Abstract
Over the past few decades, field studies conducted by Chinese primatologists have contributed significant new theoretical and empirical insights into the behavior, ecology, biology, genetics, and conservation of lorises, macaques, langurs, snub-nosed monkeys, and gibbons. With the recent establishment and inaugural meeting of the China Primatological Society in 2017, China has emerged as a leading nation in primate research. Several research teams have conducted long-term studies despite the difficult challenges of habituating and observing wild primates inhabiting mountainous temperate forests, and the fact that some 80% of China’s 25–27 primate species are considered vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered and are distributed in small isolated subpopulations. In going forward, it is recommended that primatologists in China increase their focus on seasonal differences in the social, ecological, physiological, and nutritional challenges primates face in exploiting high altitude and cold temperate forests. In addition, provisioning as a habitation tool should be minimized or eliminated, as it is difficult to control for its effects on group dynamics, patterns of habitat utilization, and feeding ecology. Finally in the next decade, Chinese primatologists should consider expanding the taxonomic diversity of species studied by conducting research in other parts of Asia, Africa, and the Neotropics.
Highlights
Since the first study of a primate in the wild by Clarence Raymond Carpenter in 1931, research in field primatology has been conducted principally by scientists from the United States, Europe, and Japan; regions largely devoid of nonhuman primates (Sussman, 2010)
Over the past 20 years this has begun to change, with primate habitat countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India, and China developing a cadre of highly-trained researchers and a national primatological society
There are species described as solitary or inhabiting neighborhoods, whereas others live as socially monogamous pairs, one adult male – two adult female groups, harems or large one male multi-female breeding groups (OMUs), multimalemultifemale groups, and modular or multilevel societies composed of several OMUs plus an associated all male unit (Fan et al, 2010; Qi et al, 2014)
Summary
Since the first study of a primate in the wild by Clarence Raymond Carpenter in 1931, research in field primatology has been conducted principally by scientists from the United States, Europe, and Japan; regions largely devoid of nonhuman primates (Sussman, 2010). The fact that studies of wild Chinese nonhuman primates have been conducted principally by in-country teams of scientists, Chinese primatologists are positioned to both empirically and theoretically advance the discipline of primatology in new and exciting ways.
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