Together Alone: Sportive Lemurs Stay Individualists in Relationships
During a one-year field study in Southern Madagascar the two researchers discovered that nocturnal white-footed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur leucopus) share a common territory with a pair partner of the opposite sex. This result clarified conflicting earlier reports on the social organization of this species.
The study of the DPZ researchers also revealed a specific type of relationship model that has not yet been described for other pair-living species. Although males and females live together also outside the brief annual mating season and defend a common territory together, they were never observed to huddle or to groom each other during the more than 1,500 hours of observation. “This species is characterized by an active avoidance of pair partners,” says Iris Dröscher, first author and PhD student at the Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit of the DPZ.
For their research the scientists observed a population of white-footed sportive lemurs at the Berenty Reserve and followed their movements via radio collars. They found that social interaction between couples are limited to mating once a year. “For primates, grooming is an important social interaction that strengthens the relationship between individuals. But it does not exist in white-footed sportive lemur couples,” explains Iris Dröscher. “Even for sleeping, the partners choose separate trees and never spend any time together.” The most elaborate social interactions of white-footed sportive lemur pair partners consist of just sitting next to each other at a small distance.
As interactions with many individuals in different contexts create cognitive challenges for animals, social complexity is regarded as an essential motor for the evolution of intelligence in primates. “White-footed sportive lemurs are characterized by a minimum of social complexity; they really define the baseline among primates,” says principle investigator Peter Kappeler.
Meet the ring-tailed lemur. This animal is one angry motherfucker. You gotta have something and this animal has anger. It is angry solo. It is angry in groups. It could lift things off the ground with the sheer force of its anger. It is a gloriously angry animal. It is angry because your dumb ass is photographing it sitting on a rock. It is angry because it hates this annoying fly so much it wants to kill it with its own paws to make it go away. In fact, it just wants to destroy everything. Make no mistake, it knows it’s awesome. Look at it. It knows it has an awesome tail. It will wrap it around its own neck and wear it as a shawl because it gets cold outside and because fuck you. This animal feeds on anger. Anger, for this animal, is a constructive force because anger makes it get the fuck up and do things, like smash things, for example.
Source: 500px.com
Photo “protection” by Wolf Ademeit #500px http://t.co/cUrUkE83rV
Lemur catta
Design Festa vol.38
2013.11.3 at Tokyo Big Sight
K-171
デザインフェスタに出展します。
11月3日（日）ブースは4階のK-171
是非遊びにきてください。
