Comparative Primate Blog

The trait I will be comparing among these five primates will be: Body size and Sexual Dimorphism

1. Lemurs
a) Specifically, Lemurs are only found on the Comoro Islands and Madagascar off the Southeast coast of Africa.  Majority of Lemurs live in overgrown tree areas, i.e Rainforests. Lemurs eat mainly fruit and nuts and tend to eat mostly at night to avoid predators. Which is beneficial since they are nocturnal animals. Lemurs are also on the brink of extinction due to their habitats being torn town by humans (i.e. deforestation).
b) Lemurs can be as small as 1 oz. when born and grow up to 20 lbs in some cases. So not much bigger than a cat.  They have a small brain to body ratio. Most Lemurs also have nails, instead of claws and use their "wet nose" senses. Their "hallux" is what allows them to grasp on to the tree limbs. Mostly Lemurs to have much of a sexual dimorphism in size and canine tooth morphology, but some species to have a larger females but the most common is the brown lemur.Their strong sense of smell is important in determining whether another lemur would be a good breeding partner.  The female has social dominance.
c) The Lemur is able to climb trees with its small body and ability to climb.  Since most of their food is in trees they can sustain being up there for long periods of time, especially during a fruitful season.  This helps with their trait of being small because it makes them less accessible to predators. The larger Lemurs are able to spend more time on the ground perhaps indicating ability to fight off predators.  When they were isolated on Africa, Lemurs were able to adapt without having to compete with such animals as monkeys and squirrels.
d) Male(right) and Female(left) Lemur:

2. Spider Monkey
a) Spider Monkeys habitat mainly consists of the evergreen rainforests, semi deciduous forests and mangrove forests.  So there is a wide range of where you can find these animals from Mexico to Central America.  They prefer to live in the upper layers of the forests and eat things such as nuts, berries, fruits and insects and in some cases bird eggs and spiders. Unlike the Lemur, they have tails that they're able to swing with fro branch to branch and hands that can grip.
b) The spider monkey has a slender body with long and narrow limbs. Their brains are less complex, their nostrils are further apart and the thumbs are not opposable.  The Black-headed Spider Monkey is the largest of its species. Their tails are long and flexible and the skin on the tips of the grooves resembles fingerprints.  There is not a lot of differences in sexual dimorphism although like the Lemur, the females are more dominant than the males and are usually the ones to scare off predators. Males tend ravel in packs while the female leaves the group at any early age.
c) Much like that of Lemurs, the Spider Monkey also gets most of it's food from the trees but unlike Lemurs must travel a further distance in search of it.  Thus, with their ability to swing from their tails making them more agile animals and can move swiftly.
d) Male and Female Spider Monkey:



3. Baboon
a) Baboons are typically found in Africa or Arabia, preferring savanna and other semi-arid habitats, while some remain in tropical rainforests. Interestingly enough, Baboons seem to require habitats with water but they can also survive for long periods of time by just licking the nights dew from their fur.They are most adaptable of the ground-dwelling primates.
b) A baboon can grow anywhere from 50-100 pounds and live anywhere from 20-30 years.  There are two main types of Baboons, the olive baboon which is larger and darker and the yellow baboon, more slender and lighter in color. The male is also significantly larger than the female, twice in size in fact. Females develop a longevity relationship with other females while males may live in several different groups. Females will also groom her relatives, mother and sisters. Male and female baboons started to walk on their hands to show that they were ready to mate in hopes of attracting the baboons that were not necessarily "sexier" but showed better traits for survival
c) Because of their standing on their hands mating call they learned to adapt together in their environment.  As natural selection occurred the physical look of the baboons changed and they no longer knew the handstand meant they were ready to mate.
d) Male and Female Baboon:

4. Gibbon
a) Are very acrobatic and can be found mainly in Southeast Asia, in tropical rainforests. They like to live in the trees as well as most of the animals above and rarely go on the ground.  Their diet is mainly fruits and leaves.  When they are on the ground they go in packs, and always have their arms in the air for balance.
b) Gibbons are small animals anywhere from 24-36 inches tall and only about up to 18 pounds in weight. They have a mall head to match with very light bone density.  Very long arms and a short slender body and no tails. Male gibbons are only a little bit larger than female gibbons. Gibbons are believed to (much like the penguin) form life-long bonds with their mate. Again, the female is the dominant in the family. They do things in pairs with their mates, so when one is caught without her mate the males view this as a free for all that the mate is not doing his job right, therefore offspring may be made with others than her mate.
c) Because the Gibbons are so small and can move in trees so extravagantly, predators are very unlikely to catch them. They like the Lemur, are endangered due to humans ruining their habitat. They do things in pairs to defend their territories and warn off predators.
d) Male and Female Gibbon:




5. Chimpanzee
a) Chimps can be found in 21 African countries and prefer dense tropical rainforests but can also be found in woodlands, swamps and savanna.
b) Chimps are the closest living relatives to the human. They are covered in black hair and have flat faces and forward facing eyes.Their ears, hands, feet and face are all uncovered though and have no hair. Male chimps however, are slightly larger and can way anywhere from 90 to 115 pounds! The female swells and that's when the males typically know it's mating time. However, females choose which male they want to mate with, this enables them to chose the one with the most dominant characteristics. A male must be extremely friendly for a female to chose him, and avoid copulation. The female also does not abandon her mate choice.
c) Chimps are very closely and rely on their communities for food and survival.
d) Male and Female Chimpanzee:



In conclusion, the one thing I found regarding the majority of these primates is that they are all tree climbers and have characteristics that allow them to swing from trees, live in the trees and harvest the food there.  They all seem to be very family orientated and remain close to their relatives for long, if not for their full lives.  Many of these animals seem to be on the brink of extinction however simply because of humans coming in and taking over their territory and deforesting their lands and homes.  All of them can stand on two feet and use their eyes far less as a means to survival than humans do.  Because the majority of them do not grow to be very big, they depend on these trees for survival.