Jean-Baptiste Leca, Ph.D.
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Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Lethbridge
Canada
Current and main research activities
I study behavioral innovations and cultural traditions in non-human primates. This topic intrigues psychologists and biologists alike because culture is a social (rather than genetic) means by which traits can be inherited. I aim to shed light on how cultural behavioral patterns originate, spread, and are maintained or may change over time, by studying proximate (i.e., genetic, environmental, cognitive, demographic, social) and ultimate (i.e., adaptive, phylogenetic) influences.
My research projects address the biological, psychological and ecological foundations of behavioral traditions in Japanese macaques and long-tailed macaques in order to better understand the role of cultural processes in human evolution. In a nutshell, I am interested in the hows and whys of cultural behaviors in monkeys.
While most primate cultures are considered adaptive – like chimpanzee tool use – I explore the proximate and ultimate causes of non-adaptive or questionably adaptive behavioral traditions. By focusing on such exceptions to the rule, my research contributes to further our understanding of evolutionary processes and the variety of behavioral patterns they produce.
Material culture in long-tailed macaques
Currently, my research team members and I are developing three complementary projects that explore group-specific (and thus potentially cultural) behavioral patterns in free-ranging Balinese long-tailed macaques.
More specifically, we are investigating the development, mechanisms and possible functional components of:
- stone handling/play
- eye covering play
- object robbing and object/food bartering practice
- as well as complex extractive foraging (e.g., coconut bashing) and tool-assisted foraging in this primate species.
Non-conceptive sex in Japanese macaques
Simultaneously, I am continuing to study non-conceptive (socio-)sexual behaviors in female and male Japanese macaques from a longitudinal and intergroup comparative perspective:
- immature play mounting
- female-male mounting
- male masturbation
- monkey-deer mounting
- social dynamics of all-male groups
My long-term goal is to extend my research on questionably adaptive cultural behaviors to other macaque species and use these comparative analyses to model the forces that have shaped our own culture during the course of human evolution. In doing so, I will investigate how seemingly non-adaptive behaviors may lead to adaptive outcomes for the individual, the group, and the species.
The following items summarize these different ongoing research projects.
STONE-HANDLING/PLAY CULTURE
IN JAPANESE MACAQUES AND BALINESE LONG-TAILED MACAQUES
Stone handling/play
(Japanese macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture abovear.
Stone handling/play
(Balinese long-tailed macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
COMPLEX EXTRACTIVE FORAGING CULTURE IN BALINESE LONG-TAILED MACAQUES
Coconut bashing
(Balinese long-tailed macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
Crab-foraging
(Balinese long-tailed macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
EYE-COVERING PLAY CULTURE IN BALINESE LONG-TAILED MACAQUES
Eye-covering play
(Balinese long-tailed macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
OBJECT ROBBING & OBJECT/FOOD BARTERING CULTURE
IN BALINESE LONG-TAILED MACAQUES
Object robbing
(Balinese long-tailed macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
Object/Food bartering
(Balinese long-tailed macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
FISH-EATING CULTURE IN JAPANESE MACAQUES
Fish eating
(Japanese macaques)
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DENTAL FLOSSING INNOVATION IN JAPANESE MACAQUES
Dental flossing
(Japanese macaques)
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NON-CONCEPTIVE SEX CULTURE IN JAPANESE MACAQUES
Female homosexual behavior
(Japanese macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
Female-male mounting
(Japanese macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
Male homosexual behavior in all-male groups
(Japanese macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
Monkey-deer mounting
(Japanese macaques)
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above
COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION PROJECT, GRENADA, WEST INDIES
Mona monkey, Grand Etang National Park, Grenada, West Indies
For further details, please CLICK on the picture above