This page will list the important papers that you read when designing your project. Follow the suggested topics to organise your bibliography. Here is a great explanation of annotated bibliographies with examples.

We recommend that you complete these in order, but it’s possible to jump around a bit, or do each concurrently. This is a tool for you to keep track of and document your work, and draw on when designing your project.

Read primatological literature to determine topic of interest.
Read widely about topic of interest in other taxa (i.e., focusing on mammals, birds, any vertebrate, any other animal than a primate!).
Read about the species of study (if one or a few species). Read comparative papers, if a comparative project.
Read methodologies across species. Get inspiration from, say, studies on birds for how to study primates.
Read to budget. Ok, this isn’t going to be peer-reviewed material, but keep track of where you get the information for your budget from. This section of the bibliography should document the websites you used to determine your budget.

Primatological literature

Winans, J.C., Learn, N.H., Siodi, I.L.I., Warutere, J.K., Archie, E.A., Tung, J., Alberts, S.C. and Markham, A.C., 2024. High early lactational synchrony within baboon groups predicts increased infant mortality. bioRxiv, pp.2024-09.

This paper tested the idea that synchrony in births in wild baboons would drive competition and result in increased aggression. Females compete for access to males (for protection) and food for energy for lactation. Females were more aggressive to each other when there was high competition. Reproductive synchrony was rare. (This is similar to data from another site–low reproductive synchrony in chacma baboons, Dezeure et al.) The paper uses decades of data and sophisticated analyses. Implicates young females in infanticide!

<…add papers here…>

Topic of interest

Silk, J.B., 1980. Kidnapping and female competition among captive bonnet macaques. Primates, 21, pp.100-110.

Higher-ranking females target lower-ranking females to kidnap their infants. Kidnappers are usually unsuccessful, and gain no benefit. Pattern unlike in other primates. Different to species with babysitting–mothers in species with babysitters ‘happily’ allow infants to be handled by others. In bonnet macaques, mothers resist the kidnapping attempts.