Spider monkey home ranges: A comparison of radio telemetry and direct observation

The ranging patterns of two male and five female spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) were studied with the use of radio telemetry in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. The average size of a spider monkey home range was 62.4 hectares; however, range size varied with sex, and, for females, with the presence of a dependent infant. The probability of encountering a radio‐collared spider monkey in a three‐hour search using radio telemetry (0.91) was much greater than using a visual search (0.20), and telemetric data resulted in a larger estimate of mean home range size than did observational data, when all subjects were compared. However, the difference appeared to be owing to the presence of male ranges in the telemetric, but not the observational, data. When the size of home ranges derived from radio‐tracking data for adult females was compared to size of ranges for adult females derived from observations, the results were not significantly different. Adult males had larger home ranges than adult females, thus lending support to the hypothesis that males have adapted to the dispersion of females by occupying a large home range that overlaps the ranges of several adult females. The smallest home ranges were occupied by low‐weight females with dependent infants, perhaps reflecting social and energetic constraints. Copyright © 1988 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company

Understanding Patients’ Needs and Healthcare Seeking Behavior in Rural Southern India: The Comparison of Providers through Patients’ Perceptions and Cost Issues

This study explores patients’ needs in rural Thanjavur, southern India through understanding how people with diabetes choose providers and perceive care-seeking experience. To measure perception, the study surveyed people regarding six common barriers to care-seeking behavior, selected from both literature and local expert interview. Ninety-one percent of the sampled population goes to public or private allopathic providers out of the six presented providers. The low socioeconomic group and people with more complications or comorbidities are more likely to go to private allopathic providers. What is more, there is no difference between public and private allopathic providers in patients’ perception of care except for perceived cost. Positive perceptions in both providers are very common except for perceptions in blood-sugar management, distance to facilities, and cost of care. Sixty-six percent of patients perceived their blood-sugar control to fluctuate or have no change versus improved control. Twenty-seven percent of patients perceived the distance to facilities as unreasonable, and sixty-two percent of patients perceived the cost as high for them. The results suggest that cost may affect low socioeconomic people’s choice of care significantly. However, for people in middle and higher socioeconomic groups, cost does not appear to be a major factor. For qualitative text analyses, physician’s behavior and reputation emerge as themes, which require further studies.