Month: October 2014

Monkey Personality in Glitter Poo?

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glitter poo montage

Fig 1 surveysAn animal’s personality can be defined as a consistent pattern of behaviour and thinking.

Twenty of our squirrel monkeys have been personality surveyed by our keepers. This entails the keepers giving our monkeys scores on certain characteristics in their behaviours. For example they look at traits such as sociability, curiousity and timidity (Fig 1).fig 2 factor charts

These traits can then be categorised into broad personality factors. For humans we have five recognised personality factors, whereas the squirrel monkeys are seen to have four (Fig 2).

Some of our squirrel monkeys like Ellie and Georgette (Fig.3) have scored high in assertiveness, whereas others like Toomi and Salvador have scored higher in impulsiveness.

fig 3 monkeys assertive

 

You are probably wondering ‘when does the poo come into this story?’ And the answer is now.

 

 

Vanessa Wilson from Edinburgh University has gained the personality profiles of our monkeys from the zoo keepers’ surveys. What she can now look to see is if these match up with specific genes in the monkeys’ DNA.  The way we get the DNA from the monkeys is by sampling their faeces.glitter poo sandwiches 2

To be sure we match up the right monkey to the correct faecal sample we need to add a marker to their food. Glitter is perfect for this, in fact silver and green glitter seem to work the best (Fig. 4).

What we are looking for in the DNA fig 5of our monkeys are variations in some very specific genes. The ones in question are named DRD4, 5HTT and MAOA.  These genes are directly linked with either dopamine or serotonin systems in the brain (Fig 5).

Dopamine and serotonin play a large role in animal behaviour and personality, so differences in these genes may allow us to see why some of our animals have different personality types.

2 pink beads east PelusaSimilar research has taken place with other animals too, including elephants, orangutans, and dogs. The more species we study, the greater understanding we will have on the connections between animal genes and behaviour. This knowledge can then help us to ensure genetic diversity in captive breeding programmes as well as tailoring or animal care procedures for specific personality types.

 

 

 

Chimp culture seen in ‘real time’

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Photo by Cat Hobatier

Researchers, including Dr Catherine Hobaiter from the University of St Andrews, have observed the spread of a new tool being invented and used by a group of wild chimpanzees. This is the first time that researchers have been able to track the spread of a natural behaviour from individual to individual in the wild.

Whilst watching chimpanzees in the Sonso community in the Budongo Forest extracting water from a hole in the forest, the researchers noticed two things that they had never seen before in that group – the use of moss to form sponges and the reuse of leaf sponges. Chimpanzees in the Sonso community regularly form bundles of leaves to soak up water, but the use of moss was novel. By using a statistical technique called network-based diffusion analysis the researchers were able to track the spread of the behaviour from the alpha male who first used it, to other individuals who had been watching him.

The study is published in PLOS Biology and can be found online here. There will be more information about chimpanzee cultures and how we can trace the spread of new behaviours using social networks on the Animal Cultures stand in November.

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