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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primate research and conservation may inadvertently reproduce neocolonial dynamics when primatologists from affluent, imperialist nations conduct studies in primate habitat countries. Here, we consider how interrogating the positionality of both foreign researchers and range-country collaborators can strengthen primatology. Such consideration may help us to better understand where each member of the collaboration is coming from, both figuratively and literally, and how those situated perceptions shape the research process. Centering the perspectives of the range-country collaborators, whose perspectives are infrequently voiced within the primatology literature, may illuminate challenges in cross-cultural communication and imbalances of knowledge and power. Here, we explore how positionality shapes collaborative research through the narratives of two foreign/range-country collaborator teams doing primate research and conservation in Africa and South America. Our goal is to provide examples that consider the positionalities of range-country collaborators relative to both foreign researchers and local community members, and that serve as models for primate researchers as they consider their own research teams' positionalities. These narratives highlight how prioritizing the perspectives of range-country and local collaborators when they differ from those of foreign collaborators can strengthen future research and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folivorous primates are typically considered time minimizers because the constraints of their unique digestive systems require them to spend a large portion of their activity budgets resting. However, inter- and intraspecific behavioral variation in their activity budgets may be influenced by local geographic and climatic conditions and evolutionary history. We compiled 48 studies representing ten genera, 31 species, and 50 populations to assess geographic (elevation, latitude), climatic (precipitation, temperature), and phylogenetic correlates of colobine activity budgets. Time spent resting negatively correlated with time spent feeding, moving, and socializing. Except for time spent socializing, activity budgets were independent of phylogeny, with more time spent feeding and less time resting in higher-elevation habitats and at lower temperatures. Among the four most common genera in our sample, only in Rhinopithecus did time spent feeding increase with higher elevations (range, 950–3950 m above mean sea level) and lower temperatures (range, 0.9–25 ℃). Only in Trachypithecus did time spent resting decrease with lower temperatures (range, 19–25 ℃). Our findings suggest that there are no apparent effects of geographic or climatic gradients on colobine activity budgets except for Rhinopithecus and Trachypithecus, whose activities are biased in favor of energy maximization rather than time minimization. Compared with other colobines, the ability of Rhinopithecus to adapt their activity budget at high elevations may make them less vulnerable to climate change, while the greater sensitivity of Trachypithecus to heat may make them more vulnerable to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primate thanatology, or the study of primate responses to dying and death, has become increasingly relevant in recent years. However, the number of reports remains small and the quality of published records is highly variable. Here, we extend the literature on comparative thanatology with observations on a population of the northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus). We compiled all seven cases of muriqui responses to dead, dying, or abandoned infants observed by trained researchers of the Muriqui Project of Caratinga between 1998 and 2020. Four different adult females were observed carrying their dead offspring (n = 4) and one of these females was also observed carrying her dead grand-offspring (n = 1). Five of the seven cases involved dead newborns, one involved a newborn abandoned by its mother on the forest floor, and one involved a 1.6-year-old infant that was visibly ill and died after its mother left it on the ground. Dead newborns were carried for 1–3 days, and all cases occurred during the dry season months. No other age-sex classes were observed to interact with the dead or dying immatures. Our observations are consistent with hypotheses concerning the predominance of dead-infant carrying in other primates, and with the effects of climate on rates of corpse disintegration. They also show the value of long-term studies for obtaining and understanding anecdotal records of rare behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of these former students have continued to work with me and other colleagues on the Caratinga muriquis and other sympatric primates in this forest, while others have used their experience on the project to launch important new comparative studies and conservation and management initiatives involving other populations of muriquis (Strier et al. [41]). The first pertains to the vital ecosystem services primates provide in their roles as pollinators and especially seed dispersers, and the disruptions to the ecological communities caused by the loss of these services due to primate extirpations. 10 Monthly population of northern muriquis at the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural-Feliciano Miguel Abdala, Caratinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil. K. B. Strier: Associate Editor, Primates Resilience is a concept that describes the ability of a system to absorb or rebound from external disturbances or perturbations. [Extracted from the article]

The main factors influencing feeding competition among members of diurnal primate groups are the distribution, availability, and quality of food resources. Socioecological models predict that temporal availability of preferred resources, such as fruit, can influence intragroup feeding competition, which is expected to affect rates of agonism and intragroup spatial patterns. We evaluated the effects of temporal variation in fruit availability on the degree of frugivory (i.e., the proportion of time spent feeding on fruit in relation to total food consumption) and the effects of fruit availability and degree of frugivory on rates of agonistic interactions, and intragroup proximity in two wild groups of gray woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha cana) in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. We recorded 227 agonistic interactions via the all occurrences method and 3549 records of spacing via scan sampling during an 8-mo field study from March to October 2017. We found that fruit availability showed a positive relationship with the woolly monkeys' degree of frugivory, which in turn showed a positive relationship with the rates of agonism. We also found that degree of frugivory positively affected intragroup proximity in periods of lower fruit availability, and that agonistic interactions and proximity covaried positively. Conversely, as the degree of frugivory increased, monkeys exhibited greater interindividual distances and, consequently, lower rates of agonism, consistent with lower levels of feeding competition in periods of higher fruit availability. Therefore, we suggest that intragroup contest competition for fruits is an important cost of group living even for generalized, opportunistic frugivorous primates, such as woolly monkeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat loss and fragmentation are known to restrict the movements of primates, including their ability to expand their home ranges. These effects are especially strong at high densities, where home range overlap can result in high rates of agonistic intergroup encounters over range defense. We investigated habitat use and range defense in a population of northern muriquis (Brachyteles hypoxanthus) at the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural – Feliciano Miguel Abdala, in Minas Gerais, Brazil from August 2010 to July 2013. The four groups in this isolated population used 878 ha of forest, with home ranges exhibiting high interannual fidelity in location and low intergroup overlap. Core areas represented 13–29% of the respective home ranges and, except for one group, showed only moderate to low interannual fidelity in successive years. Of 130 intergroup encounters recorded in 2010–2011, significantly more occurred in core areas that overlapped with the range of another group than in areas of home range overlap or areas used exclusively by one group. Daily path lengths of the one group used in assessing range defensibility varied little (1075–1132 m) across years and relative to home range diameter did not meet the criteria for defensibility. However, the occurrence of independent subgroups, combined with a mean monthly detection distance of 242 m, provides strong evidence of range defensibility. These findings point to the importance of fission–fusion dynamics for intergroup range defense, particularly in primates living at high densities in fragmented habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the impact of zoonotic diseases on wild primate populations is important for assessing local extinction risks and for evaluating potential mitigating factors. Comparative data on demographic changes in two isolated populations of the northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus) during a severe yellow fever outbreak in southeastern Brazil provide unique insights into the potential effects of this disease in this Critically Endangered species. From October 2016 to April 2017, the muriqui population at the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural—Feliciano Miguel Abdala (Caratinga) lost 31 of its 324 members, or nearly 10%, whereas the population at the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural—Mata do Sossego (Sossego) declined from 34 to 25 individuals, or 26%. Greater per-capita risks to muriquis in the Sossego population could be related to ecological and anthropogenic differences, including a wetter climate and an absence of sympatric howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba), which may have directly or indirectly buffered the Caratinga muriquis. Although we lack definitive confirmation that the muriqui population declines were caused by yellow fever, the timing and magnitude of the losses strongly implicate the disease. We highlight the risks of catastrophic population declines in small populations and emphasize the value of long-term demographic monitoring studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]