Researchers: Brogan Stewart and Sarah Turner

Highlights:

• Free ranging and wild animals sometimes experience challenges of physical wellbeing and optimal movement ability, but assessing if they are stressed in these situations can prove difficult.
• This research focuses on a population of Japanese macaques on Awaji Island, Japan that are born with very high incidences of limb malformations that cause physical impairment.
  
• We observe behavioral responses to disabilities and use Fractal Analysisto test the hypothesis that impairment caused by congenital limb malformations will alter the complexity of movement behaviors for disabled monkeys under free-ranging conditions.
• Studying behaviour in the context of disability can highlight the selective pressures that individuals face and reveal adaptations for behavioural flexibility and environmental tolerances.