Primates in Motion

Lemurs:

§  Lemurs live solely in the country of Madagascar. The eastern areas are primarily heavy rainforest and thick foliage, while the western hemisphere is made up of dry regions. The climate is somewhat unstable generating floods and heavy rains. These climate and geographical ups and downs along with poor soil quality, and a lack of sufficient fruit trees, has made lemurs fill many environmental niches.

§  There are a variety of different species of lemur with many different locomotion patterns. Lemurs are anthropoids; their locomotion patterns include: vertical clinging and leaping, fast and slow arboreal quadruped locomotion, and terrestrial quadruped locomotion on all fours. Most species use their long hind legs and catapult themselves into the air, landing in an upright position. When the lemurs jump around they stand upright and hop sideways with their arms help to the side and waving up and down. Another way they lunge around is from swinging around from tree to tree, up to thirty-three feet.

§  The movement of lemurs differs in many ways. Because of the many different environment factors, lemurs have to adapt different ways of moving around; from swinging and climbing trees, to leaping great distances on the ground and walking on all fours. All different adaptions have driven the species to evolve many ways of getting around.

Spider Monkey:

§  Spider monkeys live in the tropical rainforests of central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. They live in the upper layers of the rainforest and find their food in the high canopy; they require large areas of moist evergreen and prefer an undisturbed territory.

§  In comparison to their body size, they have disproportionately long, spindly limbs and a long flexible tails, which helps their arboreal traits. When they walk, their arms drag low and do not use their arms for balance, but instead relying on their tail for support. Their hands are long, narrow and hook like, which corresponds to their arboreal lifestyle.

§  Because of the strict habitat of heavy foliage and trees, the spider monkey has had to adapt to using their tail for many purposes such as clinging, balancing and swinging. Making it ideal for their environment.

Baboon:

§  There are many different species of baboon all belonging to the subfamily Cercopithecinae. They are the largest of the non- hominoid primates and can only be found in Africa and Saudi Arabia. They can be found in the desert and forested areas, as well as modern urban settings.

§  Baboons move on the ground quadrupedally, in the form of knuckle walking on all fours just like gorillas and chimpanzees.

§  Because the Baboon can adapt to life in the forest, desert or city; climbing and being able to walk on all fours is ideal for this species. It gives them the advantage of being able to cover large areas of ground in a shorter amount of time, making it ideal for finding food and collaborating in a social group.

Gibbon:

§  Gibbons live in tropical and subtropical rainforests in northeastern India, Indonesia and China, including Sumatra, Borneo and Java.

§  Gibbons primary mode of locomotion is brachiating, swinging from branch to branch quite proficiently, up to fifty feet, at speeds of thirty-five mph. when walking on the ground somewhat upright with their arms raised for balance, leaping on the ground similar to lemurs

§  In the forested areas of India and China, swinging from branch to branch covering long distances and high speeds, allows these moneys to inhabit large areas of their environment.

Chimpanzee:

§  There are two existing species of chimp, one from the Congo rainforest and the other from the forests of west and central Africa.

§  Both species are proficient at moving in and out of the trees. They have long powerful arms for climbing trees and move on the ground quadrupedally, in the form of knuckle walking on all fours. A chimps feet are suited for walking because their soles are broader and their toes are shorter. They can walk upright and display this when carrying objects.

§  Chimps, being the closest related to Humans, have adapted the ability to walk upright. They still climb trees and walk on all fours, but it gives us a great insight to what early humans started out doing,

Summary:

§  Based on what I have found, all these primates listed above have similar traits. All from swinging in trees for walking upright. Each primate has a different environmental factor causing the species to adapt to different locomotion’s and social patterns. Primates from the more heavily forested areas are more adapted for tree climbing and the others in less forested and desert areas tent to swing between tree climbing and walking in some form. Also, other species of primate may have caused some species to dwell on the ground and others to dwell in the high canopy, all filling a different niche.