All
of these primates really mostly on vision for finding food as opposed to
olfaction. They all have their eyes on the front of their face; this allows
them to be able to have color vision and stereoscopic vision (Depth
perception).
Lemur:
There environment,
they at one point lived in tropical areas of the earth but today they are only
found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some species are only arboreal and other
larger species spend half there time in trees and the other half on the ground.
Their body size, they
range in sizes from a small to a large domestic cat.
Sexual Dimorphism:
males usually increase in body mass and testes by 100% before mating season.
Primate traits in environment: The male’s lemur has to compete with other males for a mate so there
body mass increases because of competition. They are herbivorous so there sense
of smell is increased compared to other primate’s maybe so they are better able
to find fruits.
Chimpanzee:
Our closest
relatives
There environment: Because
of deforestation chimpanzees live in patches of what’s left over of
rainforests. They are mostly found on the equatorial belt from the Atlantic
Ocean to Lake Tangayika but can also be found in
bamboo forest, swamp forests, and the savanna area because they are very
adaptive. They spend a lot of their time in trees where they sleep eat and hang
out.
Their body size: They
can grow to be 4 to 5.5 ft and weigh from 70 to 150 pounds.
Sexual Dimorphism: Females
reach reproductive age at 13 while males are not adults till they are 16. There
sexual dimorphism is not as pronounced as other primates, with males weighing
about 150 pounds and females 100 pounds.
Traits in environment:
Chimpanzees live in forest areas where they are able to find fruits, seeds, and
insects that their diets consist most of.
Baboons:
There environment: All
baboon species live in Africa or Arabia. They
usually prefer to live in the savannah and some live in tropical forests.
Their body size: They
can grow from 50 to 100 pounds and their bodies are twenty to forty inches
long. They all have long muzzles and heavy powerful jaws.
Sexual Dimorphism: Baboons
have strong sexual dimorphism males are bigger than females, bigger canines,
and males also have a mane. Sometimes male and female baboons are different
colors as well.
Traits in environment: Baboons
spend much of their time on the ground but go up into trees to sleep, eat, or
be on the look out. They eat just about anything they can get their hands. They
are sometimes considered pests because they eat farmer’s crops!
Gibbons
Their environment: Gibbons
are strictly arboreal and live in the dense forest of southern Asia. There are species that are found ranging from
northeaster India to
southern China.
Their body size: Gibbons
weigh from nine to twenty nine pounds and grow from 17inches to 25inches.
Sexual Dimorphism: Males
and females are very similar. Some gibbons show sexual dimorphism through the
color of their fur. Both the males and female are very territorial and defend
their territory with whoops and songs. Males are very involved in taking care
of their child. My boyfriend can learn a thing from them.
Traits in environment: Because
Gibbons spend most of their time in trees they are the most knows for their
acrobatic brachiating. They feed mostly on fruits, their favorite being figs!
What I thought was very cool was the gibbons have a ball and socket joint in
there wrist. This allows them to use less energy because they don’t have to
move as much.
Spider Monkey
Their environment: Spider
monkeys live in Central, South America and Mexico. They live primarily in
evergreen rainforest but also inhabit semi deciduous and mangrove forest.
Their body size: They
grow from fourteen to twenty-six inches and weigh from 13 to 25 pounds.
Sexual Dimorphism: Males
sexually mature at five and females at 4. There born black as babies and as
pre-adults change color. Females give birth to one baby every 2 to 4 years.
Sexual dimorphism is not very prominent with just the males being slightly
larger.
Traits in environment: Adoptions
to their environment is that they do not have opposable thumbs because they do
not need them to move about trees. They also have a tail that grips and they
can also use to move from branches. They live in trees because they eat mostly
fruits and seeds.
Over
all I have found that the diet of all primates is mostly the same. They all eat
fruits and seeds with some that also eat insects and small mammals. They live
in almost the same type of environment, mostly tropical with lost of trees and
plants. Because they live where there are so many trees some have adapted to
living mostly in the trees where they are safe from predators and are able to
find more fruits. They all had opposable thumbs that they use for picking at
insects except for the spider monkey that has evolved without them to be able
to swing form trees better and for this reason also has evolved a tail with
griping pads.
Sources:
http://www.janegoodall.org
Okay on your lemur discussion. Can you make a connection between lemur body size and the environment? There is great variability in size in lemurs, so how does the environment influence whether a lemur will be small (like the mouse lemur) or larger (such as the ring-tailed lemurs)? Keep in mind that these lemurs also live in different environments, with larger lemurs spending time on the ground and smaller lemurs never leaving the trees. How does that come into play?
ReplyDeleteGood description for your spider monkeys, but with some questions. The body size you list doesn't match with available information. They tend to not get larger than about 10 pounds and the weights you list suggest a lot more sexual dimorphism than they really have, which is little or none. For the final section, you needed to make a connection between your assigned trait and the environment. Why do spider monkeys tend toward the small side and why does there seem to be no advantage to sexual dimorphism? To answer this, you need to ask yourself what advantage sexual dimorphism provides, such as mate selection, protection against predation and the ability to defend larger territories of resources.
Similar issue in your discussion on baboons, gibbons and chimps: What connections do you see between the environment and body size/sexual dimorphism in these primates? Why did the lemurs and spider monkeys not benefit from sexual dimorphism and the last three do benefit? How can you use the environment to explain these differences?
For your summary, you needed to focus on your assigned trait, body size and sexual dimorphism, instead of diet. Diet and body size are definitely related (do they get their food in the treetops of closer to the ground?) and also to sexual dimorphism (Does the male need to be larger to defend a territory of resources), so that could have been discussed, but there are also the issues of competition for mates and defense against predation.
Hi Judy! On the parts of your discussion titled "Traits in environment," I have a bit to add to your information. This is just pure speculation, but maybe a reason certain species are so sexually dimorphic is because of an adaptation to their environment. For example, since baboons spend a lot of time on the ground, this puts them more at risk for predators, so the males may have developed to become larger in order to protect the females and their offspring. Chimpanzees may be dimorphic for the same reason. However, since lemurs are mostly arboreal, it would likely benefit both sexes if they remained small, as they can move more quickly through the trees. Also, since they spend minimal time on the ground, they have less of a chance to be taken by predators, and therefore may not need an evolutionary trait for protection. This is just my take, though, on how their environment might have caused this trait as an adaptation.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel for adding. Your comment helped a lot because with all the information there is I got distracted and off topic. Thanks for clearing up that. So primates on the ground have adapted to their environment by growing bigger to defend themselves and to compete for mates.
Deletejudy,
ReplyDeletevery interesting read for starters! I had to describe the dentition and found some pretty interesting information as well. what peak my interest was chimpanzees age. so they age as we humans do or do they age quicker ( like dogs)?
I learned quite a bit about each species, very thoroughly I might add, but I am a bit confused as to what topic you were assigned... you started the post with something about the way they rely on vision more than their olfactory glands, which was good, but as you stated to Rachel Hines you kind of got off topic. So I'm curious about what your exact topic was. maybe it will all tie in for me, once I figure it out.
ReplyDelete