Primates to be Compared
Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini representative)
Olive Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae representative)
Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae representative)
Environment
Sifaka (Prosimians/Strepsirhini representative):
Sifakas are beautiful primates that are on the endangered species list. They reside only in the forests of Madagascar spending most of their time in the tree's. Being that they mostly dwell in tree's, Sifakas remain upright, and leap swiftly from tree to tree using their powerful hind legs to jump. On the ground, they use a two legged sideways hop to move swiftly as well. Sifakas are beautifully colored primates and are strictly vegetarians. They eat leaves, flowers, fruit, buds, and tree bark. Interestingly, sifakas have been known to eat hundreds of different plants that they find in the Madagascar forests. Its in the daylight hours that they forage for food and sleep prior to sunset. Their family dynamic consists of living in medium to large groups consisting of ten to thirteen animals. They remain in a firm territory, and mark it using their scent glands. Although various Sifka territories can overlap they will defend their territory by others of their own species. If territory invasions are successful, this usually results in the death of male members, group take over and even infanticide. All sifakas living in Madagascar are threatened by the destruction of their forest habitats. In addition, they are also hunted for their meat.
Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini representative):
The spider monkey is a primate that can be found in the tropical jungles from Southern Mexico to Brazil. Due to their strong dislike of mountainous terrain's, Spider Monkeys generally don't enter the deep southern regions of South America. The name spider monkey is thought to be derived from the way these primates hang from the tree's. They're often seen with all four of their hands on separate branches.The diet of the spider monkey consists of mainly eats fruits and berries and are thought to play a crucial part in spreading the seeds of various plants throughout the South American rainforests. For protein they also eat insects and small reptiles and even consume honey when they can find it. The primary threats to the spider monkey is the extensive hunting of them from both humans and larger animals such as the jaguar and the crocodile. In addition, humans have also been known to capture them and keep them as pets which has contributed to them being on the "critically" endangered list.
Olive Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae representative):
Olive Baboons are considered one of the largest of the Baboon species. They live in West and East Africa have the largest range of all baboons. Olive Baboons inhabit savannahs, steppes and forests and have proven to be very adaptable to their environments. They live amongst large groups called troops consisting of 20 to 50 members, and could also exceed over 100 baboons. The size of their troop is predicated upon food availability and environmental conditions. Due to them being omnivores Olive Baboons feed on grass, seeds, leaves, cereals, fruit, tubers, small mammals, invertebrates and young birds.
They forage on the ground by day and at night they retreat to the trees or up in the rocks to sleep in order avoid predators. The main predatory threat of the Olive Baboons are lions, leopards, african wild dogs, hyenas, chimpanzees and crocodiles.
Lars Gibbon (Lesser ape/Hylobatidae representative):
Lars Gibbons inhabit the rain forests of Southeastern Asia. They spend the majority of their time in the treetops of the rainforest and even sleep there. They rest in the forks of branches using thier long fingers and strong hands to help them swing high in the trees swiftly and gracefully. They also reside in isolated areas that are in close proximity to large rivers. They love to eat fruits but also partake in leaves, tree bark flowers and plant shoots. On occasion they'll also eat bird eggs, small birds, insects, frogs and other animals. The main threat to their species is loss of habitat due to deforestation.
Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini representative):
The spider monkey is a primate that can be found in the tropical jungles from Southern Mexico to Brazil. Due to their strong dislike of mountainous terrain's, Spider Monkeys generally don't enter the deep southern regions of South America. The name spider monkey is thought to be derived from the way these primates hang from the tree's. They're often seen with all four of their hands on separate branches.The diet of the spider monkey consists of mainly eats fruits and berries and are thought to play a crucial part in spreading the seeds of various plants throughout the South American rainforests. For protein they also eat insects and small reptiles and even consume honey when they can find it. The primary threats to the spider monkey is the extensive hunting of them from both humans and larger animals such as the jaguar and the crocodile. In addition, humans have also been known to capture them and keep them as pets which has contributed to them being on the "critically" endangered list.
Olive Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae representative):
Olive Baboons are considered one of the largest of the Baboon species. They live in West and East Africa have the largest range of all baboons. Olive Baboons inhabit savannahs, steppes and forests and have proven to be very adaptable to their environments. They live amongst large groups called troops consisting of 20 to 50 members, and could also exceed over 100 baboons. The size of their troop is predicated upon food availability and environmental conditions. Due to them being omnivores Olive Baboons feed on grass, seeds, leaves, cereals, fruit, tubers, small mammals, invertebrates and young birds.
They forage on the ground by day and at night they retreat to the trees or up in the rocks to sleep in order avoid predators. The main predatory threat of the Olive Baboons are lions, leopards, african wild dogs, hyenas, chimpanzees and crocodiles.
Lars Gibbon (Lesser ape/Hylobatidae representative):
Lars Gibbons inhabit the rain forests of Southeastern Asia. They spend the majority of their time in the treetops of the rainforest and even sleep there. They rest in the forks of branches using thier long fingers and strong hands to help them swing high in the trees swiftly and gracefully. They also reside in isolated areas that are in close proximity to large rivers. They love to eat fruits but also partake in leaves, tree bark flowers and plant shoots. On occasion they'll also eat bird eggs, small birds, insects, frogs and other animals. The main threat to their species is loss of habitat due to deforestation.
Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae representative):
Chimpanzees inhabit the forest belt from Southern Senegal, he Congo River to Western Uganda and Western Tanzania. They spend equal time on land and in the trees however do most of their feeding and sleeping in the trees. Chimps are very noisy, curious, intelligent, and social primates. They live in communities that range anywhere between 10 to 100 chimps. They share their home range amongst eachother to protect eachother from intruders which is why they sometimes forage for food in groups. Chimps feed on fruits as their principal diet, along with leaves, buds, and blossoms. They also eat berries and seeds directly off the stem with their lips. They eat up to 80 different plant foods, and will supplement their diets with meat from young antelopes, goats even young baboons, colobus monkeys, and blue monkeys. The main threats of the Chimpanzees are humans who hunt them for meat and the Leopard.
Body size and Sexual Dimorphism
Sifaka (Prosimians/Strepsirhini representative)
Sifaka's are significantly smaller when compared to other living primates.They are approximately 7-9 pounds and their body size is the same as an
average house cat with the exception that Sifaka's have significantly longer tails. They have
very little sexual dimorphism with the exception of the slight difference in canine teeth size
and the difference in fur coloring.
Spider monkeys have very little sexual dimorphism. The male spider monkeys are slightly larger than their female counterparts averaging around 24 pounds while the females average around 21 pounds.They range from 1-2 feet with prehensile tails that are up to 35 inches long.
Olive Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae representative)
Baboons range from 24-56 pounds. Olive Baboons are very sexually dimorphic as the males are nearly twice the size of the females. In regards to body size, Baboons are in the middle range in comparison to other living primates.
Lars Gibbon (Lesser ape/Hylobatidae representative)
Lars Gibbons have very little sexual dimorphism. They have very elongated bodies with an arm span of 5ft. Their average height is 3 feet and are 17-26 pounds.
Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae representative)
Chimpanzees are definitley sexually dimorphic. The Chimpanzee males weigh between 75 to 150 pounds. The females weigh between approximately 50-100 pounds. They have very long arms which allows for ease of movement between trees and also helps them when they travel on land.
Trait Influece on Environment
As global environments continue to change, these changes have had a significant impact on the body size of
the various species of the primates. Depending on the availability of food sources and forests these primates will adapt in size and physiological changes in their bodies in order to survive and defend
against predators. If their primary food source and primary living environment is up in the
trees, their bodies will adapt to be more agile and mobile in order to move easily in their changing environments.
Thorough descriptions of each primate and good overall discussion of body size and sexual dimorphism. You include a summary of the relationship between you assigned trait and the environment, but the guidelines asked that you include a section for each primate, exploring this specific relationship. I would have liked to have seen this as, with your thoroughness, I think you would have had some good insights.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion of the environmental influence wasn't about environmental change. It was about how the environment of each primate has shaped their traits. Also, you discuss in the summary how body size has been influenced but neglect to include the issue of sexual dimorphism into this. Why do some primates exhibit sexual dimorphism and others don't? This is an interesting question in primatololgy.
I really enjoyed the format you out your post in. You had a large amount of information and i liked the pictures you posted. My personal favorite is the sifakas because they are so adorable. It crazy to think that people would actually hunt them for meat.
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