Cognition in Ring-Tailed Lemurs

Abstract

In order to better understand the evolution of cognitive abilities in primates, information on cognitive traits of the most basal living primates can provide important comparative baseline data. Compared to haplorhine primates, lemurs have relatively smaller brains and reduced abilities to solve problems in the technical and social domain. However, recent studies have suggested that some cognitive abilities of lemurs are qualitatively equal to those of haplorhines. Here, we review studies investigating cognitive abilities in the technical and social domain of ring-tailed lemur cognition. In the physical domain, ring-tailed lemurs exhibit similar qualitative cognitive skills as other lemurs but also haplorhine primates. In the social domain, ring-tailed lemurs appear to be more skilled in visual perspective taking than other lemurs. Compared to other lemurs, they also have highly elaborated communicative skills. Moreover, within-group coalitions have been observed in female ring-tailed lemurs during rare events of female evictions but not in other lemur species. However, in several other aspects of social cognition, such as reconciliation and social learning, ring-tailed lemurs' cognitive abilities are equal to those of other lemurs. Thus, additional systematic comparative studies in physical and social cognition are required for a more comprehensive understanding of the processes of cognitive evolution among primates.