Macaques

In humans, infants respond positively to slow, gentle stroking—processed by C-tactile (CT) nerve fibers—by showing reductions in stress and increases in eye contact, smiling, and positive vocalizations. More frequent maternal touch is linked to greater activity and connectivity strength in social brain regions, and increases children’s attention to and learning of faces. It has been theorized that touch may prime children for social interactions and set them on a path towards healthy social cognitive development. However, less is known about the effects of touch on young infants’ psychological development, especially in the newborn period, a highly sensitive period of transition with rapid growth in sensory and social processing. It remains untested whether newborns can distinguish CT-targeted touch from other types of touch, or whether there are benefits of touch for newborns’ social, emotional, or cognitive development. In the present study, we experimentally investigated the acute effects of touch in newborn monkeys, a common model for human social development. Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), like humans, are highly social, have complex mother-infant interactions with frequent body contact for the first weeks of life, making them an excellent model of infant sociality. Infant monkeys in the present study were reared in a neonatal nursery, enabling control over their early environment, including all caregiver interactions. One-week-old macaque infants (N = 27) participated in three 5-minute counter-balanced caregiver interactions, all with mutual gaze: stroking head and shoulders (CT-targeted touch), stroking palms of hands and soles of feet (Non-CT touch), or no stroking (No-touch). Immediately following the interaction, infants watched social and nonsocial videos and picture arrays including faces and objects, while we tracked their visual attention with remote eye tracking. We found that, during the caregiver interactions, infants behaved differently while being touched compared to the no-touch condition, irrespective of the body part touched. Most notably, in both touch conditions, infants exhibited fewer stress-related behaviors—self-scratching, locomotion, and contact time with a comfort object—compared to when they were not touched. Following CT-targeted touch, infants were faster to orient to the picture arrays compared to the other interaction conditions, suggesting CT-targeted touch may activate or prime infants’ attentional orienting system. In the No-touch condition infants attended longer to the nonsocial compared to the social video, possibly reflecting a baseline preference for nonsocial stimuli. In contrast, in both touch conditions, infants’ looked equally to the social and nonsocial videos, suggesting that touch may influence the types of visual stimuli that hold infants’ attention. Collectively, our results reveal that newborn macaques responded positively to touch, and touch appeared to influence some aspects of their subsequent attention, although we found limited evidence that these effects are mediated by CT fibers. These findings suggest that newborn touch may broadly support infants’ psychological development, and may have early evolutionary roots, shared across primates. This study illustrates the unique insight offered by nonhuman primates for exploring early infant social touch, revealing that touch may positively affect emotional and attentional development as early as the newborn period.

The number of primates in Malaysia vary upon primatologists which about more than 20 species. Tropical rain forests of Borneo contains one species of the endangered Orang Utan (Pongo pygmaeus) with three different subspecies: Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, Pongo pygmaeus morio, Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii. In addition, Malaysian forests contain four lesser apes (Hylobates lar, H. agilis, H. muelleri and Symphalangus syndactylus), three cercopithecines (Macaca fascicularis, M. nemestrina and M. arctoides) and several colobine monkeys (Nasalis larvatus, Presbytis spp and Trachypithecus spp). Malaysia also has two types of prosimians, Tarsius and Nycticebus. Nowadays, tourists can appreciate and sight Malaysian primates in many ecotourism sites. Sepilok, Matang and Bukit Merah are well known for Orang Utan. Tawau Hill Park is the best place to observe Red Langurs. Many groups of Spectacled leaf monkeys can be seen in Langkawi Island. In addition, tourists can have a close contact with Silvered leaf monkeys in Bukit Malawati Kuala Selangor. Macaques can be easily encountered throughout Malay Peninsular even tourists are afraid to their aggressiveness. INTRODUCTION The number of primates in Malaysia vary upon primatologists (Brandon-Jones et al. 2004). Tropical rain forests of Borneo contains one species of the endangered Orang Utan (Pongo pygmaeus) with three different subspecies: Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, Pongo pygmaeus morio, Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). In addition, Malaysian forests contain four lesser apes (Hylobates lar, H. agilis, H. muelleri and Symphalangus syndactylus), three cercopithecines (Macaca fascicularis, M. nemestrina and M. arctoides) and several colobine monkeys (Nasalis larvatus, Presbytis spp and Trachypithecus spp. Malaysia also has two types of prosimians, Tarsius and Nycticebus (Brandon-Jones et al. 2004). Here, we described several tourism sites in Malaysia where tourists can experience observing primate closely. Sepilok and Semenggok are already well known places for tourists. Thus in this article we are just higlighted several sites that tourists might not familiar.

Neonatal imitation is the matching of (often facial) gestures by newborn infants. Some studies suggest that performance of facial gestures is due to general arousal, which may produce false positives on neonatal imitation assessments. Here we examine whether arousal is linked to facial gesturing in newborn infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). We tested 163 infants in a neonatal imitation paradigm in their first postnatal week and analyzed their lipsmacking gestures (a rapid opening and closing of the mouth), tongue protrusion gestures , and yawn responses (a measure of arousal). Arousal increased during dynamic stimulus presentation compared to the static baseline across all conditions, and arousal was higher in the facial gestures conditions than the nonsocial control condition. However, even after controlling for arousal, we found a condition-specific increase in facial gestures in infants who matched lipsmacking and tongue protrusion gestures. Thus, we found no support for the arousal hypothesis. Consistent with reports in human newborns, imitators' propensity to match facial gestures is based on abilities that go beyond mere arousal. We discuss optimal testing conditions to minimize potentially confounding effects of arousal on measurements of neonatal imitation.

The worlds of human and nonhuman primates are increasingly overlapping. The term " interface " aptly encapsulates all aspects of the relationships linking together human and nonhuman primates, that is, their dynamic interaction in their shared environment. It is now well understood that there is a long history of sympatry between populations of human and nonhuman primates, one that has experienced many types of changes but most notably in the degree of negative in fl uence from humans. With this knowledge, we can no longer assume that any given nonhuman primate population is absolutely free from human in fl uence. This in fl uence may be most visible in the form of bushmeat markets or anthropogenic habitat conversion but can also be more subtle such as with long-term effects on individual or group level nonhuman primate fi tness. Additionally, researchers have become increasingly interested in the epidemiological signi fi cance of this interface. Zoonoses co-affecting human and nonhuman primates are continually being researched, providing more detailed information on diseases already familiar to us and occasionally even leading to new zoonoses being discovered (Engel et al. 2006). While there is considerable variability in the nature of the human-nonhuman primate interface in different areas of the world, a common thread is the concept of space. The overlapping lives of human and nonhuman primates often result from limitations of space and the increasing necessity to share. Much of the human-nonhuman primate interface can be understood by examining how both groups react to sharing space with each other, historically as well as in more recent contexts. Methods in behavioral observation are useful for exploring the reactions of our

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) at temple sites in Bali may be considered sacred because of the presence of monkeys in Hindu texts or through their association with sacred temple spaces. Using an ethnoprimatological approach, our research goal was to further explain how primates become sacred by exploring differences in perceptions of primate sacredness between Balinese Hindus living in Bali and those living in trans-migrant communities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 100 individuals from three transmigrant communities regarding their relationship with local booted macaques (Macaca ochreata). We found that the majority of transmigrants did not consider booted macaques sacred. Reasons given for this lack of sacredness included the absence of macaques in and around transmigrant temple sites, as well as generally unhabituated and destructive behavior. Our research also helps explain perceptions of macaque sa-credness in Bali. We demonstrate how macaque sacredness cannot be viewed through a singular lens; rather, it is multifaceted, deriving from the convergence of multiple factors and contexts. The presence of long-tailed macaques in temple sites during rituals, their habituated (i.e., peaceful) behavior during those rituals, and a landscape of social engagement between humans and macaques in Bali contribute to their perceived sacredness. [ethnoprimatology, human––macaque interface, social engagement, Balinese Hinduism, tameness, Bali, Sulawesi] ABSTRAK Kera ekor panjang " bojog " (Macaca fascicularis) di sekitar pura di Bali mungkin dianggap suci karena adanya tulisan mengenai kera tersebut di dalam kitab suci Hindu, atau karena dihubungkan dengan kesucian pura di Bali. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan ethnoprimatological untuk menjelaskan kenapa primata tersebut dianggap suci dengan mengeksplorasi bagaimana perbedaan persepsi tentang kesucian primata antara orang Hindu yang ting-gal di Bali dengan orang Hindu Bali yang telah bertransmigrasi ke Sulawesi Selatan. Wawancara dilakukan terhadap 100 individu dari tiga kelompok komunitas transmigran mengenai hubungan mereka dengan kera lokal yang mereka sebut " beruk " (Macaca ochreata). Peneliti menemukan bahwa sebagian besar transmigran tidak menganggap beruk suci karena tidak adanya kelompok beruk yang berkeliaran di dalam maupun di sekitar lokasi pura para transmi-gran, selain itu beruk dianggap takut terhadap manusia dan juga perilaku beruk yang menggangu hasil pertanian. Penelitian ini juga membantu menjelaskan persepsi kesucian bojog di Bali. Peneliti menujukkan bagaimana kesucian bojog tidak bisa hanya dipandang sebelah mata, tetapi terdapat beragam faktor, diantaranya adalah kehadiran bo-jog di sekitar pura ketika umat Hindu sedang melaksanakan ritual keagamaan, perilaku bojog yang sudah terbiasa dengan kehadiran manusia selama ritual berlangsung dan adanya social engagement antara manusia and bojog di

The present study explored behavioral norms for infant social attention in typically developing human and nonhuman primate infants. We examined the normative development of attention to dynamic social and nonsocial stimuli longitudinally in macaques (Macaca mulatta) at 1, 3, and 5 months of age (N = 75) and humans at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 13 months of age (N = 69) using eye tracking. All infants viewed concurrently played silent videos—one social video and one nonsocial video. Both macaque and human infants were faster to look to the social than the nonsocial stimulus, and both species grew faster to orient to the social stimulus with age. Further, macaque infants’ social attention increased linearly from 1 to 5 months. In contrast, human infants displayed a nonlinear pattern of social interest, with initially greater attention to the social stimulus, followed by a period of greater interest in the nonsocial stimulus, and then a rise in social interest from 6 to 13 months. Overall, human infants looked longer than macaque infants, suggesting humans have more sustained attention in the first year of life. These findings highlight potential species similarities and differences, and reflect a first step in establishing baseline patterns of early social attention development.

Perturbation of the developmental refinement of the corticospinal (CS) pathway leads to motor disorders. While non-primate developmental refinement is well documented, in primates invasive investigations of the developing CS pathway have been confined to neonatal and postnatal stages when refinement is relatively modest. Here, we investigated the developmental changes in the distribution of CS projection neurons in cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis). Injections of retrograde tracer at cervical levels of the spinal cord at embryonic day (E) 95 and E105 show that: (i) areal distribution of back-labeled neurons is more extensive than in the neonate and dense labeling is found in prefrontal, limbic, temporal, and occipital cortex; (ii) distributions of contralateral and ipsilateral projecting CS neurons are comparable in terms of location and numbers of labeled neurons, in contrast to the adult where the contralateral projection is an order of magnitude higher than the ipsilateral projection. Findings from one largely restricted injection suggest a hitherto unsuspected early innervation of the gray matter. In the fetus there was in addition dense labeling in the central nucleus of the amygdala, the hypothalamus, the subthalamic nucleus, and the adjacent region of the zona incerta, subcortical structures with only minor projections in the adult control.

Primates’ communicative signals are often dynamic and composed of multiple components, sometimes belonging to different sensory modalities. Such multicomponent signals are of crucial importance in the study of communication: the addition of extra features to a signal has the potential to modulate or change the meaning and message of the specific signal. Traditionally, however, components of compound signals are studied in isolation from each other, or communicative displays are studied as static and invariant wholes. Both approaches may not allow us to assess the full function of the signals. In crested macaques (Macaca nigra), the lipsmack (a display mainly used in affiliative interactions) can be produced alone or combined with other visual and acoustic communicative features. We investigated whether the composition of the lipsmack influenced the outcome of social interaction while controlling for relationship quality. Our results show that lipsmacks composed of both visual and vocal components (i.e. multimodal signals) increased the probability of affiliative contact, and therefore have enhanced signal value. The total number of visual components involved in the display had no effect but some visual components seemed more influential than others. By analyzing lipsmacking behavior as a composite, dynamic display, we were able to reveal a level of complexity that is not apparent when looking at each component separately. The results highlight the importance of a more integrative, multimodal approach to the study of primate communication. Am. J. Primatol. 75:763–773, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Psychiatric disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, are often associated with impaired serotonergic function. However, serotonergic interventions yield inconsistent effects on behavioral impairments. To better understand serotonin's role in these pathologies, we investigated the role of serotonin in a behavior frequently impaired in depression and anxiety, attention. In this study, we used a quantitative, repeated, within-subject, design to test how L-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), the immediate serotonin precursor, modulates central serotoninergic function and attention in macaques. We observed that intramuscular 5-HTP administration increased cisternal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 5-HTP and serotonin. In addition, individuals' baseline looking duration, during saline sessions, predicted the direction and magnitude in which 5-HTP modulated attention. We found that 5-HTP decreased looking duration in animals with high baseline attention, but increased looking duration in low baseline attention animals. Furthermore, individual differences in 5-HTP's effects were also reflected in how engaged individuals were in the task and how they allocated attention to salient facial features-the eyes and mouth-of stimulus animals. However, 5-HTP constricted pupil size in all animals, suggesting that the bi-directional effects of 5-HTP cannot be explained by serotonin-mediated changes in autonomic arousal. Critically, high and low baseline attention animals exhibited different baseline CSF concentrations of 5-HTP and serotonin, an index of extracellular functionally active serotonin. Thus, our results suggest that baseline central serotonergic functioning may underlie and predict variation in serotonin's effects on cognitive operation. Our findings may help inform serotonin's role in psychopathology and help clinicians predict how serotonergic interventions will influence pathologies.

Learning the values of actions versus stimuli may depend on separable neural circuits. In the current study, we evaluated ventral striatum (VS) lesioned macaques' performance on a two-arm bandit task that had randomly interleaved blocks of stimulus based and action based reinforcement learning (RL). Compared to controls, monkeys with VS lesions had deficits in learning to select rewarding images but not rewarding actions. We used a RL model to quantify learning and choice consistency and found that, in stimulus based RL, the VS lesion monkeys were more influenced by negative feedback and had lower choice consistency than controls. Using a Bayesian model to parse the groups' learning strategies, we also found that VS lesion monkeys defaulted to an action based choice strategy. Thus, the VS is specifically involved in learning the value of stimuli, not actions.

Individuals vary in their social skills and motivation, the causes of which remain largely unknown. Here we investigated whether an individual's propensity to interact with others measured within days after birth, and differences in infants' early social environment, may predict a later social skill. Specifically, we tested whether neonatal imitation—newborns' capacity to match modelled actions—and social experience in the first months of life predict gaze following (directing attention to locations where others look), in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta; n = 119). Facial gesture imitation in the first week of life predicted gaze following at 7 months of age. Imitators were better at gaze following than non-imitators, suggesting neonatal imitation may be an early marker predicting socio-cognitive functioning. In addition, infants with rich social environments outperformed infants with less socialization, suggesting early social experiences also support the development of infants' gaze following competence. The present study offers compelling evidence that an individual difference present from birth predicts a functional social cognitive skill in later infancy. In addition, this foundational skill—gaze following—is plastic, and can be improved through social interactions, providing infants with a strong foundation for later social interaction and learning.

The view that female infra-human primates do not achieve orgasm is widespread [e.g. FORD and BEACH, 1952; MORRIS, 1967]. It has been assumed that this aspect of sexual behaviour is qualitatively different in man. While there has been much experimentation in the neurophysiology and endocrinology of sexual behaviour in infra-human primates over the past 30-40 years, the assumption that female monkeys do not achieve orgasm has never been tested. The purpose of this report is to relate research begun on the question of whether or not female monkeys have orgasms and to discuss some of the theoretical questions related to this research, I would like to emphasize here that the research accomplished is only preliminary in terms of the research design employed, and that the results therefore are considered tentative.

This article presents the story between macaque and Por the macaque caretaker from Chomporn province who trained his monkeys to harvest coconut for career over fifty years ago. When tourism boomed, Por travelled to Phuket to start “monkey show” for Chinese tourists, then journeyed to Mae Rim, Chiang Mai to set up his “Monkey training center”. From the perspective of posthuman geographies, this article focuses on the vitality and animality that materialized along the voyage from the South to the North, and from coconut plantations to performing stages. The macaque were not mere working animals for entertainment in nature tourism. Because of their uniqueness and ability that draw in other living things and stuffs into relations, Spaces of fluidity and becoming emerge. At the training center, a place where matter out of place were performed to attract tourists, reveals the becoming of show monkey and the becoming of monkey caretaker that were forged from learning each other’s body languages, making noises and making eyes, including perceiving the rope tension from pulling or twitching. Moreover, due to the act and show equipment, physiological and behavioral development of the macaques in Chiang Mai were significantly different from those in Chumporn. At the same time, the caretaker grew into entrepreneurship that constantly adapt to survive under the power of neoliberalism of nature.

Abstract

Background: Plasmodium knowlesi is a zoonotic pathogen, transmitted among macaques and to humans by anopheline mosquitoes. Information on P. knowlesi malaria is lacking in most regions so the first step to understand the geographical distribution of disease risk is to define the distributions of the reservoir and vector species.

Methods: We used macaque and mosquito species presence data, background data that captured sampling bias in the presence data, a boosted regression tree model and environmental datasets, including annual data for land classes, to predict the distributions of each vector and host species. We then compared the predicted distribution of each
species with cover of each land class.

Results: Fine-scale distribution maps were generated for three macaque host species (Macaca fascicularis, M. nemestrina and M. leonina) and two mosquito vector complexes (the Dirus Complex and the Leucosphyrus Complex). The Leucosphyrus Complex was predicted to occur in areas with disturbed, but not intact, forest cover (> 60 % tree cover) whereas the Dirus Complex was predicted to occur in areas with 10–100 % tree cover as well as vegetation mosaics and cropland. Of the macaque species, M. nemestrina was mainly predicted to occur in forested areas whereas M. fascicularis was predicted to occur in vegetation mosaics, cropland, wetland and urban areas in addition to forested areas.

Conclusions: The predicted M. fascicularis distribution encompassed a wide range of habitats where humans are found. This is of most significance in the northern part of its range where members of the Dirus Complex are the main P. knowlesi vectors because these mosquitoes were also predicted to occur in a wider range of habitats. Our results support the hypothesis that conversion of intact forest into disturbed forest (for example plantations or timber concessions), or the creation of vegetation mosaics, will increase the probability that members of the Leucosphyrus Complex occur at these locations, as well as bringing humans into these areas. An explicit analysis of disease risk itself using infection data is required to explore this further. The species distributions generated here can now be included in future analyses of P. knowlesi infection risk.

Keywords: Species distribution model, Deforestation

Both human and nonhuman primate adults use infant-directed facial and vocal expressions across many contexts when interacting with infants (e.g., feeding, playing). This infant-oriented style of communication, known as infant-directed speech (IDS), seems to benefit human infants in numerous ways, including facilitating language acquisition. Given the variety of contexts in which adults use IDS, we hypothesized that IDS supports learning beyond the linguistic domain and that these benefits may extend to nonhuman primates. We exposed 2.5-month-old rhesus macaque infants (N = 15) to IDS, adult-directed speech (ADS), and a non-social control (CTR) during a video presentation of unrelated stimuli. After a 5-or 60-minute delay, infants were shown the familiar video side-by- side with a novel video. Infants exhibited a novelty preference after the 5-minute delay, but not after the 60-minute delay, in the ADS and CTR conditions, and a novelty preference in the IDS condition only after the 60-minute delay. These results are the first to suggest that exposure to IDS affects infants’ long-term memory, even in non-linguistic animals.

A vast literature exists on human biological motion perception in impoverished displays, e.g., point-light walkers. Less is known about the perception of impoverished biological motion displays in macaques. We trained 3 macaques in the discrimination of facing direction (left versus right) and forward versus backward walking using motion-capture-based locomotion displays (treadmill walking) in which the body features were represented by cylinder-like primitives. The displays did not contain translatory motion. Discriminating forward versus backward locomotion requires motion information while the facing-direction/ view task can be solved using motion and/or form. All monkeys required lengthy training to learn the forward–backward task, while the view task was learned more quickly. Once acquired, the discriminations were specific to walking and stimulus format but generalized across actors. Although the view task could be solved using form cues, there was a small impact of motion. Performance in the forward–backward task was highly susceptible to degradations of spatiotemporal stimulus coherence and motion information. These results indicate that rhesus monkeys require extensive training in order to use the intrinsic motion cues related to forward versus backward locomotion and imply that extrapolation of observations concerning human perception of impoverished biological motion displays onto monkey perception needs to be made cautiously.

Phylogenetic relationships among Malaysian pig-tailed macaques have never been established even though the data  are  crucial  in  aiding  conservation  plan  for  the  species.  The  aims  of  this  study  is  to  establish  the  phylogenetic relationships of Macaca nemestrina in Malaysia. A total of 21 genetic samples of M. nemestrina yielding 458 bp of D-loop sequences were used in phylogenetic analyses, in addition to one sample of M. fascicularis which was used as an outgroup. Sequence character analysis revealed that D-loop locus contains 23% parsimony informative character detected among the ingroups. Further analysis indicated a clear separation between populations originating from different regions; the Malay Peninsula populations are separated from Borneo Insular population; and Perak population formed a distinctive clade within Peninsular Malaysia populations. Phylogenetic trees (NJ, MP and Bayesian) portray a consistent clustering
paradigm as Borneo population was distinguished from Peninsula population (100% bootstrap value in theNJ, MP, 1.00 posterior probability in Bayesian trees). Perak’s population was separated from other Peninsula populations (100% in NJ,  99% in MP and1.00 in Bayesian). D-loop region of mtDNA is proven to be a suitable locus in studying the separation of M. nemestrina at population level. These findings are crucial in aiding the conservation management and translocation process of M. fascicularis populations in Malaysia.

To infer the ecogeographic conditions that underlie the evolutionary diversification of macaques, we investigated the within- and between-species relationships of craniodental dimensions, geography, and environment in extant macaque species. We studied evolutionary processes by contrasting macroevolutionary patterns, phylogeny, and within-species associations. Sixty-three linear measurements of the permanent dentition and skull along with data about climate, ecology (environment), and spatial geography were collected for 711 specimens of 12 macaque species and analyzed by a multivariate approach. Phylogenetic two-block partial least squares was used to identify patterns of covariance between craniodental and environmental variation. Phylogenetic reduced rank regression was employed to analyze spatial clines in morphological variation. Between-species associations consisted of two distinct multivariate patterns. The first represents overall craniodental size and is negatively associa...

β-defensins are a family of important peptides of innate immunity, involved in host defense, immunomodulation, reproduction and pigmentation. Genes encoding β-defensins show evidence of birth-and-death evolution, adaptation by amino acid sequence changes and extensive copy number variation (CNV) within humans and other species. The role of CNV in the adaptation of β-defensins to new functions remains unclear, as does the adaptive role of copy number variation in general. Here, we fine-map CNV of a cluster of β-defensins in humans and rhesus macaques. Remarkably, we found that the structure of the CNV is different between primates, with distinct mutational origins and CNV boundaries defined by retroviral long terminal repeat elements. While the human β-defensin CNV region is 322 kb and encompasses several genes, including β-defensins, a long non-coding RNA gene and testes-specific zinc-finger transcription factors, the orthologous region in the rhesus macaque shows CNV of a 20 kb reg...

Background and Aim: Trichuris trichiura and Hymenolepis diminuta are helminthic intestinal parasites that infect humans and other animals, including non-human primates. However, molecular detection of these parasites remains scarce in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), which coexist with human communities in Thailand. Thus, this study aimed to molecularly confirm the occurrence of Trichuris spp. and Hymenolepis spp. infection and determine the species of both parasites that were found in long-tailed macaques. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 fecal samples were randomly collected from long-tailed macaques living in Lopburi, Thailand, and tested based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for Trichuris spp. and Hymenolepis spp. infections. The PCR products were submitted for DNA purification and sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the maximum likelihood method. Results: Of 200 tested samples, three (1.5%) were positive for Trichuris spp. Sequence an...

One of the most remarkable properties of the visual system is the ability to identify and categorize a wide variety of objects effortlessly. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. Specifically, the question of how individual object information is represented and intrinsically organized is still poorly understood. To address this question, we presented images of isolated real-world objects spanning a wide range of categories to awake monkeys using a rapid event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design and analyzed the responses of multiple areas involved in object processing. We found that the multivoxel response patterns to individual exemplars in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex, especially area TE, encoded the animate-inanimate categorical division, with a subordinate cluster of faces within the animate category. In contrast, the individual exemplar representations in V4, the amygdala, and prefrontal cortex showed either no categorical structure, or a categorical structure different from that in IT cortex. Moreover, in the IT face-selective regions (" face patches "), especially the anterior face patches, (1) the multivoxel response patterns to individual exemplars showed a categorical distinction between faces and nonface objects (i.e., body parts and inanimate objects), and (2) the regionally averaged activations to individual exemplars showed face-selectivity and within-face exemplar-selectivity. Our findings demonstrate that, at both the single-exemplar and the population level, intrinsic object representation and categorization are organized hierarchically as one moves anteriorly along the ventral pathway, reflecting both modular and distributed processing.

In visually complex environments, numerous items compete for attention. Infants may exhibit attentional efficiency—privileged detection, attention capture and holding—for face-like stimuli. However, it remains unknown when these biases develop and what role, if any, experience plays in this emerging skill. Here, nursery-reared infant macaques’ (Macaca mulatta; n = 10) attention to faces in 10-item arrays of non-faces was measured using eye tracking. With limited face experience, 3-week-old monkeys were more likely to detect faces and looked longer at faces compared to non-faces, suggesting a robust face detection system. By 3 months, after peer exposure, infants looked faster to conspecific faces, but not heterospecific faces, suggesting an own-species bias in face attention capture, consistent with perceptual attunement.

When reaching to grasp an object, we often move our
arm and orient our gaze together. How are these movements
coordinated? To investigate this question, we
studied neuronal activity in the dorsal premotor area
(PMd) and the medial intraparietal area (area MIP) of
two monkeys while systematically varying the starting
position of the hand and eye during reaching. PMd
neurons encoded the relative position of the target,
hand, and eye. MIP neurons encoded target location
with respect to the eye only. These results indicate
that whereas MIP encodes target locations in an eyecentered
reference frame, PMd uses a relative position
code that specifies the differences in locations between
all three variables. Such a relative position code
may play an important role in coordinating hand and
eye movements by computing their relative position.

Abstract
Objectives: A “dip” in the stable nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) of subadults in the late weaning/early post-weaning phase of growth and development has been observed. Speculatively, this is the mechanism of positive nitrogen balance operating among rapidly growing subadults. An alternate hypothesis for δ15N dips is that during weaning, subadults eat lower-15N foods than adults.
Methods: This study explores the role of positive nitrogen balance in affecting δ15N variation of growing subadults by comparing growth velocity with stable carbon isotope (δ13C) and δ15N ratios of blood serum from captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) (n=14) with controlled diets during the first 10 months of life.
Results: During the first six months, δ15N values are inversely correlated with growth in some of the anthropometrics (weight and sagittal circumference). Dips in some infants’ δ15N values below their mothers’ values are observed at the end of the weaning period. However, during this time frame, δ15N values of the infants are not correlated with anthropometric indices. Serum stable isotope ratios of lactating and non-lactating adult females differ significantly.
Conclusions: Growth in body mass and size explains some of the variation in infant δ15N values, but are not responsible for dips in the late weaning/early post-weaning phase. It is advised that future research evaluate the extent to which growth in other body systems affects nitrogen balance and δ15N dips during ontogeny, and expand on isotopic differences between lactating and non-lactating females.

The length of the birth interval inMacaca sylvanus of Gibraltar was defined and one-year intervals were found to be normative. The effect of infant loss on the interbirth interval was assessed and found to have no influence. Variability in the birth interval in comparable species is noted.

There is evidence for early Pleistocene Homo in northern Europe, a novel hominin habitat. Adaptations enabling this colonisation are intriguing given suggestions that Homo exhibits physiological and behavioural malleability associated with a 'colonising niche'. Differences in body size/shape between conspecifics from different climates are well-known in mammals, could relatively flexible size/shape have been important to Homo adapting to cold habitats? If so, at what point did this evolutionary stragegy arise? To address these questions a base-line for adaptation to climate must be established by comparison with outgroups. We compare skeletons of Japanese macaques from four latitudes and find inter-group differences in postcranial and cranial size and shape. Very small body mass and cranial size in the Southern-most (island) population are most likely affected by insularity as well as ecogeographic scaling. Limb lengths and body breadths show group differences that accord wi...

Evidence from animal and human studies has suggested that the amygdala plays a role in detecting threat and in directing attention to the eyes. Nevertheless, there has been no systematic investigation of whether the amygdala specifically facilitates attention to the eyes or whether other features can also drive attention via amygdala processing. The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of amygdala lesions in rhesus monkeys on attentional capture by specific facial features, as well as gaze patterns and changes in pupil dilation during free viewing. Here we show reduced attentional capture by threat stimuli, specifically the mouth, and reduced exploration of the eyes in free viewing in monkeys with amygdala lesions. Our findings support a role for the amygdala in detecting threat signals and in directing attention to the eye region of faces when freely viewing different expressions.

Background and Aim: At present, increasing in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) population in Lopburi old town caused several problems in its community, in particular with sanitation problem. The present study aimed to explore species distribution and antimicrobial resistance patterns in bacteria isolated from feces of the free-ranging long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Lopburi Old Town, Thailand. Materials and Methods: Fresh fecal samples were collected from October 2018 to July 2019 from seven troops of macaques. Bacterial colonies were identified based on Gram stain and standard biochemical techniques. Sensitivity toward eight different antibiotics, including amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, cephalexin, clindamycin, doxycycline, enrofloxacin, erythromycin, and gentamicin, was analyzed using the disk diffusion method. Results: A total of 1050 fecal samples were collected. Five unique bacterial species were identified, including Escherichia coli, Enterobact...

Enduring positive social bonds between individuals are crucial for humans' health and well being. Similar bonds can be found in a wide range of taxa, revealing the evolutionary origins of humans' social bonds. Evidence suggests that these strong social bonds can function to buffer the negative effects of living in groups, but it is not known whether they also function to minimize predation risk. Here, we show that crested macaques ( Macaca nigra ) react more strongly to playbacks of recruitment alarm calls (i.e. calls signalling the presence of a predator and eliciting cooperative mobbing behaviour) if they were produced by an individual with whom they share a strong social bond. Dominance relationships between caller and listener had no effect on the reaction of the listener. Thus, strong social bonds may improve the coordination and efficiency of cooperative defence against predators, and therefore increase chances of survival. This result broadens our understanding of the...

An unusual but sustaining case of interspecific infant care behaviour was observed in June 1985 while an ecological and behavioural study of the macaques was being conducted in the forest of the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. We describe this specific interaction among three long-tail macaque infants (Macaca fascicularis) and their mothers and two stump-tail macaque (Macaca thibetana) females who acted as "babysitters." The cross-species infant care observed took place in a polyspecific group which also included rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and hybrids of rhesus and long-tail monkeys. This unique combination of macaque species in a large social and biological group provides an opportunity for the investigation of the role of behaviour in species identification and hybridization in natural habitats.

Human adults and infants show a preference for average faces, which could stem from a general processing mechanism and may be shared among primates. However, little is known about preference for facial averageness in monkeys. We used a comparative developmental approach and eye-tracking methodology to assess visual attention in human and macaque infants to faces naturally varying in their distance from a prototypical face. In Experiment 1, we examined the preference for faces relatively close to or far from the prototype in 12-month-old human infants with human adult female faces. Infants preferred faces closer to the average than faces farther from it. In Experiment 2, we measured the looking time of 3-month-old rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) viewing macaque faces varying in their distance from the prototype. Like human infants, macaque infants looked longer to faces closer to the average. In Experiments 3 and 4, both species were presented with unfamiliar categories of faces (i....

Mycobacterium tuberculosis continues to cause devastating levels of mortality due to tuberculosis (TB). The failure to control TB stems from an incomplete understanding of the highly specialized strategies that M. tuberculosis utilizes to modulate host immunity and thereby persist in host lungs. Here, we show that M. tuberculosis induced the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme involved in tryptophan catabolism, in macrophages and in the lungs of animals (mice and macaque) with active disease. In a macaque model of inhalation TB, suppression of IDO activity reduced bacterial burden, pathology, and clinical signs of TB disease, leading to increased host survival. This increased protection was accompanied by increased lung T cell proliferation, induction of inducible bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue and correlates of bacterial killing, reduced checkpoint signaling, and the relocation of effector T cells to the center of the granulomata. The enhanced killing of...