INTERACTION DESIGN
IN THE WILD

2019 Spring

Lan Zhang
MFADT

Week 6

Zoo Visit

Big Idea: Look for an animal that you already worked for at the Central Park Zoo in New York City.
Do an ethogram and make a homunculus diagram for that animal.

Animal: Black and White Ruffed Lemur

CP Zoo Ethogram – Black and White Ruffed Lemur

I followed one specific lemur and observed his/her behavior throughout time.Since lemurs move fairly fast and change behaviors quickly, I did my ethogram for 12-14 minutes

Time Interval Behavior/Action Time Interval Behavior/Action
1 staring/holding onto the branch 7 lying down/being groomed
2 climbing/then standing on a rock 8 grooming separately but together
3 climbing up and down the branches 9 standing on a branch grooming
4 standing on a rock/scratching head 10 grooming
5 grooming another lemur 11 grooming
6 grooming another lemur 12 grooming
Environment

Observations for homunculus diagram

Body Parts that are used a lot

* Hands and feet: for holding onto the branches
* Legs: jumping and hoping
* Tail: for balancing
* male: big wrists for the scent glands
* mouth: grooming (spend a lot of time on)

Homunculus diagram consideration

* Enlarged mouth for grooming themselves and others
* stronger, thicker, bigger hands/feet/legs
* For male: enlarged wrists as they use the scent glands for stink fights
* Tail is mainly for balancing. If they spend a great deal of time standing up, their tails might get smaller. It might also get smaller with a considerable balancing ability as they also have bigger grip from hands and feet now

Detailed diagram