Observing Primates Lab.

READ CAREFULLY!!! "WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEO THEN FILL OUT THE TABLES BELOW!"

Watching Primates: Student Worksheet Introduction Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall revolutionized the study of chimpanzees during her eldwork in Gombel. Tanzania. The behaviors she witnessed changed our perception of apes from instinct-driven creatures to toolinventing beings. In this activity you will learn about ethology. or how researchers turn observations of living things into scientic data. and then create a report of what you saw. While we cannot go to Gombe on short notice, we can watch uncut videos of zoodwelling pn'mates online and apply scientic techniques to go beyond what a typical zoo visitor sees. There are different ways to collect data on animal behavior. We will be practicing scan sampling whereby the observer records the behaviors of the group at set intervals. By contrast: focal sampling involves recording every action of one specic individual over a length of time. Pa One: Preparation Before watching primates. you have to prepare for what you expect to see in order to save time and effort later when you are intently focused on your living subjects. First. pick one of the videos to observe from the Primate Observation Playlist. 1. Which video and which pn'mate will you observe (focus on ONE individual}? Apply the scientic method and make a prediction about what will you see. Answer the following question: 2. Which behaviors do you think you will see when watching the primate for 15 minutes? Now set up an etogram. which is a table used to record animal behavior. You will use this table while observing the primate in order to reduce writing and produce a standardized data set of what you saw. Put short descriptions of behaviors in the left column. Some have been added for you but you should add more based upon your general knowledge of primate behavior. Primate Ethogram Behavior Time (0:30-7:30) 0:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 Out of View Standing Sitting Sleeping EatingBehavior Time (8:00-15:00) 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10 10 11 11: 12: 12: 13 13 14: 14 15: 00 30 00 30 00 30 00 30 00 30 00 Out of View Standing Sitting Sleeping EatingPart Two: Observation Now it is time to use your ethogram to record primate behavior using the scan sampling method. Read these instructions in full before starting: 1. Play the video you chose in Part One. 2. Using the video's timer or your own stopwatch app, keep track of the time. 3. Every thirty seconds, record the behaviors of the primates you see using the ethogram you set up in Part One. Mark each square for each behavior you see at each time. If you are watching multiple primates try to keep track of each one by using a short unique name for them. 4. End observation at 15 minutes. Here is a sample table: BehaviorlTime 10:00 Out of View Sitting A, B Sleeping C A: Adult male, B: Adult female, C: Juvenile Part Three: Analysis and Report Your data set allows you to quantify how much time each primate spent with each activity. For each individual, calculate how many times they were seen performing each behavior by filling out this table (if you observed more than one individual, there are additional Time Budget tables in the "Additional Documents" section of this worksheet): Time Budget for Individual: Behavior/ Boxes Seen Total Visible Boxes Seen/Total Visible Times Calculation Times Out of View Not calculated Standing Sitting Sleeping EatingSee this example based on the adult male in the example ethogram: Time Budget for Individual: A: Adult Male BehaviorfCalculation Boxes Seen Total Visible Boxes SeenfTotal Visible Times * Times 100 Out of View Not calculated Standing 75% Sitting 25% With your data set and time budget in hand, craft a report of what you saw. Follow these instructions to write an effective report that is at least 500 words, well-organized, and clear to best communicate your message. Your report should include the following sections: 1. Introduction: Which primate(s) did you observe? Was the video a live stream, in person, or pre-recorded? What did you expect to see? End this section with a short summary of what you actually saw and whether it matched what you expected. 2. Body Paragraph 1: Tell the reader in more detail what you saw. Start with a description of the scene and the individual primates. Then describe the actions you saw in order from beginning to end, like it's a story with a lot of detail. 3. Body Paragraph 2: Present your analysis of time budgets. How much time did each individual spend with each behavior? 4. Conclusion: Summarize your paper for the reader. Briey restate what primate(s) you observed, what you expected to see, and what you actually saw. Additional Documents: More Time Budget Tables Time Budget for Individual: Behavior/ Boxes Seen Total Visible Boxes Seen/Total Visible Times * Times 100 Calculation Out of View Not calculated Standing Sitting Sleeping Eating