Primatology Primatology Primatology is the scientific study of primates. It is a diverse discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medicine, psychology, veterinary sciences and zoology, as well as in animal sanctuaries, biomedical research facilities, museums and zoos. Primatologists study both living and extinct primates in their natural habitats and in laboratories by conducting field studies and experiments in order to understand aspects of their evolution and behaviour. As a science, primatology has many different sub-disciplines which vary in terms of theoretical and methodological approaches to the subject
Primatology used in researching extant primates and their extinct ancestors. There are two main centers of primatology, Western primatology and Japanese primatology. These two divergent disciplines stem from their unique cultural backgrounds and philosophies that went into their founding. Although, fundamentally, both Western and Japanese primatology share many of the same principles, the areas of their focus in primate research and their methods of obtaining data differ widely. Western primatology stems primarily from research by North American and European scientists. Early primate study focused primarily in medical research, but some scientists also conducted "civilizing" experiments on chimpanzees in order to gauge