​​​​​​​​​  Tree: Tropical Research in Ecology & Ethology

Primate Behavior is a field course taught in Costa Rica. The course introduces students to behavioral observation and data collection. Students will learn to find, track, identify, and take systematic reliable data on three species of wild monkey living in both primary and secondary wet tropical rainforest. The acquisition of skills comes from completion of a series of graded field-based exercises. Students will be expected to work in the field each day in order to complete these exercises; either working on their own or in small groups.  A number of short content-related lectures will be given to supplement field time by Dr. Joachim - though no tests will be given on this content. Rather, this content will be used by students as background material for the completion of final projects.

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Course topics include:

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• Learning about the the behavior and biogeography of the Black-handed Spider Monkey, the White-faced Capuchin Monkey, and the Mantled Howler Monkey.

• Learning how to find monkey groups within a large tropical forest.

• Learning how to differentiate one group from another based on species and individuals present.

• Tracking groups and individuals using compass and GPS.

• Identification of individuals.

• Scan sampling on groups and individuals.

• Focal animal continuous sampling.

• Exploring: habitat use, hand use, gaze, social relationships, feeding habits, and range use.

• Creation of a research proposal based on skills learned in this course.

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For more information about this course or to register your place, contact Dr. Joachim at  lfjoachim@comcast.net.

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Primate Course Equipment List

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