Comparative Primate Blog Post

Comparative Primate Blog Post

In this blog post, I am going to be addressing the five types of primates that are mentioned in the prompt.  Under each type of primate, I will answer the various questions asked about each type of primate so that these different types can be compared.

1.  Lemurs

Lemurs were once found in almost any tropical area of the planet, but over time they greatly decreased in number and they now reside primarily in the Old World on islands like Madagascar or the Comoro Islands.  They live in tropical environments with lots of trees because their bodies allow them to excel at climbing the branches of trees.  

(Source: http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_2.htm)

The locomotor pattern of lemurs is that they use all four of their legs to climb, jump, run, etc. hence why they are known as quadrupedals.  Because of their tropical environments that are filled with enormous trees, lemurs are benefited by using all four of their limbs to move around quickly and potentially avoid danger (which is especially important because they are an endangered species).  (Source: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~phyl/anthro/prosimian.html)

2.  Spider Monkeys

Spider monkeys belong to a broader category of monkeys known as New World monkeys, which primarily exist in tropical environments in Mexico, Central America, and South America.  Similarly to lemurs, spider monkeys spend most of their lives living in the trees of these tropical environments.  (Source: http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_5.htm)

Because spider monkeys are arboreal and live in trees, they are primarily quadrupedals because it is easier to travel through trees when using all four limbs (very similar to lemurs in this sense).  However, they also can be classified as bipedals because they only use two legs when leaping between trees, and they often suspend from trees using their tails or individual limbs.  Their environment made it so that they would need to use all four limbs when moving because of the immense number of trees in their habitats.

3.  Baboons

Baboons reside in both the trees and plains/grasslands of Africa (with some living in Southern and Eastern Asia).  They live in both types of terrains which makes them semi-terrestrial primates.  The land they live on can vary from tropical forests to dry grasslands and anything in between.  (Source: http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_6.htm)

As mentioned above, baboons are semi-terrestrial, which means that they are quadrupedals when they live in the trees but are bipedals when walking on land.  Depending on their environment, baboons use different modes of movement because they move faster using different locomotion patterns in different places.

4.  Gibbons

Gibbons exist almost exclusively in Southeast Asia, where they live among trees as completely arboreal apes; in fact, they rarely ever leave their homes in the tree tops. (Source: http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_7.htm)

The locomotor pattern of gibbons is known as suspensory climbing because they move around by swinging under branches using distinct hand motions.  Very rarely, when gibbons walk on the top of branches or on the ground, they move bipedally because they no longer need to swing from place to place.  Again, the environment shapes the necessity of the way gibbons move from place to place.

5.  Chimpanzee

Chimps live mostly in African tropical forests and savannas, where they can live in the trees or on the ground due to the flexibility of their limbs.  (Source: http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_7.htm)

The locomotion patterns of chimpanzees include both quadrupedalism when they move on the ground and swinging when moving in the trees.  They are primarily quadrupedals because they use their four limbs whenever they move regardless of where they are.

In summary, the environment in which primates lives has an enormous effect on the way they move and live their lives.  For primates such as lemurs or gibbons who live in areas with primarily trees surrounding them, for example, it becomes a necessity for them to use all of their limbs to move from place to place; however, chimps and baboons are found on land as well as in trees, so they must diversify the means by which they move about.  The environment is ultimately responsible for the type of locomotor patterns that each type of primate uses in their natural habitats.