Caribbean Primate Evolution

The time interval that I analyzed this animal was from 11:30am to 11:50am and this monkey actually had a very active behavior and it was really a good experience to observe this monkey. The immediate physical description I was able to analyze from this primate was that it was black with a very long tail that later I was able to find out that it was actually a prehensile tail. The common behavior in this one was much walking and sitting during my analyzation. It was interesting to see the locomotion of this animal because I was able to see that it was both Quadrupedal and Bipedal. From the knowledge I have gotten from this class I know having that is a great advantage especially for the fact that it even uses it’s prehensile tail because it means they can travel for a much longer time compared to the primates that have only the locomotion of a quadrupedal. During my observation there was a point where the monkey was just prone on the cage and I thought it was almost going to pee on me because its genteel parts became very red so I stepped away from the cage. The primate at no time peed during my observation so that was a relief.

A few weeks ago, I spent a lovely Monday afternoon observing two different primates at the Santa Ana Zoo. I got to the zoo around two in the afternoon, and to my surprise, the zoo was decently crowded. The Santa Ana Zoo is smaller in comparison to other zoos like the Los Angeles Zoo, but still had a decent amount of animals there. Covering a small 20 acres of land, I came across two primates that fit perfectly for the purposes of this course project. I chose to observe an endangered ape, the white-handed gibbon, and an endangered new world monkey, the golden-headed lion tamarin.

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

-The bonobo is the most recently discovered great ape in modern times.  It was revealed in 1929 by German anatomist Ernest Schwarz that a skull once thought belonging to a juvenile chimpanzee was in fact a new subspecies of chimpanzee known now as the Pan paniscus, or bonobo. (Waal 6)  During the Pleistocene epoch approximately 1.5 million years ago, the Congo River was formed in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (San Diego Zoo 2)  The river geographically segregated groups and individual chimpanzees south of the river resulting in these chimps being reproductively isolated.  Allopatric speciation took place as a response to new

Thus, I was able to observe some similarities among these species. The way the female chimp used tools, and her fingers to grab food, how she used to be on her feet, freeing her hands, groom her child, educate her offspring, sleep with him while snuggling, use a lot of face emotions to convey a message to an individual; she smiled at her baby, laughed when playing, and tickling him, remind me of human. She also has a flat pink face, hands’ palm, and feet sole as humans do. Furthermore, the gorilla was also really human when he protected his eyes from the intense sunrays, following the movement of the sun, and sat in the shade, mated with a female, scratched his head, and bottom, and put his finger in his nose. I think that these humans’ pattern appeared for similar reasons as in the Primates. For instance, when the gorilla scratches his bottom, it is because the area is itchy, and he wants to remove what is indisposing him. In addition, the mother chimp educates her kid to transmit knowledge throughout generation, which is the same for humans, who go to school.

“Pair Living Primates have several unique characteristics that set them apart from other nonhuman primates. Monogamous Primates are two primates of different sexes that mate exclusively with one and other. The unique qualities of these animals are a result of the ecological constraints that these primates face. Because of the exclusive and solitary relationship that is monogamy there is a lack of specialized defensive roles by the adult male, which is also extensively involved in paternal care. Monogamous primates are highly territorial and very closely associated, Morphologically, there is a lack of sexual dimorphism amongst pair living primates, this is due to the exclusively and predictable genetic outcome of these animals mating with only

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of promisians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of prosimians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to the transforming environments interacting with natural selection, primates developed their own ways to move better (meaning changes in locomotion) with different types of bodies (meaning changes in body configuration).

The major primate groups are divided into two groups. The first main group are the Strepsirrhini’s, also called prosimians and include, Lemurs, Lorises and Galago’s. The second main group of primates are called haplorrhines and include, monkeys, apes, and humans

During my research of Orangutans and Mandrills I observed them in captivity at the San Diego Zoo. My observations included a 20 minute observation of each primate as it cohabitated with other Primates and with other members of its own species. My findings will support the research of Orangutans and Mandrills through firsthand observations.

One of the main reasons why we are so interested in the other primates is that by looking at them we can obtain some ideas of what our ancestor must have been like a few millions years ago. Even though, we are not descended from any modern-type monkey or ape, our lineage does appear to have gone through stages in which we were a medium-sized, reasonably intelligent creature with good binocular vision, hands that were good at manipulation and the ability to climb trees. An evolutionary trend in primates involves the development of offspring both before and after birth and their integration into complex social systems. Another trend in primate evolution has been toward a more elaborate brain. In addition to brain size and gestation periods,

Addressing the various mating systems of primates and its relation to sexual size dimorphism and behavior contributes to understanding evolutionary processes and patterns. The different methods of mating are significant to study because they demonstrate the outcomes of natural selection on mate choice. These varying mating methods also aide in understanding the origin of

A common ancestor gave rise to all organisms on earth. However, every individual species developed their own distinct character that allows them to play a specific role in the ecosystem. Diversity is caused as species are being isolated by geographic barriers or by sexual selection. The diversity between species can be present as there is a difference in the species heritable trait. Those organisms that contain an advantageous allele that allows them to be better adapted to the environment survive and reproduce. As a result, the advantageous allele will be inherited by the offspring and the frequency of the advantageous allele will increase within the population. In the example of Strepsirhini, it was one of the linages that was evolved form the earliest primates together with tarsiers (e.g. monkeys and apes) (Hickman, et al. 2011). When Madagascar was separated from the southeast coast of Africa at about 120million years ago, the Madagasy prosimians where separated from the rest of the population of apes and monkeys. The Madagasy prosimians where geographically isolated form the rest of the primate population

It is understood that, as with the Australopithecus, the Kenyanthropus also walked upright. The emergence of these bipedal apes was a revolutionary breakthrough in human evolution. What forced these creatures in this direction is likely to have been the climatic changes that swept through the African continent some fifteen million years ago. The transformed geography, driven by the separation of two tectonic plates, running from the Red Sea in the north through Mozambique in the south, saw faulting and uplifting of mountains and the creation of the Great Rift Valley. This transformation caused the forests to shrink and fragment, creating radical changes to the habitat of the ape populations.

By their nature, the techniques fundamental biogeographic appropriations and development on islands happen on expansive sizes of time and space and stay among the most hard to comprehend. Albeit a percentage of the themes underlined via MacArthur Wilson still remain moderately unexplored, late advances in island hypothesis show that we are moving towards another combination, recognizing and fusing parts of the island frameworks that were not considered before. All the discussions in the island biogeography session pointed in this heading. The hypothesis states that examinations among diverse archipelagos and biogeographic locales of the globe can offer noteworthy experiences and expand our comprehension of the techniques directing biodiversity crosswise over time and space.