Comparative Primate Blog Post
The Lemur monkey is native to, and lives in the African islands of Madagascar and Comoro. Lemurs are mammals, with an average life span of 18 years. They are about the size of a standard house cat and weight between 5 to 7.5 lbs. Lemurs spend a lot of their time on the ground, which is unusual for the species, looking for fruit. Fruit is essential and makes up a major part of the Lemur diet, apart from, leaves, flowers, tree bark, and sap. Omnivore Lemurs, like the mouse Lemur, eat insects, bird eggs, lizards, and plants. Lemurs have powerful scent glands, they use their odor to communicate with one another and as a weapon to mark their territories from other animals.
b. Though all primates are climbers, some of them have developed a more specialized adaptation to other kinds of movement, or locomotion. This is in order for the primates to better adapt to their environment. Some are good at moving on the ground (terrestrially), and others are good at climbing and swinging. Lemur monkeys use their hands and feet to move through the trees (but cannot grip with their tails as some of the other primates do) and their tails for balance. Lemurs use a locomotion called vertical clinging and leaping, this enables them to leap between vertical supports, such as small tree trunks and bamboo. Large lemurs, leap along the ground. Their legs are relatively long compared to their arms, so that ground movement can be more effective by leaping than by running on all fours.
c. Lemurs use a combination of quadrupedalism (knuckle walking) and brachiation (arm swinging, using only their arm strength). Lemurs are able to rush headlong from branch to branch, because of their arboreal skills. They are able to cover large amounts of land by leaping from one tree to another, limited only by gravity. Their legs are relatively long compared to their arms, so that terrestrial movement can be more effective by leaping than by running on all fours.
Spider monkeys live in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America and can also be found as far North as Mexico. The life span of a spider monkey is about 22 years, out in the wild. They weigh about 13.5 lbs and measure between 14-26 inches. Spider monkeys spend most of their time up on the treetops, where they find most of their food. A Spider monkey’s diet consists mainly of nuts, fruits, leaves, bird eggs, and spiders. This type of primate is avery noisy animal and often communicates with many different calls such as screeches, barks, and other sounds.
b. Spider monkeys have long, lanky arms and prehensile tails with a very strong grip that enables them to move gracefully from branch to branch and tree to tree. They are able to maintain a powerful grip on branches even though they have no thumbs. This monkey has shown a type of locomotion that contains the elements of both quadrupedalism and brachiation. Their elongated arms allow them to move in a specialized manner through the trees using a hand-over-hand motion, and walking upright when walking down on the ground. In addition to their long arms, spider monkeys have hook-like hands with elongated fingers which allow them to swing over branches with ease.
c. Not similar to most other primates, spider monkeys lack an external thumb. The abbreviated thumb is really a specialized adaptation; their ancestor had an opposing thumb, but over time, it has shrunk in size in proportion to other bones of the hand due to lack of use in their arboreal environment. Another adaptation seen in spider monkeys is their long, specialized tail. This tail allows them to move through the treetops with additional ease, security, and efficiency. On the underside of the tip of the tail there is a patch of skin with distinct pattern of lines. This patch of skin, at the tip is important because it helps the tail grip onto surfaces, much like fingers on a hand. Furthermore, the presence of a prehensile tail is important in suspensory feeding: the tail supports the entire weight of the monkey while both hands are free to feed.
Although there are five different species of baboons, all of them live in Africa or Arabia. The average life span of a baboon in the wild is 30 years. Baboons are some of the world's largest monkeys, and males average from 33 to 82 pounds. Baboon bodies are 20 to 40 inches long, not including tails, which vary in length. They generally prefer savannas and other semi-dry habitats, though a few live in tropical forests. They spend most of their time on the ground. The baboon diet consists of fruits, grasses, seeds, bark, and roots, but also have a taste for meat. They also like to eat birds, rodents, and even the young of antelopes and sheep. Baboons use at least ten different and unique vocalizations to communicate with one another.
b. Baboon monkeys are terrestrial monkeys, meaning that they spend most of their time on the ground. Therefore, they are known to use quadrupedalism as a form of locomotion. They also walk with their toes, also know as digits, but with their heels not touching the ground. This is called digitigrade quadrupedalism. Like other monkeys, baboons do not have prehensile (gripping) tails. But they can and do climb trees to sleep, eat, or look out for trouble.
c. Baboons have more big toe mobility for grasping and climbing. Baboons have ischial callosities, or hairless rump pads, which represent adaptations for extended periods of sitting or lying on rough branches, rocks and the ground. They have adapted their locomotor skills of quadrupedalism to their environment because a baboon doesn't have a prehensile tail to use as an extra limb and to assist it in hanging from trees. It mainly relies on its hands and feet for grabbing, holding, touching and moving.
Gibbon monkeys are endemic to the dense forests of southern Asia. The life span of a Gibbon monkey is 25 years in the wild. They weigh between 9 to 29 lbs, and are between 17 to 25 inches long. These primates live mainly on the treetops. Gibbons thrive on fruit trees in their tropical habitats, and especially love figs. They will occasionally supplement their diet with leaves and insects. Gibbons communicate by using loud calls that can echo for miles throughout the forest. They are also known to sing. Some Gibbons have even adapted large throat pouches to amplify their calls.
b. Gibbon monkeys have strong, hook-shaped hands for grasping branches, long arms for reaching faraway limbs, and long, powerful legs for propelling and gasping. Their shoulder joints are even specially adapted to allow greater range of motion when swinging. Their form of locomotion is called brachiation. Brachiation can move gibbons through the jungle at up to 35 miles an hour, and covering gaps as wide as 50 feet with a single swinging leap. Brachiating also gives gibbons the unique advantage of being able to swing out and grab fruits growing at the end of branches.
c. The Gibbons environment has influenced its locomotor skills by enabling them to use their long arms, strong shoulders and lightweight body to travel, eat, and move amongst the treetops easier. When on the ground, they have the ability to walk upright, rather than on all fours like other monkeys.
Chimpanzees live in large communities of several dozen animals, and are habitual to African rain forests, woodlands, and grasslands. The average life span of a Chimp is 45 years in the wild. They are between 4 to 5.5 feet tall and weigh between 70 to 130 lbs. Chimpanzees usually sleep in trees, making nests of leaves. are mainly fruit and plant eaters, but they also consume insects, eggs, and meat. They have a varied diet that includes hundreds of known foods. Chimps communicate vocally, not verbally. This means they make noises to communicate, not words.
b. Although they normally walk on all fours (knuckle-walking) and fist walking, chimpanzees can stand and walk upright. By swinging from branch to branch they can also move quite efficiently in the trees, where they do most of their eating. These apes have long forelimbs relative to their hindlimbs, and their hands are very long with strong tendons for curling the long fingers into a powerful hook. These hands are very well adapted to suspension in the trees, but they are not capable of being extended with the palms toward the ground, which is the way most other primates walk quadrupedally. So instead of walking palm-down, they use their knuckles.
c. A few features of living chimpanzees and gorillas appear to be adaptations to knuckle-walking. Because the arms are held in a locked position while supporting the body, the end of the ulna is more U-shaped, built for supporting the humerus from below. Also, the joints of the hands are more limited in motion, and incapable of being extended backward at the wrist and knuckles. These are the main adaptations the Chimpanzee’s locomotor skills has made to its environment.
I think that the environment that each of these primates live in play a significant role in their adaptation to it. As we can see here, even though they are all primates, they are are all very different and need to be, because of where they live and how they live. Some need to be smaller and faster in order to survive from being attacked from larger predators, as is the case of the lemurs, spider and gibbon monkeys, were others need only to be stronger, like the baboon and the chimp. They make the best of what they have been given by nature in order to survive in the wild.
