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Clarence Ray Carpenter (usually credited as C. R. Carpenter) (November 28, 1905 – March 1, 1975) was an American primatologist who was one of the first scientific investigators to film and videotape the behavior of primates in their natural environments.

Born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, Carpenter earned his Bachelor of Science (1928) and Master of Science (1929) degrees at Duke University and his Doctor of Philosophy (1932) degree at Stanford University.

From 1931 to 1934, Carpenter conducted field research on the natural behavior of primates under the sponsorship of Yale University professor Robert M. Yerkes. Carpenter's field work, part of the Asiatic Primate Expedition team, has been noted for bringing scientific rigor for primate field studies. This includes determining how to get an accurate count of individuals, recording and interpreting primate calls, and improving understanding of other complex social behaviors. According to Irven DeVore, "for the succeeding thirty years almost all of the accurate information available on the behavior of monkeys and apes living in natural environments was the result of Carpenter's research and writing." Carpenter's lar gibbon, Hylobates lar carpenteri, is named in his honor.

Though known for his innovations in field work, Carpenter also advocated for breeding rhesus macaques for scientific experimentation. He initiated an effort to move 400 monkeys from India to Santiago Island, now part of Puerto Rico, for experimentation.

Books

• Behavioral Regulators of Behavior in Primates. C. R. Carpenter, ed. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 1974. Hardcover: ISBN 0-8387-1099-9, ISBN 978-0-8387-1099-9.

Films

• C.R. Carpenter Primate Studies Series Pennsylvania State University

Papers

• "Behavior and Social Relations of the Howling Monkey," Comparative Psychology Monographs, Johns Hopkins University, May, 1934.
• "Field Study in Siam of the Behavior and social Relations of the Gibbon," Comparative Psychology Monographs, Johns Hopkins University, December, 1940.
• "Societies of Monkeys and Apes," Biological Symposia, v. 8, 1942.
• "Evolutionary interpretation of human behavior," Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1942.
• "Social Behavior of the Primates," Colloques internationaux du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, v. 34, March, 1950.

References

1. Pennsylvania State University Special Collections Library: Biographical Note, Clarence Ray Carpenter papers, 1918-1976, PSUA 149, http://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/149.htm Archived 2021-03-18 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 17 Nov 2013
2. ^ Montgomery, Georgia (2015). Primates in the Real World: Escaping Primate Folklore and Creating Primate Science. University of Virginia Press. pp. 52–53.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
3. Groves, Colin P. 1968. A new subspecies of white-handed gibbon from northern Thailand, Hylobates lar carpenteri new subspecies. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 81:625-628; 628. URL: https://archive.org/details/biostor-82270, accessed 8 Jan 2018.
4. Montgomery, Georgina (2015). Primates in the Real World: Escaping Primate Folklore and Creating Primate Science. University of Virginia Press. pp. 75–76.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

• Biographical sketch at Primate Info Net.

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