News and Perspectives: Words matter in primatology

Postings on social media on Twitter (now X), BioAnthropology News (Facebook), and other venues, as well as recent publications in prominent journals, show that primatologists, ecologists, and other researchers are questioning the terms "Old World" and "New World" due to their colonial implications and history. The terms are offensive if they result in erasing Indigenous voices and history, ignoring the fact that Indigenous peoples were in the Americas long before European colonization. Language use is not without context, but alternative terminology is not always obvious and available. In this perspective, we share opinions expressed by an international group of primatologists who considered questions about the use of these terms, whether primatologists should adjust language use, and how to move forward. The diversity of opinions provides insight into how conventional terms used in primatological research and conservation may impact our effectiveness in these domains.

Specimens as individuals: Four interventions and recommendations for great ape skeletal collections research and curation

Extensive discourse surrounds the ethics of human skeletal research and curation, but there has yet to be a similar discussion of the treatment of great ape skeletal remains, despite the clear interest in their ethical treatment when alive. Here we trace the history of apes who were killed and collected for natural history museums during the early 20th century and showcase how the guiding research questions of the colonial era continue to influence scholarship. We discuss best practices for improving industry and academic standards of research on, and the curation of, ape remains. The suggested interventions involve restoring individual identity and narrative to great apes while engaging with contextual reflexivity and decolonial theory. The resulting recommendations include contextualizing the individual, piecing individuals back together, challenging/questioning the captive-wild dichotomy, and collaborative international conversations. Our objective is to encourage a conversation regarding ethical and theoretical considerations in great ape skeletal remains research.

Path To Acceptance and Refined Practices for Habituating Western Lowland Gorillas

Although western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are the most numerous and widespread gorilla subspecies, they have remained relatively unstudied. International tourism has been initiated at several sites in the Congo Basin, which necessitates habituation of gorillas to human presence. However, habituation has proven difficult due to several obstacles, including relatively low population densities, small group sizes, and thick understory vegetation. In this article, we propose refinements to current approaches to habituating western lowland gorillas that maximize safety and emphasize adaptive responses based on empirical evidence. In addition to reviewing published reports, our approach is informed by the recent habituation of the Mététélé group in the Djéké Triangle, an area that was recently included in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Republic of Congo. We evaluate progress in habituation according to time spent in the presence of the gorillas and their reactions to humans. The Mététélé group is composed of 14 individuals and has a home range that overlaps with two habituated gorilla groups. Early in the habituation process, we discovered that three of Mététélé's group members were individuals who had previously been habituated as members of other groups. The presence of these individuals expedited the habituation process. Familiarity with humans may have also reduced aggressive responses during the habituation process. The overall result is a refined step-by-step approach to the habituation of western lowland gorillas that includes procedures and assessments to meet best-practice guidelines and ensure the wellbeing of both gorillas and humans.

Animal linguistics: a primer

The evolution of language has been investigated by several research communities, including biologists and linguists, striving to highlight similar linguistic capacities across species. To date, however, no consensus exists on the linguistic capacities of non-human species. Major controversies remain on the use of linguistic terminology, analysis methods and behavioural data collection. The field of 'animal linguistics' has emerged to overcome these difficulties and attempt to reach uniform methods and terminology. This primer is a tutorial review of 'animal linguistics'. It describes the linguistic concepts of semantics, pragmatics and syntax, and proposes minimal criteria to be fulfilled to claim that a given species displays a particular linguistic capacity. Second, it reviews relevant methods successfully applied to the study of communication in animals and proposes a list of useful references to detect and overcome major pitfalls commonly observed in the collection of animal behaviour data. This primer represents a step towards mutual understanding and fruitful collaborations between linguists and biologists.

Participatory action research for primate conservation: A critical analysis of a nonformal education program in Southern Mexico

Historically, Mexico has had an important role in primate conservation research, however, studies have rarely included the human dimensions of primatology. Inclusion of these disciplines should be a priority, considering that human activities are responsible for the current socio-ecological crisis. Mexico is habitat for three primate species, and all are threatened. This urgency demands new approaches and broader perspectives. First, we propose three main research frameworks relevant for conducting PCEPs in Latin America: Participatory Action Research, Arts-based education in PCEPs and Knowledge Coproduction. Furthermore, we aimed to (1) describe a case study about primate conservation education in Southern Mexico based on participatory visual methods under the umbrella of Participatory Action Research (PAR), and (2) to conduct a self-reflective, critical, straightforward, and constructive analysis of the experience. We discuss the various challenges faced during the process (e.g., traditional teaching prevalence at schools, teachers that are not school-based, time and academic constraints). Additionally, we highlight some PAR aspects applicable for researchers and practitioners interested to go further than knowledge transmission (e.g., codesign, arts-based education, placed-based education, critical thinking, and capacity building). To collectively progress in primate conservation education in Mexico and other Latin American countries, projects could greatly benefit from context-specific, people-centered approaches, such as PAR. We encourage researchers to share more of their personal research experiences including both their successes and failures.

Best practices are never best: Evaluating primate conservation education programs (PCEPs) with a decolonial perspective

Who do we aim to educate with primate conservation education programs (PCEPs)? In a commentary published in a recent AJP, Annette Lanjouw suggested that many efforts to "educate" habitat-country communities can be neocolonial in their approaches. Forest destruction and habitat loss are a result of global consumption and expansion. We therefore need to approach conservation education from many angles including local stakeholders, policy makers, government officials, and the humans living in industrialized nations who are major consumers of the items that shrink primate habitats. In this review, we investigate PCEPs to determine if the conservation education goals, education methods, and assessment processes are proceeding within a neocolonial context. We reviewed the last 20 years of primate conservation literature and looked for publications that were focused on education programs. We found that in 50 of 52 publications published between 2001 and 2021, the education programs take place in habitat-country local communities. We also reviewed primate field researcher and field site websites, and in most cases, education programs were also focused on educating local communities living near or in nonhuman primate habitats. Exceptions were student clubs, zoo programs, and a high school outreach program. Many PCEP providers presented a list of "lessons learned" and we compiled their wisdom in combination with our experience to provide a framework for moving forward. We conclude that as conservation primatologists, we must think beyond our field sites to create opportunities for educational outreach. We can reach global consumers by linking to zoos, television/motion picture, print media, social media, and working with schools on curricula. Primatologists can engage our undergraduates to establish clubs and create meaningful assignments that reach beyond the classroom. We encourage primatologists from the Global North to consider their positionality and the history of conservation exclusion in their attempts to conserve primates.

Decolonizing Primate Conservation Practice: A Case Study from North Morocco

Understanding the historical context of an area enables an incoming conservationist to reflect on their role in communities and to better position themselves both politically and socially within them. Here, we explore how outside agencies and institutions, including a former colonial power, have affected and influenced local communities who share their landscape with Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in Bouhachem forest, north Morocco. In the context of initiating Barbary macaque conservation activities, we interviewed representatives from local governmental and nongovernmental organizations, city dwellers, and villagers about the historical, political, and social context of the study site. We found that villages around Bouhachem were politically and socially marginalized and discriminated against by the state and urban society. The existence of these divisions and the outside agencies’ simplistic view of villages as homogeneous communities negatively influenced conservation interventions, because people resisted initiatives imposed on them without prior consultation. We found that Bouhachem villagers have been, and still are, excluded from meaningful participation in the conservation of the forest and this finding encouraged us to decolonize our own practice. We engaged meaningfully with members of the surrounding communities and responded to news of erroneous stories about our activities by developing a project working in three villages that included all households. Based on our experiences, we recommend that all conservationists conduct historical and qualitative research to gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the communities they work in. This understanding should encourage conservationists to recognize their own social and cultural biases and to decolonize their practice. Attending to our own position may help us to avoid underestimating and alienating people who view conservation actions through a very different but equally valid lens.

التخلص من التداعيات الاستعمارية في المحافظة على الرئيسيات :دراسة حالة من شمال المغربخلاصة : إن فهم السياق التاريخي لمنطقة معينة، يمكّن المحافظ البيئي الوافد من التفكير في دوره في المجتمعات، ولانسجامٍ سياسيٍ واجتماعي أفضل داخلها. هنا نكتشف كيف أثرت الوكالات والمؤسسات الخارجية ، بما في ذلك القوة الاستعمارية السابقة، على المجتمعات المحلية التي تتعايش مع قرود المكاك البربري (Macaca sylvanus) في غابة بوهاشم شمال المغرب. في سياق بدء أنشطة الحفاظ على المكاك البربري، أجرينا مقابلات مع ممثلين من المنظمات الحكومية وغير الحكومية المحلية وسكان المدن والقرويين حول السياق التاريخي والسياسي والاجتماعي لموقع الدراسة. وجدنا أن القرى المحيطة بغابة بوهاشم كانت مهمشة و معرضة للتمييز ضدها سياسياً واجتماعياً من قبل الدولة والمجتمع الحضري. و أثر بشكل سلبي وجود هذه الانقسامات والنظرة السطحية للوكالات الخارجية للقرى على أنها مجتمعات متجانسة، على تدخلات الحفظ البيئي، لأن الناس رفضوا أي مبادرة مفروضة عليهم دون استشارة مسبقة. و وجدنا أن القرويين في بوهاشم كانوا ولا يزالون مستبعدين من المشاركة الهادفة في الحفاظ على الغابة، وهذا الاكتشاف شجعنا على التخلص من التداعيات الاستعمارية في ممارستنا. لقد تواصلنا بشكل هادف بأعضاء من المجتمعات المحيطة، واستجبنا لأخبار القصص الخاطئة حول أنشطتنا من خلال تطوير مشروع يعمل في ثلاث قرى شمل جميع الأسر. بناءً على تجاربنا، نوصي جميع دعاة الحفاظ على البيئة بإجراء بحث تاريخي ونوعي لاكتساب فهم أعمق وأكثر دقة للمجتمعات التي يعملون فيها. يجب أن يشجع هذا الفهم دعاة الحفاظ على البيئة على التعرف على التحيزات الاجتماعية والثقافية الخاصة بهم، والتخلص من التداعيات الاستعمارية في ممارساتهم.قد يساعدنا الاهتمام بموقفنا الخاص على تجنب الإبعاد و التقليل من شأن الأشخاص، الذين ينظرون إلى إجراءات الحفاظ على البيئة من منظور مختلف تمامًا لكن عادل .

Roadside monkeys: anthropogenic effects on moor macaque (Macaca maura) ranging behavior in Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia

A growing body of research focuses on how anthropogenic factors affect the behavior and ecology of primates and their ecosystems. Infrastructural development, such as roads, is an increasingly pervasive anthropogenic impact that destroys primate habitat, affects the distribution and dispersal of primates, and facilitates human-primate interactions. At our field site in Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia, a major road bisects the habitat of the endangered moor macaque (Macaca maura). Beginning in 2015, we observed a behavioral shift by our main study group: they began spending more time along the road foraging in trash pits and waiting for provisions from vehicles. Our objective in this study was to examine how access to anthropogenic foods has affected the group's ranging behavior by comparing ranging data collected before (2010-2011) and after the shift (2016-2017). In contrast to what we expected, home ranges were significantly larger and daily travel distance was significantly longer after the shift compared to before. As predicted, mean distance to the road decreased after the shift. These results likely reflect the irregular and spatially dispersed nature of provisioning at this site. The macaques appear to be attracted to the road because it presents opportunities to obtain palatable and energy-dense foods. Our results indicate that moor macaques are able to flexibly adjust their ranging behavior in response to anthropogenic impacts. However, given the risks of being in proximity to roads and humans, management of this emerging human-macaque interface is needed.

The ripples of modernity: How we can extend paleoanthropology with the extended evolutionary synthesis

Contemporary understandings of paleoanthropological data illustrate that the search for a line defining, or a specific point designating, "modern human" is problematic. Here we lend support to the argument for the need to look for patterns in the paleoanthropological record that indicate how multiple evolutionary processes intersected to form the human niche, a concept critical to assessing the development and processes involved in the emergence of a contemporary human phenotype. We suggest that incorporating key elements of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) into our endeavors offers a better and more integrative toolkit for modeling and assessing the evolution of the genus Homo. To illustrate our points, we highlight how aspects of the genetic exchanges, morphology, and material culture of the later Pleistocene complicate the concept of "modern" human behavior and suggest that multiple evolutionary patterns, processes, and pathways intersected to form the human niche.

Researchers' ethical concerns regarding habituating wild-nonhuman primates and perceived ethical duties to their subjects: Results of an online survey

While the process of habituation is essential for researchers to observe primates in their natural habitats, ethical dilemmas may arise from its consequences. We collected data from 286 participants via an online survey to investigate: (a) how primatologists perceive their ethical duties toward their subjects; (b) the extent to which primatologists are concerned about the potential ethical consequences of habituation; and (c) the methods primatologists use to reduce potential harms caused by habituation. Overall, primatologists felt an extremely strong duty to mitigate harms that they may cause (e.g., to not stress individuals during observation, treat injuries, and reunite separated individuals) and expressed very high concern for habituation's potential to increase the vulnerability of their subjects to poaching and disease transfer. Ratings for those items were so high that they could not be included in subsequent exploratory factor analyses that were designed to reveal constructs underlying respondents' ratings of their ethical duties and concerns. Factor analysis of ratings of ethical duties revealed that primatologists reported a strong duty to mitigate harms caused by other humans and a lower perceived duty to mitigate naturally occurring harmful events. Factor analysis on ethical concern ratings revealed that respondents were concerned about harms during the habituation process, the presence of unhabituated behavior after habituation had been established, and indirect harms of habituation. Concerns for unhabituated behavior and indirect harms were rated slightly higher than concern for harms during the habituation process. To mitigate potential harms, primatologists primarily reported engaging in strategies to reduce stress in their subjects. Our findings reveal a disconnect between primatologists' ratings of their ethical concerns and their reported mitigation practices that may, in part, stem from gaps in knowledge about the true impacts of habituation. We suggest areas of discussion and research in the field necessary to address those gaps.

The what and where of primate field research may be failing primate conservation

With approximately 30% of nonhuman primate species listed as critically endangered, the window of opportunity to conserve primates is closing fast. In this article, we focus on the degree to which publications in field primatology are biased in favor of particular taxa and field sites. We examined more than 29,000 peer‐reviewed articles and identified 876 field visits to 349 field sites. We found a highly clumped distribution by site and species. We also examined publication ethical statements and the extent to which they acknowledged local human communities (<5%). Due to a lack of consistency across publications, we provide recommendations for improving ethical statements and for evaluating research impact. Given the plight of primate biodiversity, these results suggest broader coverage of primate species and geographies, as well as more attention to the local human communities whose support is necessary if the intent is to have primate species in the wild in the 22nd century.