Comparative Primate Blog Post
The trait I was to use is Locomotor
patterns.
Lemurs
Lemurs
a) Lemurs: The lemurs are found in
rainforests and are native to Madagascar. Some lemurs are nocturnal and they
are usually found alone. Lemurs that are day dwellers are found in the trees or
bushes. Some lemurs are herbivores. They eat plants, leaves, seeds and anything
from the trees. There are some lemurs that are omnivores. Those Lemurs will eat
lizards, insects, eggs of other animals and small mice.
b) The locomotor pattern of the lemurs
include, jumping from tree to tree, sometimes spanning fifty feet. They can use
vertical clinging and suspensory climbing. They use their long tails for
balance however they don’t use them to hang from treetops, they use their long
arms and legs to grip trees. Their arms are longer than their legs (Brachiators).
c) How can the trait be viewed as an
adapdation to their environment? Because of the lemurs ability to swing swiftly
from tree to tree they also jump from side to side while on the ground, which
is not often, this forced adaptation to their environment helps them stay away
from predators .
d)
d)
D)
D)
d)
Spider monkey
a) Spider monkeys are found in the
tropical rainforests of central and South America, as well as, the southernmost part of Mexico and Brazil. These primates also live high up in the trees
to avoid predators therefore looking for food high up in trees. They like
eating fruits, nuts, and eggs from other animals. It has been noted that spider
monkeys are quite loud and will shake trees when predators are around.
b) Their locomotor pattern is being able
to move around using all four limbs and their tails. They have prehensile tails
which means that the tail has been adapted to be able to grasp and hold trees.
This means that their tails are very strong. They also have tactile pads on the
underside of their tails which allows them to grasp objects, it is said that
they use their tails almost as an extra hand to hold and manipulate food items.
c) As I mentioned above because of their
prehensile tails it helps with gathering food and eating, because of this the environment
has strongly influenced their locomotor adaptation. They are also very rarely
found on the ground in order to escape their predators.
Baboons
a) Primarily baboons live in Africa and Arabia.
They prefer the savanna and semi-arid habitats, very few live in the tropical
rainforests. They spend most of their time on the ground however they can climb
trees to eat and sleep as well as keep an eye on their possible predators.
Baboons will eat pretty much anything they can find, fruits, seed, bark,
farmers crops as well as meat.
b) The locomotor pattern of a baboon is
called “terrestrial quadrupeds”; this means that they use all four limbs to
walk. Because of this trait the baboon’s arms and legs are the same lengths.
They can also walk strait up.
c) Their environment is important to
their locomotor pattern because they use all four limbs equally and do not have
a prehensile tail to use as an “extra limb”. Furthermore because of this their
limbs tend to be stronger than those of the lemurs or spider monkeys.
d)
Gibbons
A) Gibbons are mainly found in northeast
India, Indonesia and southern china. Their habitats are tropical and sub
tropical, usually liking the warmer climates and only live in trees. Because
they live in the trees they eat fruits, twigs, leaves and insects. Gibbons are
also the fastest of all the primates that live in the trees.
B) Gibbons are medium in size and fast.
They have wrists that have a ball and socket joint which allows them to
completely rotate their hand. They use their arms to swing from tree to tree.
Their locomotor pattern called “brachiating” allows them to swing with a hand
over hand motion. When they do walk on land it is bipedally which means they
walk on two feet.
C) Gibbons have strong arms and legs and
have adapted to their environment with their arms being longer in order to go
from tree to tree and look for food as well as stay away from predators such as
leopards, large snakes and other wild animals.
Chimpanzee
A) Chimpanzees live in social
communities with lots of other chimps sometimes up to 100 at a time. They can
live in the African rainforests or in woodland areas, swamps and forests. They
primarily just need trees. Their diet is usually made up of plants, fruits, and
leaves. At times they will eat insects, eggs and meat.
B) Chimpanzees are quadrupeds, meaning
they walk on all four limbs, however they can walk upright. Chimps have
increased upper body strength so that they can move through the trees.
C) Chimpanzee’s locomotor pattern has
been greatly affected by their environment and very quickly. Chimps can climb
quickly into trees, swing from tree to tree using their arms and they can walk
standing up adapting to whichever environment they are in. Chimp’s arms are
longer and stronger than their legs. Being able to change from swinging in the
trees to walking on the ground works to the chimpanzee’s advantage in avoiding
their predators.
**For some reason my summary didn't post so here it is** After doing this blog and research it became obvious that the environment plays a huge role on how the different primates survive. Each primate is different but alike in many ways. With each primate you can see that they have different features in order to survive in their environment like prehensile tails and being able to swing from tree to tree wit ease due to a joint that allows it to rotate completely around. They adapt by learning how to jump and swing as well as hunt for food.
ReplyDeleteGood discussion on the lemurs. A clarification: "Omnivore" doesn't necessarily mean that an organism eats everything, just that they eat several different types of food, and in general, all primates are omnivorous to a certain degree. Where did you read that lemurs are solitary?
ReplyDeleteFor spider monkeys, try to be a little more specific about the type of locomotion they practice. They practice suspensory locomotion, though they can also be described as arboreal quadrupeds. Good tie in explaining the value of the prehensile tail.
Great discussion on the baboons, especially the discussion of using all four limbs equally, which explain why fore and hind limb lengths are essentially identical in baboons.
Loved the anatomical discussion on the gibbon's arm.
I've always found it interesting that the chimpanzee has the most well-rounded diet (truly an opportunistic omnivore), eating whatever is available, and that their locomotion is equally diverse.
Missing a final discussion? I would have liked to have read your conclusions. Good images.
I needed to read your comment before submitting my own.
DeleteOkay on your conclusions. Careful about using words like "learning" in conjunction with evolutionary adaptations. Learning is something we do during our lifetime. Adaptations occur across generations and generally don't involve learning.
I have found it interesting that so many primates are arboreal and yet there are several ways they have adapted to an arboreal environment. Why do you think this is?
Hi Dr. Rodriguez,
DeleteTo address your question in regards to the lemurs I found my information on the national geographic site as well as "primates all you need to know" I was very careful with the information I got from them and cross referenced trough our book and nation geographic. For the spider monkey they use suspensory pattern when feeding in the trees. They are also brachiators which means they use hand over hand motions for moving through the trees. Also as you mentioned they are also quadrupedal using all four limbs to run and move through their environment. I believe after all the research I have done that most primates are arboreal due to their environment and trying to stay away from their predators. Thank you for your insight and helpful suggestions and comments on this blog.
Donielle,
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy that Gibbons have the same joints in their wrists as humans do. They are not that close to humans as much as chimpanzee's but they have the same joints there. I noticed that most of the animals that we had to identify walked on four limbs which is interesting because they are all not that similar. It is interesting to look at all of these facts about these species.
Erica