University Level Course Syllabi
PRIMATE STUDIES (Anthro. B22Y Intro, Two Semesters)
Frances Burton, University of Toronto
PRIMATE STUDIES (Anthro. B22Y Intro, Two Semesters)
Instructor:
Frances Burton
Department of Anthropology
University of Toronto
Scarborough Campus
1265 Military Trail
Scarborough, ONT M1C 1A4
CANADA
Telephone: 416-287-7345
Email: burton@lake.scar.utoronto.ca
BACKGROUND
The majority of my students are heading towards careers other than
zoology or anthropology; most of them will not be working as researchers.
This course is intended to enable students to learn something about
primates, primate studies, and research in the contemporary context of
diminishing populations. As a course in Anthropology, the emphasis is on
social processes and how to attempt to understand them as well as their
relevance to hominization. There is a theme for each semester culminating
in a student presentation: in the first semester, it is conservation and
in the second semester, well-being in captivity. Lectures cover basic
information on non-human primates which is supported and supplemented by
readings. Films and videos are extensively used so that individual
species' behaviour itself can be the focus as an adjunct to compendia and
analyses of behaviours as is given in text chapters or journal articles.
Students are encouraged to find out for themselves in the library and
Metro Toronto Zoo. The basic skills for this are covered in the course.
Zoo data is analysed and compared with the literature to be presented to
the class and subsequently handed in as a paper.
ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION
SEMESTER ONE:
Project: Conservation or well-being 40%
part a. species profile 10
part b. paper 20
part c. seminar 10
SEMESTER TWO:
Project: Zoo project 40
part a. data exercise 10
part b. paper 20
part c. seminar 10
Final 20 [includes identification 20 species from CD Rom]
SEMESTER ONE:
PROJECT - conservation or well-being 40%
Part I. The Species profile -library work
The species [review recent literature on disc; basic
information on the CDROM: MULTIMEDIA GUIDE TO THE NON-HUMAN
PRIMATES.]
Task: [a] To gain expertise on a species through using the Multimedia Guide.
[b] To locate on the library's CDs RECENT MATERIAL
[BEGINNING WITH 1995 BACK TO 1992] on the species
you have chosen.
[c] Group the abstracts according to the
categories used in THE GUIDE.
[d] Consider this material and discuss. You might
summarize what is new and where this recent
information changes the view on this species, or
note what kinds of information is currently being
emphasized, etc.
Part II. The paper: 20 pages (double spaced) [25%]
TASK: [a] You may choose to focus on conservation OR
well-being in captivity.
[b] The paper is to be organized according to the
following:
1. the problem
2. the issues pertaining
3. the primate: its needs [see Part I:
species profile]
4. possible solutions
5. conclusions
DETAILS:
The problem [an introduction: your statement of the prob. as
a function of your thinking and reading]
The issues pertaining [a discussion flowing from above]
The primate-its needs; the literature [focus on the species
chosen as well as literature on that primate's needs.
Possible solutions - the literature
Conclusions
SEMESTER TWO:
Project at ZOO or VIDEO project 35
IDEAS FOR PROJECTS at the Metro Toronto zoo:
1. Group size and composition
2. Eye contact
3. Supplantation
4. Nearest neighbour
5. Use of space
6. Adoption in the orang group
7. Growth and development of the marmoset babies
8. Social structure in the mandrills
IDEAS FOR VIDEO PROJECT (the monkeys of Kowloon)
A.Monkey relations to humans
B.Human relations to monkeys
C.Soil eating
D.Finding a kin unit: establishing criteria
E.Following an individual overtime.
===================================================
ANTHROPOLOGY B22Y: Primate Studies Monday 9-12
Prof. Burton H424 (287-7345)
Please note: videos and films are shown most every Monday in the first
hour.
SEMESTER ONE
Sept 11 1. Intro: scope, purpose,
activities,requirements-research; the field;
the primates
Sept 18 2. The GUIDE: check "ZOO group" MEET IN
MACINTOSH LAB
Sept 25 3. The Zoo: who is there; cages; age, sex
Oct 2 4. Species, distrib., habitat....conservation
Oct 9 HOLIDAY T H A N K S G I V I N G
Oct 16 5. Conservation: Guest speaker Zena Toos: the
guenons in Nigeria
Oct 23 6. The group: types of social structures
Oct 30 7. Socialization and the life cycle
Nov 6 8. Reproduction
Nov 13 9. The monkeys of Huashan & Cano Palma:ecotourism
Nov 20 10. Continued
Nov 27 11. Seminars
Dec 4 12. Seminars
LAST DAY OF CLASSES DEC 08
SEMESTER TWO.
Jan 08 The monkeys of Kowloon & Gibraltar: synanthropy
15 Continued
22 Diet: specialists or omnivores?
29 Communication
Feb 05 Ape Language
12 Cultural processes
19 Methods: how we know what we know; how we can know
26 Doing the Zoo project: computer lab
Mar 05 Zoo observations
12 READING WEEK
13 Zoo observations [bring data collated into sheets
for next week]
26 Processing information: computer lab. Inputting data
Apr 02 Results of zoo exercise
Apr 06 Seminars
Apr 12 Seminars LAST DAY OF CLASSES:PAPERS DUE
Texts.
Required:
Jolly, A. 1985. The Evolution of Primate Behavior
Recommended
Paterson, J. 1992. Primate Behaviour: An Exercise Workbook.
Smuts et al. 1988. Primate Societies
Richard, A. 1988. Primates in Nature
Burton [ed]. 1992. Social Processes and Mental Abilities in Non-human
primates.
One of the following is required.
Burton, F.D. and M. Eaton 1995. The Multimedia Guide to the Non Human
Primates: CD Rom with user's guide and a print version. Prentice Hall.
Burton, F.D. 1995. Print Version: The Multimedia Guide to the Non Human
Primates. Prentice Hall.
VIDEO SHOWN IN THIS COURSE
Survey of the Primates or equivalent
The Third Angel "Birute"
Poor Little Rich Boy: Monkeys of Cayo
The Nature of Things: Shirley Strum -Baboons
Lemurs-Madagascar video
Raw footage - Huashan; Costa Rica
Barbary Apes
Feeding and Food Sharing
Washoe or Ape Lang.
People of the Forest [chimps]
