Global Forest scientists conduct conservation-focused research in locations around the world. Read our scientists' updates about their projects and findings here.

Sarah Turner is deep in the forests of Japan conducting a study on Maternal Care of Congenitally Deformed Japanese Macaque Infants

Hi Kate,

Thanks for the email. Sorry it took so long to respond. A monkey chewed through the phone cord (no joke) so the email was down for a while. The webpage looks great.

Research is going well. There are three new babies born so far this year. One infant has a slight malformation of his left foot, the other two are non-disabled, but one of their mothers has malformed hands. They are all doing well, and are really interesting to watch. The yamamomo, a favorite wild fruit for the monkeys is coming into season now, and the forests, with their winding trunks and canopy of green, look like something out of a fairy story.

Hope everything at Global Forest is going well. I can't thank you folks enough for your support of my research. Take care and have a good summer!

Cheers

Sarah Turner

Hello everyone,

I wanted to send a short and informal 'midterm report' to all of you who have supported my research here in Japan. As I sit down to write, it is a hot clear day and cicadas are humming in the background. Unfortunately, the monkeys themselves are far in the distant hills, after taking off at break-neck speed at the sound of stray dogs loose in their range. It was impossible to keep up with them, and they are now out of even the range of the radio collar that Yochan, one of the adult females in the group, wears. It seemed like a good opportunity to take a few moments to let you know how my study is progressing.

To begin with, I should explain that upon arriving to find that there were no one year olds with disabilities remaining in the main group from last year (one died and one joined a peripheral sub-group with his mother), and no new babies expected for at least a couple weeks, I decided to broaden the focus of my study to include mothers who themselves have disabilities. This way, regardless of the disability status of the infants born this year, I will still be able to say something about the effects of disability on maternal care and investment in this Japanese macaque group.

The Nobuhara family, who own and operate the Awajishima Monkey Center have been the definition of kindness and help since my arrival in Japan. Also, Dr. Nakamichi, a professor in Primatology at the University of Osaka, was kind enough to visit the Monkey Center in May to assist with identifying individuals for study and discuss methodology. With the help of Dr. Nakamichi and the Nobuharas, I selected 15 adult females to use as focal animals. Of this group, all are pregnant this year and seven have congenital limb malformations. If any disabled infants are born to adult females outside of my sample, I will also add their mothers to the focal group. Some of the focal animals have 1 or 2 year old juveniles as well. Thus far, in addition to collecting pre-birth and mother-infant samples, I have also been collecting some data on their mothers' relationships with their juveniles. However, this may prove impossible to sustain as more and more babies are born.

The first task, after reshaping the research focus to fit the situation here, and choosing focal animals, was to learn to identify these individuals. Identifying individuals among a group of 120-150 monkeys is challenging. They all seemed the same at the beginning. But it is kind of magical, when, a few weeks later, I can look over at a brown back in the trees and be fairly confident I am looking at Momonga, for example. A check of her particular features will confirm it. During the first couple weeks, while I learned to identify the different animals, I was also practicing data collection and refining my ethogram, so as to consistently record data throughout the rest of the summer. Since this initial period, research has been going well. So far, 10 of the focal mothers have given birth. Two of the new infants have slight malformations of their digits, and a third has more severe malformations, with both hands cleft. A fourth infant was born without any limbs at all. Though the infant without limbs only survived a day, its mother carried the body around for two days after this, holding it against her chest and occasionally grooming it. It was hard to watch.

On a brighter note, one of the most severely disabled mothers, Meg, gave birth a couple weeks ago to a very energetic infant with only slightly malformed fingers. My research assistant, Katie, and I were high in the forest when we first encountered her with the baby. Meg has hardly anything in the way of hands or feet, so walking is usually quite slow for her.

I had wondered how she would manage with a baby (though she has already raised one non-disabled female, who is now a mother herself and one of the focal animals). Often, mothers who have disabled infants will carry then against their ventrum with one arm. Interestingly, once a female has had one disabled infant, she often continues this support-carrying behaviour. Meg had not had any disabled infants until this year. From our perch above her on the steep hillside, we watched in amazement as she supported the infant with her back leg, moving down through the trees on her remaining limbs. For most monkeys, this position would probably have been really awkward, but Meg adapted her particular body to the needs of her infant with extraordinary simplicity, I thought. Incidentally, despite the slight malformations in its fingers, the infant can now cling well on its own. It only required support off and on for the first few days of its life. With the exception of the infant who died, all of the mothers and infants seem healthy. They are a lot of fun to watch!

The monkeys usually come down to the "peanut gallery" at the Center twice a day for provisioning. The rest of the time they spend either in the forest or around the Center grounds. Recently, they have been mostly in the forest, which is great in terms of hiking, but does make data collection more challenging. The yamamomo, or "mountain peach" are in fruit now and the trees are laden with small bright orange-red fruits. The forest surrounding the center, is of the native secondary deciduous variety, and it is startlingly beautiful, particularly on sunny days. The slopes are very steep, which can be difficult for bipeds, though. While scrambling after the monkeys we almost always see frogs and strange and wonderful bugs. There are also many deer in the forest, and occasionally we come across a fawn lying very still in the undergrowth.

Having Katie McKenna here has been such a tremendous help. She has been here just over a month now and is able to identify the different individuals in the study and collect data effectively. We are also able to keep each other from slipping down the slopes too often! Having her here for yamamomo season has been especially great. There are days when the challenges of following and locating these free-ranging animals make our data collection window short. With two of us, each following different animals, we are able to keep on top of the sampling so much more than one person could alone.

In addition to our daily monkey-following, Katie and I have also been fortunate enough to participate in some environmental education field work and classes with Dr. Taniguchi, a professor at Konan University in Kobe. His lectures and insight help fill in parts of the human social framework which influences these monkeys' lives so strongly. Also, we were lucky enough to get a visit from Pamela Asquith, a professor at the University of Alberta. She was able to give me some useful advice, and with her kind help as interpreter, Katie and I were also able to communicate a little more with the Nobuharas. (My Japanese is slowly improving, along with my Pictionary skills, however, I am still far from fluent).

I hope this gives you a bit of a picture of my last two months in Japan. Katie and I are having a really wonderful time and getting lots done too! I look forward giving you a full report when research is complete and I am back in Canada in the fall.

Sincerely,

Sarah Turner