Inferring the evolutionary history of cognitive abilities requires large and diverse samples. However, such samples are often beyond the reach of individual researchers or institutions, and studies are often limited to small numbers of species. Consequently, methodological and site-specific-differences across studies can limit comparisons between species. Here we introduce the ManyPrimates project, which addresses these challenges by providing a large-scale collaborative framework for comparative studies in primate cognition. To demonstrate the viability of the project we conducted a case study of short-term memory. In this initial study, we were able to include 176 individuals from 12 primate species housed at 11 sites across Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. All subjects were tested in a delayed-response task using consistent methodology across sites. Individuals could access food rewards by remembering the position of the hidden reward after a 0, 15, or 30-second delay. Overall, individuals performed better with shorter delays, as predicted by previous studies. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a strong phylogenetic signal for short-term memory. Although, with only 12 species, the validity of this analysis is limited, our initial results demonstrate the feasibility of a large, collaborative open-science project. We present the ManyPrimates project as an exciting opportunity to address open questions in primate cognition and behaviour with large, diverse datasets.

The ability to inhibit previously employed strategies and flexibly adjust behavioural responses to external conditions may be critical for individual survival. However, it is unclear which factors predict their distribution across species. Here, we investigated social inhibition and behavioural flexibility in six primate species (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, capuchin monkeys and spider monkeys) differing in terms of phylogenetic relatedness, foraging ecology and social organization. Depending on the social context, individuals could maximize their food intake by inhibiting the selection of a larger food reward in one condition (i.e. inhibition), but not in others, which required them to flexibly switching strategies across conditions (i.e. behavioural flexibility). Overall, our study revealed inter-specific differences in social inhibition and behavioural flexibility, which partially reflected differences in fission-fusion dynamics. In particular, orangutans and chimpanzees showed the highest level of inhibitory skills, while gorillas and capuchin monkeys showed the lowest one. In terms of behavioural flexibility, orangutans and spider monkeys were the best performers, while bonobos and capuchin monkeys were the worst ones. These results contribute to our understanding that inhibition and behavioural flexibility may be linked in more complex ways than usually thought, although both abilities play a crucial role in efficient problem solving.

Resting site selection can have important effects on the behaviour and fitness of organisms. The maintenance of optimal body temperatures ( T b ) when faced with environmental variables has often been attributed to either specific microhabitat rest site characteristics or to behavioural strategies. Among many small group-living endotherms, social thermoregulation (i.e. huddling) is utilized as an energy conservation mechanism at low ambient temperatures ( T a ), thus decreasing the metabolic cost of maintaining T b . Although unusual among primates, lemurs maintain a low metabolic rate and exhibit a diversity of thermoregulatory strategies; however, objective T b measurements have thus far been limited to small-bodied lemurs (e.g. Cheirogaleids). As such, we sought to determine whether a medium-sized lemur model, the southern bamboo lemur, Hapalemur meridionalis , would maintain thermoregulation through microhabitat rest site selection, huddling behaviour, or potentially both strategies. Within a degraded littoral forest fragment in southeast Madagascar, we conducted full-day focal observations on three groups of H . meridionalis between January and December 2013. Adult individuals were collared with data-loggers that collected instantaneous skin temperature T sk (°C). We calculated the mean T sk of the focal individual during each resting bout, and the proportional rate of huddling between the focal individual and conspecifics. In addition, we recorded all resting sites utilized for at least 15 min and collected standard tree characteristics. We fitted linear mixed-effects models to determine the thermoregulatory combined effect of specific resting site characteristics, huddling behaviour and environmental variables on T sk . Our results showed that lemurs selected tree sites with larger diameter at breast height; however, huddling was most predictive of increasing T sk whereas resting site characteristics were not included in the best-fit model. It is possible that microhabitat rest site selection is not significant in a degraded forest as the potential environmental buffering is limited; thus, thermoregulatory mechanisms are probably best served by behavioural strategies, i.e. social huddling.

Comparative research has taught us much about the evolution and development of human and animal behavior. Humans share not just physical and biological similarities with other species, but also many behavioral traits and, in some of these cases, the psychological mechanisms behind them. Comparing behavior and cognition across multiple species can help scientists to pinpoint why and when in phylogenetic history a behavior may have evolved, how it evolved, and what the mechanisms behind it are (Tinbergen, 1963). While the comparative approach has proven quite effective in addressing these questions, comparing behavior across multiple species is not as easy and straightforward as it may initially seem. Rigorous methodology and careful interpretation of results is crucial to answering any of these questions definitively. The focus of the current article is on the comparative methodology and the important factors that need to be addressed in order for comparative research to be effective. We first discuss the benefits and importance of comparative research, followed by the challenges that need to be overcome in good comparative work. We then discuss experimental economics as one “model system” for comparative work that has proven particularly good at addressing such issues, and comment on other approaches. We conclude with future directions for comparative research with an eye on important methodological and theoretical considerations.

Human decision-making is often swayed by irrecoverable investments even though it should only be based on future—and not past—costs and benefits. Although this sunk cost effect is widely documented and can lead to devastating losses, the underlying psychological mechanisms are unclear. To tease apart possible explanations through a comparative approach, we assessed capuchin and rhesus monkeys’ susceptibility to sunk costs in a psychomotor task. Monkeys needed to track a moving target with a joystick-controlled cursor for variable durations. They could stop at any time, ending the trial without reward. To minimize the work required for a reward, monkeys should have always persisted for at least 1 s, but should have abandoned the trial if that did not yield a reward. Capuchin monkeys and especially rhesus macaques persisted to trial completion even when it was suboptimal, and were more likely to complete the trial the longer they had already tracked the target. These effects were less pronounced, although still present, when the change in expected tracking duration was signalled visually. These results show that sunk cost effects can arise in the absence of human-unique factors and may emerge, in part, because persisting can resolve uncertainty.