Lemurs
(Prosimians/Strepsirhini)
a. Lemurs are known specifically to Madagascar.
It has two different climatic zones, the rainforests of the east the dry
regions of the west. With these challenges, along with poor soils, low plant
productivity, wide ranges of ecosystem complexity, and a lack of regularly
fruiting trees have made their survival the ability to endure the persistent
extremes, not yearly averages.
b.
At least 109 of all known plant families in
Madagascar (55% of all plants) are exploited by lemurs. Most of these are woody
plants, including trees, shrubs, or lianas (woody vines).
c.
By being on an island, lemurs are
geographically isolated, so they have no choice of what they need to eat, they
eat what is plentiful.
Spider
Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini)
a.
Spider monkeys are frequent in southern North
America below Mexico and northwest South America, mostly in tropical forests.
b.
Their diet consists of 90% fruits and nuts.
They can live for long periods only eating one or two types of them.
c.
They most likely eat these foods because they
spend their time hanging from trees and scanning the forest for something with
protein and sugar.
Baboon
(Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae)
a.
Baboons are found throughout Africa. They are
split into 5 species, all which inhabit their own section of the continent - papio
hamadryas (east), papio papio (west), papio anubis (central), papio
cynocephalus (south central), and papio ursinus (south).
b.
Being terrestrial and found in open savannah,
open woodland and hills across Africa, their diet is mixed. They are mostly
herbivorous but can be omnivorous, they eat insects and occasionally prey fish,
hares, birds, other monkeys, and small antelopes. They are also foragers, and
can raid human dwellings throughout Africa.
c.
Because most of Africa is open terrain, they have
to scavenge whatever food they can, so they aren’t picky.
Gibbon
(Lesser ape/Hylobatidae)
a.
Gibbons can be found in Southeast Asia, their
separate species are hylobates (southern China and central west Java), hoolock
(extending from northeast India to Myanmar), nomascus (China and southern
Vietnam), and symphalangus (Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra).
b.
Gibbons thrive on the abundant fruit trees in
their tropical range, and are especially fond of figs. They will occasionally
supplement their diet with leaves and insects.
c.
Many forests are in China and southeast Asia,
just like the spider monkey, they are slender, which means less omnivorous
diet.
Chimpanzee
(Great ape/Hominidae)
a.
Chimpanzee’s are in central Africa. They have
two species – pan troglodytes (western and central Africa) and pan paniscus
(central Africa
b.
Just like the baboon, they are foragers, and
have a mix of an herbivorous and omnivorous diet, a tremendously varied diet
that includes hundreds of known foods.
c.
Again, like the baboons, Africa is an open
terrain, so whatever is in front of them and will give them calories, they
cannot resist.
I found that the primates that are in Africa (baboon and chimpanzee) have a more savage and foraging diet than the other primates who live in humid tropical forests (lemur, spider monkey, and gibbon). The later primates are definitely more slender because of their environment also, they need to swing from branches and vines, so are a lot less bulky than the ground dwelling baboons and chimps.
I found that the primates that are in Africa (baboon and chimpanzee) have a more savage and foraging diet than the other primates who live in humid tropical forests (lemur, spider monkey, and gibbon). The later primates are definitely more slender because of their environment also, they need to swing from branches and vines, so are a lot less bulky than the ground dwelling baboons and chimps.
Great post Stephen!
ReplyDeleteI like how you acknowledged the fact that the primates are eating certain types of food found in their differing environments, which in turn, adapt their body sizes. The smaller primates, lemurs, spider monkeys, and gibbons adapted smaller body frames in order to brachiate in the treetops, eating small flowers, seeds and insects. In contrast, the baboon adapted larger, and more sturdy in order to dwell on the ground, forage for food such as large plants, birds, antelopes and sheep. And the chimpanzee is a blend of both, it adapted a medium body frame because it dwells in both trees and on ground eating a mixture of flowers, leaves, seeds, bird eggs and small birds. I think its pretty cool that their body can adapt to their differing diets due to their environments. I really enjoyed your post. Thanks!
Overall, great post, though I have a couple of clarifications.
ReplyDeleteWhen you talked about the chimps and the baboons, you gave the impression that they have to eat whatever is available and therefore there diet is scarce? Are they suffering and short on resources? Or have they just adapted to a broadly omnivorous diet to take advantage of all niches?
In your final paragraph, what did you mean by a "savage" diet?
I really liked your connection between body size and arboreal vs. terrestrial living. What is the causal direction on that? Are they arboreal because of their diet, or do they maintain that diet so they can be arboreal? Or are they interrelated and feed back on each other?
I think savage is the wrong word, I should have used another variation of forager. I was just trying to get across that they will eat anything.
DeleteThe chimps and baboons are definitely not short on resources. I'm trying to say they aren't picky. As you said, they created a broad diet for themselves because they want a variety of different foods, rather than eat one type, which would be careless due to the wide array of plants and small animals in Africa.
I think they are interrelated. If a 'tree swinging' species migrates to an open area and starts a more omnivorous diet, over time they will bulk up. Or likewise, if ground dwellers decide to go into the forest and only eat plants, fruits and nuts they will develop slender arms and bodies to navigate the trees.
Good. Thank you for replying back.
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