Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cognitive ecology of a nocturnal primate and its implications for primate cognitive evolution

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Primates such as apes and monkeys are known for their unusual brain size and cognitive complexity. However, there is uncertainty about whether these exceptional traits have evolved across the entire spectrum of primate diversity. To better understand the evolution of complex intelligence in primates requires comparative data. Towards that end, this doctoral dissertation research project examines the ecology, sociality, and cognitive behavior of an understudied ancient primate lineage. Results can provide key insights into how cognitive complexity has evolved in primates. The project supports mentorship of student researchers and international research collaborations. It also involves an interdisciplinary collaboration that integrates ideas from biological anthropology and electromechanical engineering to develop novel remote biologging technologies. This collaboration can facilitate the future collection of spatial and movement data on many smaller-bodied nocturnal species for which this type of data has been traditionally unattainable. The goal of this project is to identify ecologically and socially relevant cognitive adaptations in a wild population of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates, thick-tailed galagos, to determine how socioecological pressures shape patterns of cognitive evolution in nocturnal strepsirrhine primates compared to diurnal gregarious primates. The researchers utilize manual behavioral observation, newly developed biologging technology, vocalization playback experiments, field-adapted cognitive tests, and comparative statistical analysis to collect and analyze relevant cognitive and behavioral data on thick-tailed galagos. If similar cognitive abilities are observed in the galago lineage as in gregarious, diurnal primate lineages, then there may be a preserved evolutionary blueprint of specific socioecological conditions selecting for specialized sets of cognitive adaptations in primates that predates the divergence of the galagos. Comparing cognitive adaptations between thick-tailed galagos and other primates presenting similar socioecological traits can help determine how specific socioecological pressures affect primate cognitive evolution across taxa and help contextualize the ultimate evolutionary origins of human cognitive abilities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.