Part 2

FIELD NOTES

Notes by: Yesenia Beal

a.)Dates, Start and End Times

• Dates: I visited Lincoln Park Zoo on the following days: November

4th and November 6th

• Start/End Time on November 4th: 12pm to 3pm

• Start/End Time on November 6th: 1pm to 3pm

b.) Location(s) Visited & General Layout • Locations Visited: Lincoln Park Zoo: Helen Brach

Primate House & Regenstein Center For African Apes

• General Layout: The General Layout of my project

mainly involved visited 2 sites in the Zoo. The Primate

House and Ape House.

• There were about 8 different primates housed in the

primate house

• There were only Chimps and Gorillas in the Ape

House.

c.) Pre-Field Work Thoughts & Expectations

• Pre-Field Work Thoughts: Before going to the Zoo, I thought a lot about how the primates would

behave and live in their habitats at the zoo. Something that I really kept on my mind before visiting

was how the animals would feel about being locked in a small area like their zoo exhibits, and how

they would show that in their behavior. I knew that the zookeepers would be very helpful in aiding

me about any questions I had so I wanted to make sure I kept an eye out for them when I visited.

Observing the primates closely was the main goal of mine though because the purpose of my

project is to find out how/why the primates and apes are so closely related to humans. I expected

to really see how the primates behaved, for example, I expected to see the Chimpanzee’s

behaving very violently and being loud and, the Ape’s to be very laid back and conservative. In

my mind, I thought of the exhibits being very large and having big spaces to sit for observing and

taking notes. I did not think a lot of people would be at the zoo this late in the year as well, so I

looked at this as an advantage to really get to observe and take pictures, notes and overall just

have a lot of one on one time.

c.) Pre-Field Work Thoughts & Expectations cont.

• I selected to study Physical Anthropology (Primatology) because it focuses mainly on the biological and physiological components of humans and their evolution. Primatology focuses more on the science behind primates’ evolution and behavior. I really wanted to study this topic because I would like to understand how humans and primates are similar in behavior and anatomy.

• My experience with physical anthropology so far has been in my anthropology class and reading books about primate evolution and behavior. Both of which have been very helpful in identifying similarities and differences in primates and humans. Some examples of this includes in class lectures, readings, and books by Jane Goodall, Frans de Waal, and Alison Jolly.

• From these sources, I have learned about primate/ape locomotion: bipedalism, quadrupedalism, knuckle walking, brachiation, modified brachiation, ground-branch running/walking type. I have also learned about the behaviors of primates such as how to identify when they’re feeling threatened: alarm calls, grooming, facial signals, aggressive body movements, teeth exposure, etc.

Macaques (photo #1) In this photo, the macaques are hugging

each other. There were several groups of

macaques doing this. It was very cold out

during this picture and there were lots of

people viewing them during this photo. I

looked at it as a way of them using each

other to calm down. It made me think

they were harmless. These groups of

hugging varied in anatomical

differences. The babies seemed to be

covered mostly in the hugs, and there

was a sense of dominance based on

whose face was shown the most, at least

in my perspective.

Macaques (Photo #2)

• Here is a smaller Macaque, perhaps a baby, utilizing

what could be the drinking area of the exhibit. This is

an important photo as it shows the Macaque using

the exhibit's resources. There was actually a lot of

Macaques drinking and bathing in this small area of

water.

Macaques (Photo #3)

• In this photo the baby is grooming either its mother or

father. Before this photo was taken, the

mother/father had been further back in the exhibit. It

started opening its mouth and showing its teeth,

recognizing the Macaque’s threatening feelings, I

actually opened my mouth to get it to perform more

gestures and emotions. The Macaque then ran up to

the glass and I moved away (as seen in the picture)

when the baby started to groom its parent. This is

important because it shows how Macaques can

calm each other down, similar to chimps. It also

shows some dominance from parent to child.

Here is a video of the Macaques described

the last picture, hover over the video with

the mouse to click play. The Mother/Father

macaque will display their anger.

Photo/Video #4

Macaques (Photo #5)

• Here is a photo of a Macaque but

what I want to point out more here is

the background. This is what the

area of the Macaques mainly

looked like. There were many trees

and branches to climb, lots of grass

and rocks. This setting was perfect

for the Macaques so that they could

climb around throughout the area. It

was pretty spacious considering

there was about 20 Macaques in this

exhibit.

Macaques (Photo #6)

• I thought this was a great photo to feature of the Macaque to really show their anatomy. They are pretty short with long arms and extremely small faces. Not only are the Macaques’ faces small, but this breed (Japanese) has red faces. I thought that maybe this symbolized something from living in Japan. When I researched why their faces are red, I found that they are known as “snow monkeys” meaning they lived in the colder areas of Japan. Their faces are also colored for mate selection or to show dominance. The darker the red of the Macaque’s face is, the more likely they are to be selected to produce offspring.

Gorillas (Photo #7)

• This photo really shows the anatomy of the Gorilla. It has really long arms and a big body. Its mouth is pretty large along with its nostrils. However, its eyes are pretty small.

Gorillas (Photo #8)

• Gorillas are great climbers with those

long arms of theirs and this photo

pretty much proves it. This sack

hangs off branches and this Gorillas

climbed them to get into the sack.

They were also very happy up there.

I wasn’t able to capture this Gorillas

smile very well.

Gorillas (Photo #9)

• I really want to show case this photo of this gorilla

because it seemed to be the dominant gorilla of the

group. It has a silver back and many gorillas would

move when he would come by them. Although, he

really did seem kind, as well as the other gorillas. He

ate hay here and his huge head shows as well. This is

very different from Human skulls and head shapes

because it is so huge.

Gorillas (Photo #10)

• This picture is significant because it shows

quadrupedalism and kunuckle-walking. This Gorilla

moved from one side of the exhibit to the other side

using all 4 of its legs. Not only did this Gorilla walk, but

he ran super fast! There was about 6-7 Gorillas in this

exhibit.

• The setting here was the Gorillas’ exhibit. There was

lots of hay, lettuce and branches to climb on. There

was also plenty of walking and running room.

Gorillas (Photo #11)

• This was a sign outside featuring a just a

few of the Gorillas that dwell in the

Center of African Apes. These pictures

gave brief descriptions of some of the

Apes.

Chimps (Photo #12) • The Chimps were

very lazy in this picture. They did not exhibit much movement or energy. However, shortly

before this shot, they were hugging each other, much like the Macaques were. There is also a baby napping right behind his Momma.

Chimps (Photo #13)

• This was significant to me because it showed some

anatomy of the Chimp. When I inserted my hand, my

thumb was much longer than the chimps. The

chimps thumb was very small, meaning Chimps and

Humans are drastically different.

Chimps (Photo/Vid #14)

• Here is a video of a chimpanzee

showing locomotion: quadrupedalism.

• The chimps did not really display much

violence besides alarm calls that were

not really for threatening reasons but

because they were going to be fed.

• Their exhibit was also similar to the

Gorillas, very spacious.

• Hover over the video with the mouse

and click play.

Gibbons (Photo/Vid #15)

• This is a video of the White-Cheeked Gibbon. There was only 2 gibbons present in the exhibit. The gibbon uses its arms to swing on the branch to move to the other side, quite fast.

• The exhibit was very accommodating for the Gibbons. They had lots of branches to swing from and space to roam

• (Excuse my commentary, as I was talking to my boyfriend to make him hush for this video, apologies) Hover over the video and click play.

Gibbons (Photo/Vid #16)

• This is a statue similar to the Chimp Statue. The

Gibbons head is much smaller than a Humans head.

Not only are head sizes different, so are hand sizes.

The hand is very long and not wide. My hand did not

fit at all in this print.

Lemurs (Photo/Vid #17)

• The Lemurs were cuddled up as well,

like the Macaques and Chimps. They

had smaller faces, bodies, and hands.

• They did not behave violently at all.

• The Lemurs were still

• This exhibit shows that the had a lot of

room for walking/running and climbing

as well.

• Hover over the video and click play.

e.)Post Field-Work Reflection

• My pre-field work thoughts and expectations were completely different than my post-

field work thoughts and expectations.

• My pre-consumptions about the primates being affected by being cooped up in the

zoo exhibits seemed true to me. Many of the primates did not appear to be happy. In

fact, I remember seeing the gorillas trying to climb to the top of their cages to escape. I

witnessed a lot of people banging on the glass walls to get the primates’ attention.

They appeared sad and bored of being stuck behind the walls. This is perhaps why the

Macaques, Chimps, and Lemurs were not being too active.

• The Zookeepers were also not around much, so a lot of my research had to come from

books, online, and some signs about the primates in the exhibits. When I did get the

chance to talk to a Zookeeper, they had to tend to the animals. They answered a few

of my questions, and that was helpful.

e.) Post-Field Work Reflection cont.

• My pre-conceptions about Chimps were challenged. I seriously expected to see them

behaving very violently, I also didn’t expect them to be able to share their space so

well. However, they seemed pretty unbothered by viewers and loving of one another.

Jane Goodall was able to be around them more closely over the years as they seen

her more often. Meaning, they are used to Humans at this point. So this is probably why

they were not behaving so violently. The only violent behavior I witnessed was loud

monkey calling “ahhh ahhh”.

• My pre-conceptions of Apes however, were pretty spot on. They were very calm and

actually paid attention to the humans viewing them. There was one ape who was

actually looking at a lady’s phone. She had recorded a video of the Ape and the Ape

was watching himself, it reminded me of self-awareness. I did not see any facial

expressions on the Ape’s face but, he did seem pretty interested in himself. The Gorillas

were very laid back.

e.) Post-Field Work Reflection cont.

• There were actually a lot of people who visited the Zoo during the days and times I visited. The exhibits were very spacious and accommodating for the animals, and viewers as well! There were places to sit and observe and take notes. This was very appreciated by me. It was helpful in completing my field-notes.

• My pre-conceptions about viewing different locomotion patterns was spot on as well. From Jane Goodall’s book, “The Chimpanzees of Gombe”, I saw quadrupedalism, knuckle- walking, and brachiation. However, I did not see modified brachiation or ground branch walking/running. This is probably because the primates really had to need to do any of these things frankly.

• I also did see facial movements, and teeth when the Macaques felt threatened.

• These primates help understand humans and human behavior better because they are so similar. Many of the ways primates show they are threatened are the way humans show they are threatened, alarm calls/yelling for help, facial expressions/ human facial expressions for being sad and happy, locomotion: walking on 4 legs/ babies crawling. In comparing primates to how Humans are, we understand how Primates are because we behave similarly. That is what is so significant.