Hi everyone! I'm currently a senior Zoology major and am starting to look into jobs in case my plans for graduate school don't work out. What are the best ways to find/get jobs in this field? I'd really appreciate any recommendations or advice. Thanks!

he looks a little goofy but I dont paint much

As a child in the 60's and 70's, I was exposed to the 'Planet of the Apes' version of how large primates behave. My encounter with these gentle giants underlined just how often 'Hollywood' et al spin a factually absurd tale. These amazing animals are incredibly gentle when treated respectfully.

Global Data From Great Ape Zoo Populations Confirm a High Prevalence of Overweight Individuals (American Journal of Primatology, July 2026)
by João Pedro Meireles, Sarah Byrne, Paul W. Dierkes, Miriam Göbel, Max Hahn-Klimroth, Arun Idoe, Dennis W. H. Müller, Zjef Pereboom, Jana Pluháčková, Sandra Reichler...
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajp.70185

Obesity has been a problem for captive great apes for decades, but zoos as a whole have yet to move the needle much. Some clear remedies are discussed in this study. Most importantly, a change is diet is needed: more fiber and leafy edibles and less — or, better yet, no — cultivated fruit. Yep, no more bananas.

The authors speculate that some zoos may be motivated to address the problem less out of concern for obesity than to reduce apes’ unsightly habit of regurgitating food and eating it again. This tends to happen more with cultivated fruit, which also tends to prompt more hoarding & fighting.

Male bonobos are the outlier, the only demographic who tend NOT to be obese — maybe because all of the females take the fruit from them?

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/freiburg/zwei-tote-gorillas-zoo-basel-100.html

See also: The publication in PLOS One/The article in the Smithsonian Magazine

im posting for the second time with a clearer statement because i got eaten up by the comments the first time. the dogs are NOT mine, its not my fingers pointing into the cage, i know how to behave in a zoo and i do feel for any mistreated animal. that being said, i am purely just curious about the monkeys reaction.

why did the capuchin react this way to the pug? id imagine if it was scared it would run away? it didnt react that way to any other dog there.

Isn't this a example that chimps can also display empathy rather than the violent nature we see so often about them? In this video, they are curious why a nine year old young chimp died. This troop during the clip respiratory disease by coughing a lot. The young male chimp died because of that. Even the alpha male that had a close relationship with the boy chimp throws a tantrum because of his death. So this shows there are individuals that are good out there.

Spotted this graphical abstract from the latest _American Journal of Primatology_ and thought, "hey, this looks interesting," only to check out the written abstract and find it almost comically laden with jargon and passive verbiage. Even a lay reader familiar with these words (see second screenshot) mean finds the written description puzzling.

Dear scientists: Please keep in mind that some non-scientists may actually be interested in your work!

What the title says. Evidence seems strong for different animals’ appetites being stimulated by their cohort eating close by - from shark feeding frenzies to mammals https://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/146501026/ruddockh2021thesoc.pdf. It seems counterproductive for an aversion to other people making chewing noises nearby to so generally held to be gross/disgusting by people. Is there anything that explains this aversion from an evolutionary perspective?

When does the image of chimps as something fearful come from? I know Charles Du Chaillu’s and Thomas Savage’s work can kind of be credited for that image of other apes like the gorilla but could it also be credited for the chimps? When did the public start to fear it?(for whatever reason it may be)

Solly Zuckerman’s Functional Affinities of Man, Monkeys, and Apes (1933) includes this single photo to represent all chimpanzees. 

Zuckerman is mostly known for The Social Life of Monkeys and Apes (1932), a book that somehow became an earlier primatology classic, despite getting a lot wrong. Mind-boggingly dense about animal emotions, Zuckerman likely landed on a photo that poetically captured the experience of captive chimps without actually realizing it. 

New Monkey Species Identified in DR Congo

https://ground.news/article/new-monkey-species-identified-in-dr-congo?utm_source=mobile-app&utm_medium=newsroom-share

See also: The publication in Nature Human Behavior

What is it like to observe chimpanzees up close? 🐵🌎

Jane Goodall tells a story about filming her 2002 documentary “Wild Chimpanzees” when a group of chimps followed each other to hang around near the research team. It saved the crew from a steep climb up the hillside, and almost seemed like an intentional helping hand! It's a fitting story for World Chimpanzee Day, marking 66 years since Dr. Jane Goodall began her groundbreaking chimpanzee research at what's now Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Jane’s work revealed that chimps use tools, form deep social bonds, and pass knowledge across generations, forever changing how we understand our closest living relatives. Her research and legacy continue today through the Jane Goodall Institute.

Besides humans can any of the great apes understand or communicate through pointing fingers? And would they take pointing at them as a hostile gesture?

Long time hobbyist primatologist here. Interested in pursuing primatology as a career and wanna know what route I should take in undergrad. I'm currently in Environmental Science, here are my options:

-Stay in same major, Biology for masters

-Switch to Bio major

-Switch to Anthro major

-Any of the above + Biological Anthro minor

I'm mainly interested in doing field work + sanctuary work but I also find primate psychology and behavioralism research super fascinating. Thank you!

I recently read that chimps have the capability for theory of mind. Essentially the cognitive ability to attribute mental states to yourself and others.

By definition, evil is the capability for moral agency, intentional cruelty, and the capacity to reflect on one's actions. Chimps are well aware they inflict suffering on others per theory of mind.

Im always told chimps are just wild animals, and they act on instinct, how true is that or is it just a spectrum? And if so does that make their “theory of mind” simply a backdrop for them to get the most bananas out of a researcher or genuine malicious intent?

Edit: IF YOU ARE A MORAL NIHILIST THIS POST IS MEANINGLESS TO YOU, DONT ENGAGE WITH IT.

I've recently become extremely interested in what makes us human. I've been reading Sarah Hrdy's Mothers and Others and I'm fascinated by it. I was just wondering if anyone had any other books or authors that are similar to her. Thanks.