© Maxine Piron
The research conducted at IVP spans a wide range of topics and focuses on studying vervet monkeys in their natural environment. A wide range of methodologies are employed including natural observations, field experiments and urine and faecal analyses. Some of the main topics currently investigated by researchers at IVP are listed below:
Social learning and cultural evolution
At the core of modern biology lies a vast literature on evolution and its genetic basis. Less well researched is the ‘second inheritance system’, within which behavioural innovations are transmitted culturally, through social learning.
We are testing the effect of a model’s identity on the extent to which novel innovations spread, and also examine the spatial and temporal scales on which traditions may develop. The combined results will for the first time assess the role of social learning for behavioural phenotypes in a wild primate population, which should help us to better understand what makes our human culture so unique. |
Social behaviour & endocrinology
The integration of social behaviours and endocrinology is a field of research that offers great insights to acquire more holistic understanding of primates’ social behaviour. Different studies have shown that the neuropeptide oxytocin is linked to mother-offspring bonding, individual recognition, affiliative interactions or prosocial behaviours, social cohesion and proximity, selective social preferences and maintenance of bonds among different group members. There is thus a great potential in studying the association of hormones and social behaviours through non-invasive methods. Researchers at IVP are investigating some aspects of the sociality of vervet monkeys together with the hormone oxytocin. More specifically we will investigate grooming patterns and preference for social partners in wild vervet monkeys.
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Communication
Since the alarm call studies by in 1970`s, vervets served as a classic example of complex primate vocal communication which gave rise to a new line of research investigating evolution of human language through comparative studies. However, after decades of research we know very little about the nature of primate vocalisations and underlying cognitive processes.
Researchers at IVP are trying to look at different aspects of vocal communication to such as audience effect, flexibility, ontogeny, functions and social cognition to gain insights into underlying mechanisms, processes involved in production and usage of different call typos in vervet vocal repertoire using both observational data collection and field experiments. |
©: Maxine Piron, Erica van de Waal, Tecla Mohr