Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A comparison of adult body size between captive and wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) on the island of St. Kitts

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Primates Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Weight and 34 morphological measurements were obtained from 103 vervet monkeys living either in the wild or in captive colonies derived from the wild populations on the island of St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean. All measures were taken during the same week, eliminating bias that might result from changing seasonal environmental conditions. Vervets on St. Kitts are all descended from a small number of individuals brought to the island approximately 400 years ago from West Africa, thus eliminating bias that might result from subspecific size differences. We conducted a principal components analysis (PCA) and compared individual traits between captive and wild adult animals. Morphological measures such as body, arm, and leg length did not differ significantly between animals living in the wild and animals in captivity. Weight and measures indicating condition-including body mass index (BMI), chest, thigh, and upper arm girth were all higher for animals living in captivity. More consistent available food is probably the cause of differences in measures reflecting condition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altmann J, Altmann SA, Hausfater G (1981) Physical maturity and age estimates of yellow baboons, Papio cynocephalus, in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Am J Primatol 1:389–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altmann J, Schoeller D, Altmann SA, Muruthi P, Sapolsky RM (1993) Body size and fatness of free-living baboons reflect food availability and activity levels. Am J Primatol 30:149–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloomquist GE, Turnquist JE (2011) Selection on adult female body size in rhesus macaques. J human Evol 60:677–683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolter DR, Zihlman AL (2003) Morphometric analysis of growth and development in wild-collected vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), with implications for growth patterns in Old World monkeys, apes and humans. J Zool Lond 260:99–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolter DR, Zihlman AL (2011) Brief communication: dental development timing in captive Pan paniscus with comparison to Pan troglodytes. Am J phys Anthrop 145:647–652

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bones and Behavior Working Group (2015) http://www.bonesandbehavior.org. Accessed 14 Jan 2016

  • Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Andelman SJ, Lee PC (1988) Reproductive success in vervet monkeys. In: Clutton Brock TH (ed.) Reproductive success: Studies of individual variation in contrasting breeding systems. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 384–402

  • Cheverud JM, Wilson P, Dittus WPJ (1992) Primate population studies at Polonnaruwa. III. Somatometric growth in a natural population of toque macaques (Macaca sinica). J human Evol 23:51–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramer JD, Gaetano TJ, Gray JP, Grobler JP, Lorenz J, Freimer N, Schmitt CA, Turner TR (2013) Variation in scrotal color among widely distributed vervet monkey populations (Chlorocebus aethiops pygerythrus and C. a. sabaeus). Am J Primatol 75:752–762

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dore KM (2013) An anthropological investigation of the dynamic human-vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) interface in St. Kitts, West Indies. Unpublished PhD dissertation, UWM

  • Erwin F, Palmour R (2003) Primates for 20th century biomedicine: The St. Kitts vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus SK). In (Anonymous) International perspectives for the future of non-human primate resources, April 17–19, 2002, Bogor, Indonesia. National Academic, Washington, pp 49–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia C, Lee PC, Rosetts L (2009) Growth in colony living Anubis baboon infants and its relationship with maternal activity budgets and reproductive status. Am J phys Anthrop 138:123–135

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamada Y, Udono T (2002) Longitudinal analysis of length growth in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Am J phys Anthrop 118:268–284

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey NC, Clarke AS, Lindburg DG (1991) Brief communication: morphometric data for adult lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus). Am J phys Anthrop 85:233–236

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Husson F, Lě S, Pagès J (2011) Exploratory multivariate analysis by example using R. Chapman and Hall/CRC Press. London

  • Husson, F, Josse, J. Lě, S, Mazet, J (2015) FactoMineR: Multivariate Exploratory Data Analysis and Data Mining. R package version 1.29. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=FactoMineR

  • Jasinska AJ, Schmitt CA, Service SK, Cantor RM, Dewar K, Jentsch JD, Kaplan JR, Turner TR, Warren WC, Weinstock GM, Woods RP, Freimer NB (2013) Systems biology of the vervet monkey. ILAR J 54:122–143

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lě S, Josse J, Husson F (2008) FactoMineR: an R package for multivariate analysis. J Stat Soft.ware 25(1):1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips-Conroy JE, Jolly CJ (1988) Dental eruption schedules of wild and captive baboons. Am J Primatol 15:17–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pusey AE, Oehlert GW, Williams JM, Goodall J (2005) Influence of ecological and social factors on body mass of wild chimpanzees. Int J Primatol 26:3–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez R, Cramer JD, Schmitt CA, Gaetano TJ, Grobler JP, Freimer NB, Turner TR (2015) The static allometry of sexual and non-sexual traits in vervet monkeys. Biol J Linn Soc 114(3):527–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutenberg GW, Coelho AM, Lewis DS, Carey KD, McGill HC (1987) Body composition in baboons: Evaluating a morphometric method. Am J Primatol 12:275–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sailer LD, Gaulin SJC, Boster JS, Kurland JA (1985) Measuring the relationship between dietary quality and body size in primates. Primates 26:14–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoonaert K, D’Aout K, Aeerts P (2007) Morphometrics and inertial properties in the body segments of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Anat 210:518–531

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Setchell JM, Lee PC, Wickings J, Dixon AF (2001) Growth and ontogeny of sexual size dimorphism in the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx). Am J phys Anthrop 115:349–360

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sigg H, Stolba A, Abegglen J-J, Dasser V (1982) Life history of hamadryas baboons: physical development, infant mortality, reproductive parameters and family relationships. Primates 23:473–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strum SC (1991) Weight and age in wild olive baboons. Am J Primatol 25:219–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2014) R: A language and environment for statistical computing R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, http://www.R-project.org/

  • Turner TR, Whitten PL, Jolly CJ, Else JE (1987) Pregnancy outcomes in free-ranging vervet monkeys: a preliminary report. Am J Primatol 12:197–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner TR, Anapol F, Jolly CJ (1997) Growth, development and sexual dimorphism in vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) at four sites in Kenya. Am J phys Anthrop 103:17–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner TR, Schmitt CA, Cramer JD, Lorenz J, Grobler JP, Freimer NB (2014) Comparative developmental morphology within the genus Chlorocebus. Am J phys Anthrop 153:S58

    Google Scholar 

  • Uehara S, Nishida T (1987) Body weights of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Am J phys Anthrop 72:315–321

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zihlman AL, Bolter DR, Boesch C (2004) Skeletal and dental development in wild chimpanzees from Tai National Forest, Ivory Coast and Gombe Reserve, Tanzania. Am J phys Anthrop123 S38: 215

  • Zihlman AL, Bolter DR, Boesch C (2007) Skeletal and dental growth and development in chimpanzees of the Tai National Park, Cote D’Ivoire. J Zool 273:63–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Dr. Eugene Redmond and the staff of the St. Kitts Biomedical Research Foundation who worked with us while we were conducting this research. We acknowledge with gratitude the help of and discussion with Dr. Rafael Rodriguez of the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. We are also grateful to Yoon Jung, project manager for this collection. The comments of anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. This research was Funded by NIH RR016300/OD010980 to Dr. Nelson Freimer, UCLA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sabin Hall 125B, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA

    Trudy R. Turner & J. Patrick Gray

  2. Sociology, Anthropology, and Women’s Studies Program, American Military University and American Public University, Charles Town, WV, 25414, USA

    Jennifer Danzy Cramer

  3. St. Kitts Biomedical Research Foundation, Lower Bourryeau Estate, St. Kitts, Saint Kitts and Nevis

    Alexis Nisbett

Authors
  1. Trudy R. Turner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jennifer Danzy Cramer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alexis Nisbett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. Patrick Gray
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trudy R. Turner.

Ethics declarations

All applicable international, national, and/or institution guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted. Protocols were approved by the Animal Research Committee at UCLA; Protocol 2009-053-02A and the IACUC of the St. Kitts Research Foundation.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Turner, T.R., Cramer, J.D., Nisbett, A. et al. A comparison of adult body size between captive and wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) on the island of St. Kitts. Primates 57, 211–220 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0509-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0509-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation