman Primates
Possess Culture?
The more we learn of the behavior of our nearest primate
cousins, the more we become aware of the importance of
learned, socially shared practices and knowledge among the
homonoids. This raises the question of whether chimpan-
zees, bonobos, and the other apes have culture. The answer
appears to be yes. Detailed study of ape behavior has revealed
variation among groups in use of tools and patterns of so-
cial engagement; these differences seem to derive from the
traditions of the group rather than a biologically determined
script. Humans share with the other apes an ability to learn
the complex but flexible patterns of behavior particular to a
social group during a long period of childhood dependency.