An Analysis of Primate Social Behavior and Human Parallels

This essay delves into the intricate world of primate social behavior, examining the factors that influence their social organization, communication methods, and instances of infanticide. The paper begins by highlighting the tendency of humans to overlook the animal kingdom, emphasizing the similari...Read More

Running head: SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN PRIMATES
Social Behavior in Primates
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN PRIMATES
Introduction
Often times there is a tendency on the part of human beings to ignore the animal
world. This is so because humans consider themselves to be the most intelligent of all
life forms on Earth and this instills a sense of priority and importance in them
(Kummer, 2017). Moreover, they are of the idea that they are the only one who are
capable of feelings and emotions. This is not true as all living beings are capable of
‘feelings’. It is this very aspect of them which segregates them from the non-living
objects of the world. The ability to hold emotions and to work on them or take actions
in the context of the emotions is something which is similar within both the human
beings and of the animals of the primate world (Dixson, 2015). The main thesis of the
paper is to understand the various factors that influence primate behaviour and
compels them to act in a particular manner. Moreover, the essay analyses the factors
associated with the differences in primate social organizations. The essay also
discusses the process of communication among primates and the parallels observed
among the primate world and the human society in this context.
Factors associated with differences in primate social organizations
Unlike the human society, there is no formal civilization in the primate world.
The animals prefer to follow the laws of the nature and choose to undertake activities
which they find to be preferable (Janson, 2017). The sense of morality and wisdom is
absent in them which prevents human beings to embark on certain course of action.
For instance, when it comes to the context of marriage, primates may indulge in
polyandrous social relations. For example, the New World Monkeys, especially the
tamarins and the marmosets, have the habit of forming both polyandrous and

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monogamous family units. Often, they initially indulge in monogamous relation
(Bergey et al., 2016). However, in the later times, a second male adult may decide to
be a part of the family and his responsibility is to support in the activity of child
rearing. During this time, there is a potential possibility that both the male adult
primates shall mate with the adult female. Moreover, this arrangement is convenient
in the context of the New World Monkeys as they are often twins in nature and their
fathers carry them around on their backs (Sade, 2017). This again points to the fact
that primates are largely guided by the laws of nature and not by the requirements of
the society.
The social organization of the primates is largely dependent upon the
environmental conditions. Primates are mainly guided by their food necessity and
their ability to live comfortably in the environment (Sandel et al., 2016). For instance,
research studies have found that the temporal variation of a place, such as the
countries of the tropical region, play a significant role in the development of the
characteristics of the primates such as their dexterous hands, their colour vision, the
large size of their brains among a few others.
This information can help us to understand the behaviour of those belonging to
the Hominin group that is the human beings, in a much comprehensive manner
(Cheney & Seyfarth, 2018). For instance, we can observe that the primary driver of
humans is the need for food. It is their hunger which compels them to work.
Moreover, humans have understood the need for a civilization with formal laws and
regulations but they still enter the social contract of marriages for the purpose of child
rearing (Kalbitzer et al., 2017). This essentially follows from the remains of their
primate behaviour which encourages them to mate with other human beings.

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Factors associated with the practice of infanticide by some primates
Infanticide refers to the condition of killing of one;s one child for a particular
purpose. Among the non-human primates, several factors have been recognized to be
influencing the activity of infanticide. One of the most significant factor that can be
noticed to be the prime reason for infanticide is that of competition for resources
(Storey & Ziegler, 2016). The resources of nature are limited in number and in the
contemporary world, their limitation is so aggravating that it compels the adult
primates to kill off their own children. Moreover, competition for resources also occur
simply because of the social behaviour of the primates. For instance, it has been
observed that wild chimpanzees have an aggressive behaviour towards a less powerful
chimpanzee and her child. These children are easy to kill as they are defenceless
because of their young age (Platt, Seyfarth & Cheney, 2016). In the context of the
langurs, a peculiar situation can be observed. Langurs are monkeys who live on the
land and their main diet is leaf of the plants. Langurs live in a cohesive group
consisting of one resident adult male langur, several adult female landurs and their off
springs. The adult female langurs are somehow all related to each other, be it mother,
sister, grandmother or even distant female relatives. Among the off springs, the male
langurs leave the group when they reach adulthood (Platt, Seyfarth & Cheney, 2016).
The adult females in a group together constitute a harem and they are mated in a
monopolistic way by the resident adult male langur. Typically, an outside male adult
langur tries to fight with the resident male langur of a group in order to gain
dominance over that group. If the outside adult male langur manages to win, then he
ends up killing all the off springs in that group in order to establish his superiority.
This behaviour can be analysed from the point of view that an adult male langur who
is the resident of a group, wants to establish his dominance among over his off springs

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and not the off springs of anyone else. However, this poses a serious problem to the
population of langurs as the average period of residency of any adult male langur of a
group is twenty seven months.
Ways of communication among the primates
The process of communication ensures the transmission of the feelings, thoughts
and emotions from one living being to that of another. In this manner, communication
can be of both verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Among the
primates of the world, it is usually non-verbal communication that can be observed.
They have a language of their own but they choose to communicate with the aid of
signs more than communicating with their language (Benenson, 2019). They
emphasize on the use of body language and smells to communicate with the other
members of their group.
These forms and different ways of communication are significant as they ensure
the maintenance of group cohesion and group harmony (Platt, Seyfarth & Cheney,
2016). Often time sit has been noticed that non-verbal communication in the form of
staring and the usage of threatening gestures adversely affects group harmony. All
living beings, be it non-human primates or those belonging to the human civilization,
like their own space (Reichard, 2018). As a result, sitting too close to someone or
touching unnecessarily causes feelings of tension which again, adversely impacts the
aspect of group harmony. However, in the primate world, certain behaviours have
been termed as affiliative behaviours which supports the maintenance of group
harmony and group cohesion. For instance, a primate may sit too close to someone
and touch the other in an affectionate manner. This form of non-verbal

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communication inspires a sense of fraternity among them and they feel affectionate
towards one another (Platt, Seyfarth & Cheney, 2016).
Communication is an important part of existence as without proper
communication, no one will be able to know what affects the other being. In order to
live in a social setting, it is imperative that feelings of compassion and compromise
exist among the members of that social setting (Kummer, 2017). This enables to avoid
any acts of conflict or acts which has the potential to threaten the aspect of group
cohesion.
Conclusion
Parallels between the non-human primate world and the human society can be
observed to be in existence in a wide scale. Human beings essentially have an
cannibalistic tendency within them which drives them to undertake certain primary
activity such as searching for food, ensuring their survival and the process of mating.
These three activities are important for the prevalence of any group in the society, be
it non-human primates or human beings. For instance, in the context of forming
families, it is seen that both the groups prefer monogamous system of mating but
when the time requires, they may engage in polygamous mating process. However, a
crucial difference that might be noticeable between the human civilization and the
non-human primates is that human beings have the ability to make critically analyze a
particular situation and take judicious decisions based on that. This is not so in
primates. They are mainly guided by their inner feelings and emotions and the aspect
of logical reasoning is found to be missing in them.

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