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Key Terms


affiliative  bond enhancing or prosocial ("friendly")
agonistic  aggressive or combative ("unfriendly")
altruism  acting in a way that has a net loss of energy to the actor and a net benefit in energy to the receiver
anthropoids  all monkeys, apes, and humans
behavioral ecology  the study of behavior from ecological and evolutionary perspectives
Ceboidea  primate superfamily that includes all monkeys found in the Americas
Cercopithecoidea  primate superfamily that includes all monkeys found in Africa and Asia
comparative primatology  the study of our closest living relatives, the primates, for the purpose of understanding aspects of our own behavior
dominance  set of relationships that results in different relative abilities to acquire desired resources
estrus  behavioral and physiological sexual receptivity
foraging  the act of seeking and processing food
Haplorrhini  primate suborder that includes the Tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans
home range  area used by a primate group or community
hominin  the division (called a tribe) in the superfamily Hominoidea that includes humans and our recent ancestors
hominoid  member of the superfamily Hominoidea
infant dependency period  period during which the infant is wholly reliant on others for nutrition, movement, thermoregulation, and protection
kin selection  behavioral favoring of one's close genetic relatives
performance  the actual expression of a trait or behavior
philopatric  staying in one's natal group
phylogenetic constraints  limits on current behavior or traits due to patterns and trends in an organism's evolutionary past
potential  the spectrum of possible expression created by morphology, evolutionary history, and other aspects of a genotype
sociosexual behavior  nonreproductive sexual behavior that serves to resolve conflicts and/or reinforce alliances and coalitions
spandrels  by-products of structural change
strategy  set of behavior patterns that has become prominent in a population as a result of natural selection
Strepsirrhini  primate suborder that includes the Lemurs, Lorises, and Galagos (the prosimians)







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