Life in the Trees and Social Climbers
•Slender Loris
⁃suborder: Strepsirhini
⁃found in Southern India
⁃Diet:
⁃fruit (berries) and insects
⁃Marking territory
⁃drops of urine on trees; also covers its hands in urine for leaving trail of
scent; possibly also a better grip due to stickiness
⁃hunting
⁃stealth; moves very slowly and quietly
•Lesser Bush Baby (Galago)
⁃suborder: Strepsirhini
⁃found in Africa
⁃marking territory: scent marking with urine
⁃mode of locomotion: vertical clinging and leaping
⁃whereas Lorises use stealth to hunt, galagos use speed; can jump up to 30x their
body length
•Golden Bamboo Lemur
⁃suborder: Strepsirhini
⁃found in Madagascar
⁃dietary adaptations: highly specialized - lives on a part of the bamboo plant - the pith
- that is usually poisonous
⁃eats 12x as much cyanide as would kill another animals
•Sifaka:
⁃suborder: strepsirhini
⁃found in Madagascar
⁃eats flowers of spiny plant - Dideria
⁃vertical clinging and leaping in trees (very quick)
⁃long and narrow back feet with huge big toe to lock onto tree trunks
⁃on the ground - because of length of legs, can't run on all fours - instead, jump; but
since there are no trunks to push off from, the jumps are quite short
• Gibbon
⁃Parvorder: Catarrhine
⁃Superfamily: Homonoid
⁃Family: Hylobatid
⁃found in South-East Asia
⁃locomotion:
⁃fastest arboreal primate (jump about as far as a Sifaka, but faster) - can catch
a bird in mid-air
⁃hand over hand swinging (brachiation); ball and socket wrist joint
⁃most gibbons fracture bones at some point in lives - dangerous locomotion
method
⁃social structure: sexually dichromatic; pair-bonded male and female
• Capuchin Monkey
⁃Parvorder: Platyrrhine (NW Monkey)
⁃found in South America
⁃How are certain behaviours (e.g., food preparation, leaf rubbing) learned by
members of this species?
⁃shellfish (clams): slam them against trees until the clam muscle relaxes,
making the shell easy to open
⁃young learn from observation
⁃leaf rubbing:
⁃use piper leaves, which have insect-repelling and antiseptic qualities
⁃rub all over themselves and others - big social behaviour (everyone
joins in)
⁃use most often during the rainy season (when skin infections
are most prevalent)
•Uakari:
⁃Parvorder: Platyrrhine (NW Monkey)
⁃found in South America
⁃how is an individual's position in the dominance hierarchy expressed?
⁃the brighter scarlet the face, the more senior the animal in the ranking
•The following platyrrhine species also live in South America and are sympatric: uakaris,
saki monkeys, spider monkeys, pygmy marmosets, and owl monkeys (douracoulis). What
are three ways in which these species avoid competition for resources?
⁃uakaris eat unripe fruit
⁃saki have sharp teeth for hard nuts
⁃spider monkeys eat ripe fuit
⁃marmosets eat insects / gum
⁃pygmy marmosets:
⁃very small (smallest monkey in the world) so that it can climb through the
highest part of the canopy
⁃needle-sharp claws prevent slipping
⁃very stealthy moving so that vibration doesn't scare off insects being stalked
⁃staple of diet - tree gum (forces trees to produce it by gnawing on their bark,
creating wounds)
⁃owl monkeys (douracoulis)
⁃eat flowers and nectar
⁃the only nocturnal monkey
⁃can eat at night, when there is no competition from other monkeys