Primate Observation Paper

Primate conservation has long been a topic of debate, reliant most heavily on the struggle to provide the necessary resources to combat the declining rate of population growth among various species. Orangutans in particular, both Sumatran and Bornean, have experienced a rapid drop in their free-living populations. With an estimate of only 27,000 left in the wild, questions have been raised over what selective pressures are impacting the steady decline of these animals existence. While hunting and poaching have been identified as contributing factors, habitat loss primarily takes center stage in their demise. Conservation efforts have been made and continue to be somewhat successful, however, challenges and set backs continue to threaten

For the primate observation project I went to the Santa Barbara zoo to observe and contrast different types of primates. I observed one species of an old world monkey, which was a gorilla and two different species of new world monkeys, which were the Bolivian Grey Titi Monkey and also the Golden Lion Tamerin.

One well know organization that is out there trying to fight for the rights of Great Apes is, the Great Ape Project (GAP), located São Paulo - SP - Brazil. GAP is an international movement that aims to defend the rights of non-human great primates, which are the closest relatives in the animal kingdom. They believe that the abuse of great apes in laboratories, circus, entertainment shows, and zoo can be considered as a kind of slavery. When great apes are unable to be release to the forest because of mistreatment, this is when the mission turns to provide the best quality of life and state of welfare for the animal in captivity. They state that in the sanctuaries, chimpanzees are treated for physical and psychological traumas and stress caused

In this monograph The Gibbons of Khao Yai, Thad Q Bartlett records all of his own notes about the small apes, also known as the gibbons, in their own natural habitat in the national park of Khao Yai, Thailand. Before he wrote this book, primatologists had hypothesized about a correlation between territoriality and monogamy in the gibbons and believed that it was due to the small fruiting trees and figs. Bartlett had taken an interest in the gibbons, and made a goal to contradict this hypothesis by studying the gibbons up close, and better understand how the availability of food affected their behaviors and ecology.

The Orangutans which are also known as Pongo abelii, are the second largest apes after the gorillas. The male Orangutans can grow up to five feet and weigh around ninety one kilograms while the female Orangutans can reach an average height of three feet while weighing around forty five kilograms (Shank, C., 2012). The Orangutans are well known for their ability to swing from tree to tree easily with their long arms while their legs act as a second pair of arms when needed. Orangutans in general live up to the age of forty. The female Orangutans are able to produce one infant at a time with a gestation period of nine months. Female Orangutans are able to produce mere three off springs during their short child bearing years, thus, making their population growth vulnerable. The Orangutans play an important role in the ecosystem. They consume fruits and scatter the seeds through their digestive system all around the forests. This process of scattering seeds around the forests ensures the growth of fruit bearing trees and plants.

A highly endangered species, the orangutan is the oldest known primate1, dating back 60 million years. The word “orangutan” in the Malayasian language means “man of the forest.” The wild orangutan once roamed throughout Southeast Asia. Today, however, this beautiful animal is only found in small parts of Malaysia and Indonesia (on the island of Borneo), and in northern Sumatra.

Primate Intraspecific Behavioural Variation in Response to Habitat Differences: a comparison between three subspecies of Bornean Orang-utan and impacts on population survival

Behaviorally and socially each species differ from one another extensively. In the S. oerstedi species, primates live in abundant multi male and female groups. Between males and females there tends to be low levels of aggression and social interactions. The males and females differ from one another based on their affiliations whereas females have low associations while males are the opposite. It is the males who remain in their natal groups while the females leave their groups once the have reached sexual maturity and leave to mate, often moving throughout more than one group in their

I have recently seen a very interesting wild film about monkeys on You Tube. I was always interested in monkeys, so I decided to see this one in particular. It was so exciting to see that there are still new species about which existence we have not known till a few time ago. This documentary was about how they were discovered and then there was a short description of each one. They were found especially in Brazilian Amazonas forest. It was fascinating to see how a large primate family they are and all those similarities between them and us, specially their family life.

Orangutans are hairy primates with long arms and creative minds. Orangutans live in rainforests but are critically endangered, and we can help by fighting against deforestation. If you were wondering, do males stay with their family, what do orangutans eat, then you should read this book to find out the answers.

Gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans are all types of apes. Apes are fascinating because of the way they act, look, and live. However, some think the most interesting thing about apes is how similar they are to people.

With the exception of humans chimpanzees use objects from their environment as tools better than any other living animals. Chimpanzees not only use tools, they combine them and use them in sequence , and create new tools. Most chimpanzee groups have tool kits that consists of twenty different tools. Tools in a tool kit are used for many functions like grooming,feeding,sociality and courtship. A tool set is a group of two or more tools that are used in sequence to achieve a goal. An example chimpanzees in Gabon use a tool set that is made of five tools (a collector,enlarger, perforator, pounder and swab) to get honey. Tools in a tool set must be used in the correct

The orangutans are the two exclusively Asian species of extant great apes. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are currently found in only the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Classified in the genus Pongo, orangutans were considered to be one species. However, since 1996, they have been divided into two species: the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan . In addition, the Bornean species is divided into three subspecies. Based on genome sequencing, the two extant orangutan species evidently diverged around 400,000 years ago. The orangutans are also the only surviving species of the subfamily Ponginae, which also included several other species, such as the three extinct species of the genus Gigantopithecus, including the largest

Monthly observation methods included the use of 10 x 40 binoculars to track orangutans for a total of less than fifteen hours. During one of these observation periods, researchers observed one orangutan using hooked branches in order to successfully travel a greater distance between two spans of trees. Another orangutan was observed stacking Erythrina leaves to create a protective pad for his hands. In order to detect patterns among orangutan populations, Fox also refers to previous

The numbers or orangutans have recently dropped tremendously owing to loss of habitat to deforestation and the killing of females for their young, to be sold as pets or zoo animals. Fewer than 30,000 individuals are believed to remain in the wild, and the species is listed as endangered (Galdkias, 1987)