Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T17:58:32.527Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Day length seasonality and the thermal environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2009

Russell Hill
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group Department of Anthropology University of Durham 43 Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN UK
Diane K. Brockman
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Carel P. van Schaik
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The importance of high ambient temperatures and intense solar radiation for the evolution of hominids in open savanna habitats has been the subject of considerable interest. A series of studies has considered the thermoregulatory advantages related to bipedalism (Wheeler 1991), loss of functional body hair (Wheeler 1992a), body size (Wheeler 1992b), physique (Wheeler 1993), and shade-seeking behavior (Wheeler 1994a). Furthermore, these papers have generated considerable debate (Porter 1993; Chaplin et al. 1994; Wheeler 1994b; do Amaral 1996; Wheeler 1996). It is surprising, therefore, that the importance of the thermoregulation in primate behavioral ecology has received comparatively little attention, with the body of former work focusing on other ecological factors such as food availability (Stelzner 1988). Nevertheless, a number of studies have reported primates to alter their activity schedules in response to thermoregulatory needs (baboons, Papio spp. [Stolz & Saayman 1970]; gelada, Theropithecus gelada [Iwamoto & Dunbar 1983]; pigtail macaques, Macaca nemestrina [Bernstein 1972]; sooty mangabeys, Cercocebus atys [Bernstein 1976]; chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes [Wrangham 1977]; gorillas, Gorilla gorilla [Fossey & Harcourt 1977]). However, in most cases, these studies have invoked post-hoc thermoregulatory interpretations, and few have examined explicitly the importance of the thermal environment under natural conditions.

The most detailed studies of thermoregulation in wild primates have been conducted on baboons (e.g. Stelzner & Hausfater [1986], Stelzner [1988], Brain & Mitchell [1999], Pochron [2000], and Hill [2005]).

Type
Chapter
Information
Seasonality in Primates
Studies of Living and Extinct Human and Non-Human Primates
, pp. 197 - 214
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altmann, J. (1974). Observational study of behaviour: sampling methods. Behaviour, 49, 227–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, I. S. (1972). Daily activity cycles and weather influences on a pigtail monkey group. Folia Primatologica, 18, 390–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, I. S. (1976). Activity patterns in a sooty mangabey group. Folia Primatologica, 26, 185–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brain, C. & Mitchell, D. (1999). Body temperature changes in free-ranging baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) in the Namib Desert, Namibia. International Journal of Primatology, 20, 585–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronikowski, A. M. & Altmann, J. (1996). Foraging in a variable environment: weather patterns and the behavioural ecology of baboons. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 39, 11–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaplin, G., Jablonski, N. G., & Cable, N. T. (1994). Physiology, thermoregulation and bipedalism. Journal of Human Evolution, 27, 497–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, M. A. & Bartholomew, G. A. (1981). Standard operative temperatures and thermal energetics of the antelope ground squirrel Ammospermophilus leucurus. Physiology and Zoology, 54, 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T. H. (1977). Some aspects of intraspecific variation in feeding and ranging behaviour in primates. In Primate Ecology, ed. Clutton-Brock, T. H.. London: Academic Press, pp. 557–79.Google Scholar
Cowling, R. & Richardson, D. (1995). Fynbos: South Africa's Unique Floral Kingdom. Vlaeberg: Fernwood Press.Google Scholar
Amaral, L. Q. (1996). Loss of body hair, bipedality and thermoregulation. Comments on recent papers in the Journal of Human Evolution, 30, 357–66.Google Scholar
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1990). Environmental determinants of intraspecific variation in body weight in baboons (Papio spp.). Journal of Zoology, London, 220, 157–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1992). Time: a hidden constraint on the behavioural ecology of baboons. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 31, 35–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elizondo, R. (1977). Temperature regulation in primates. In International Review of Physiology: Environmental Physiology II, Vol. 15, ed. Robertshaw, D.. Baltimore: University Park Press, pp. 71–118.Google Scholar
Fossey, D. & Harcourt, A. (1977). Feeding ecology of free-ranging mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei). In Primate Ecology, ed. Clutton-Brock, T. H.. London: Academic Press, pp. 415–49.Google Scholar
Funkhouser, G. E., Higgins, E. A., Adams, T., & Snow, C. C. (1967). The response of the savannah baboon (Papio cynocephalus) to thermal stress. Life Science, Oxford, 6, 1615–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaynor, D. (1994). Foraging and feeding behaviour of chacma baboons in a woodland habitat. Ph.D. thesis, University of Natal.
Gisolfi, C. V., Sato, K., Wall, P. T., & Sato, F. (1982). In vivo and in vitro characteristics of eccrine sweating in patas and rhesus monkeys. Journal of Applied Physiology, 53, 425–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hiley, P. H. (1976). The thermoregulatory repsonses of the galago (Galago crassicaudatus), the baboon (Papio cynocephalus) and the chimpanzee (Pan satyrus) to heat stress. Journal of Physiology, London, 254, 657–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, R. A. (1999). Ecological and demographic determinants of time budgets in baboons: implications for cross-populational models of baboon sociobiology. Ph.D. thesis, University of Liverpool.
Hill, R. A. (2005). Thermal constraints on activity scheduling and habitat choice in baboons. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, in press.
Hill, R. A. & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2002) Climatic determinants of diet and foraging behaviour in baboons. Evolutionary Ecology, 16, 579–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, R. A., Barrett, L., Gaynor, D., et al. (2003). Day length, latitude and behavioural (in)flexibility in baboons. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 53, 278–86.Google Scholar
Hill, R. A., Weingrill, T., Barrett, L., & Henzi, S. P. (2004a). Indices of environmental temperatures for primates in open habitats. Primates, 45, 7–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, R. A., Barrett, L., Gaynor, D., et al. (2004b). Day length variation and seasonal analyses of behaviour. South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 34, 39–44.Google Scholar
Iwamoto, T. & Dunbar, R. I. M. (1983) Thermoregulation, habitat quality and the behavioural ecology in gelada baboons. Journal of Animal Ecology, 53, 357–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolka, M. A. & Elizondo, R. S. (1983). Thermoregulation in Erythrocebus patas: a thermal balance study. Journal of Applied Physiology, 55, 1603–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kummer, H. (1968). Social Organisation of Hamdryas Baboons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lawes, M. J. & Piper, S. E. (1992). Activity patterns in free-ranging samango monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis erythrarchus Peters, 1852) at the southern range limit. Folia Primatologica, 59, 186–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, D. & Laburn, H. P. (1985). The pathophysiology of temperature regulation. Physiologist, 28, 507–17.Google ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, D., Laburn, H. P., Nijland, M. J. M., Zurovsky, Y. & Mitchell, G. (1987). Selective brain cooling and survival. South African Journal of Science, 83, 598–604.Google Scholar
Pochron, S. T. (2000). Sun avoidance in the yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus cynocephalus) of Ruaha National Park, Tanzania: variations with season, behaviour and weather. International Journal of Biometeorology, 44, 141–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porter, A. M. W. (1993). Sweat and thermoregulation in hominids. Comments prompted by the publications of P. E. Wheeler 1984–1993. Journal of Human Evolution, 25, 417–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Post, D. G. (1981). Activity patterns of yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Animal Behaviour, 29, 357–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stelzner, J. K. (1988). Thermal effects on movement patterns of yellow baboons. Primates, 29, 91–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stelzner, J. K. & Hausfater, G. (1986). Posture, microclimate, and thermoregulation in yellow baboons. Primates, 27, 449–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoltz, L. & Saayman, G. S. (1970). Ecology and behaviour of baboons in the Transvaal. Annuals of the Transvaal Museum, 26, 99–143.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. R. (1969). The eland and the oryx. Scientific American, 220, 88–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wheeler, P. E. (1991). The thermoregulatory advantages of hominid bipedalism in open equatorial environments: the contribution of increased convective heat loss and cutaneous evaporative cooling. Journal of Human Evolution, 21, 107–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, P. E. (1992a). The influence of the loss of functional body hair on the energy and water budgets of the early hominids. Journal of Human Evolution, 223, 379–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, P. E. (1992b). The thermoregulatory advantages of large body size for hominids foraging in savannah environments. Journal of Human Evolution, 223, 351–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, P. E. (1993). The influence of stature and body form on hominid energy and water budgets: a comparison of Australopithecus and early Homo physiques. Journal of Human Evolution, 24, 13–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, P. E. (1994a). The thermoregulatory advantages of heat storage and shade-seeking behaviour to hominids foraging in equatorial savannah environments. Journal of Human Evolution, 26, 339–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, P. E. (1994b). The foraging times of bipedal and quadrupedal hominids in open equatorial environments (a reply to Chaplin, Jablonski & Cable, 1994). Journal of Human Evolution, 27, 511–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, P. E. (1996). The environmental context of functional body hair loss in hominids (a reply to Amaral, 1996). Journal of Human Evolution, 30, 367–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wrangham, R. W. (1977). Feeding behaviour of chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. In Primate Ecology, ed. Clutton-Brock, T. H.. London: Academic Press, pp. 504–37.Google Scholar
Zurovsky, Y. & Shkolnik, A. (1983). Water economy and body fluid distribution in the hamadray baboon (Papio hamadryas). Journal of Thermoregulatory Biology, 18, 153–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×