Alex Pritchard (he/him)

Part of my continued work with the McCowan-Vandeleest (@vanditto.bsky.social) Laboratory for Biobehavioral Complexity.

The social circumstances of the maternal experience and its biobehavioral associations, in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) Motherhood is a physiologically and behaviorally demanding process. We sought to examine how such changes might be expected to alter a mother’s social…

In a seasonally breeding primate, how much does the shared experience of motherhood alter behavior? We examined social behaviors, connectivity, and markers of health across reproductive phases.

Read about the maternal experience in Animal Reproduction Science!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The latter should be widely applicable to works relying on ICC and ordinal, Likert scales.

This manuscript was a really enjoyable passion project that helped me refine a lot of how I think about ratings, reliability, and what goes on under-the-hood of these measures!

This article was a really fun synthesis, out now! I bridged meta-analyses for the current state of interrater reliability in primate personality research with expectations simulated off of how we collect ratings and measure their reliability.

doi.org/10.1037/com0...

Brenda McCowan is not on BlueSky, but Jessica Vandeleest is! ( @vanditto.bsky.social )

Did we succeed?! Yes, but with important time-of-day and rank-based effects!

Also, what even is social tolerance!?
Read more here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Food Distribution, But Not Market Forces, Predict Behavioral Social Tolerance in Rhesus Macaques Decentralizing food resources in rhesus macaques reduced aggression, increased co-feeding and promoted social tolerance, suggesting that distributed resources could enhance group stability and welfar....

Pleased to have been a part of this project, now detailed by Dr. Rosemary Blersch (not on BlueSky) based on work in the McCowan-Vandeleest Laboratory for Biobehavioral Complexity.

Studies often examine effects of clumped resources, we decentralized food provisioning to increase social tolerance.

Delineating connectivity and quality of peer–peer pre-pubescent rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) relationships, by examining coupled social behaviours | Royal Society Open Science Infant experiences have lifetime implications for individuals’ social competence. Therefore, lifelong trajectories can be informed by a nuanced understanding of who developing individuals connect with...

Development is lots of 'figuring things out'!

But, how do we understand relationships as infants transition away from play🙃? Is play a precursor to other social behaviors, or is proximity or contact🤗 more reflective of partner choice?

Read our new work!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Female capuchins sits on a branch, looking away from the camera. A young capuchin holds onto her back, looking at the camera. Photo: Nick Chapoy

🚨 New paper! 🚨

🐒 White-faced capuchins experience high rates of infanticide.

🐒 Infanticide is costly to female reproduction.

🐒 Do females exhibit the Bruce effect (termination of pregnancy) to reduce these costs?

🐒 Spoiler: Nope!

Read more ▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cool! I had to look up this creature. Speculated it was a gannet relative, but looks like a cormorant relative! We saw cormorant's diving for schools of fish in Maine. They were remarkably aggressive and would even cause visible waves (whether through their efforts or the fish, not sure)!

Combining multiple behavioral measures of social relationships can reveal stronger associations with biomarkers of health! From @vanditto.bsky.social and the McCowan-Vandeleest lab.

Assessing the Sociodemographic Factors Associated With Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Infection Among Free‐Ranging Long‐Tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Thailand This study combines behavioral observations with noninvasive biological sample collection, using freshly defecated feces and rope-baited oral cells, to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC....

New paper from Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, who recently graduated from the McCowan-Vandeleest laboratory. She is now a postdoc @ California State University, Long Beach!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Including co-authors: @vanditto.bsky.social, @elidebruyn.bsky.social, and many who (I think?) are not on BlueSky!

Excited to share the outcomes of our new paper introducing predictability to group management practices. A challenging endeavor, because management practices often share unreliable cues.

Really happy with how this turned out, possible through lots of support!

authors.elsevier.com/a/1khW2cF2Ow...

NSF APPEX invites Seed Ideas for new Working Groups to tackle pandemic risk & response. Have a bold idea to study pandemic expansion? We want to work with you! Learn more: appex.org/seed/

I would certainly appreciate being included!

Personality trait structures across three species of Macaca, using survey ratings of responses to conspecifics and humans Comparative studies reliant on single personality surveys to rate wild primates are scarce yet remain critical for developing a holistic comparative understanding of personality. Differences in survey...

Personality has been one of my favorite topics to research. I was thrilled at the opportunity to publish on personality ratings from three species of wild macaques!

Multisite field studies, like this one, are a rarity.
NSF-Funded
Out Now! doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Human-Nonhuman Primate Interactions This survey has been designed to collect information on the diversity of emergent and shared histories of human-nonhuman primate (NHP) interactions, at sites that responding primate researchers freque...

Are you a primate researcher? Please consider contributing to our research survey! Add your knowledge of direct, indirect, or absent human-primate interactions at sites you have visited.

Just 15 minutes of your time!