In 1987, Marc Hauser started doing field work on Cayo Santiago. The focus of the early work was the vocal repertoire of rhesus, and in particular, questions concerning the referentiality of their food calls. This early work spawned several interesting results concerning vocal communication, social relationships, and punishment. Building on this early phase of research, several undergraduates, graduate students and post-docs have worked with Marc on projects that include the nature of numerical representations, hemispheric specialization for auditory processing, predator-prey relationships, the nature of causal inferences, and the representation of object kinds. This work continues into the present and provides an exceptional opportunity for students to learn about the behavior of free-ranging primates, and the kinds of experiments one can carry out with this population.

What have we been studying on Cayo recently? Ansgar Endress (see our Post-Doc page) has been carrying out the Monkey Art experiment. When humans create or look at pictures, they know that a) they represent something, and b) the picture itself is an object which is distinct from what it represents. Appreciating the dual nature of pictures is thought to be unique to humans, and is believed to develop relatively late in childhood. This experiment attempts to show that, with a suitably simplified task, rhesus macaques can spontaneously appreciate that a picture represents something (e.g. a piece of food) which is distinct from the piece of food itself.

Individuals who intend to conduct research on Cayo must read the Cayo rules and the CPRC guidelines. Researchers must print, sign, and date the waiver at the end of the guidelines document.

Additionally, visitors are responsible for reading and following Cayo protocols:

• Protocol for working on Cayo Santiago
• Boat schedule and information
• Protocol for recording vocalizations on Cayo Santiago
• Protocol for conducting playback experiments on Cayo Santiago

Cayo Santiago Photo Album