Primates Observation: Spider Monkey and Sifaka Essay

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.

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.

What makes a primate a primate? A primate is defined by its many incredible features. A primate is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and social animals. What makes a primate a primate is its characteristics. Some of the physical features primates are identified by is their teeth, snouts, eyes, ears, arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Human evolution is a big part of humans being primates, and having similar features and characteristics make humans to be considered to be a primate, but both humans and non-humans have differences.

Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach

The animal I have chosen to study is the Japanese macaque, more commonly known as the Japanese snow monkey. Sir David Attenborough recently described the macaque as “one of the most successful and versatile of all primates”, commending its capacity to be “versatile, resilient, enterprising, tough and capable of surviving in extreme conditions”. This essay will continue by examining the Japanese macaque in a number of ways. Firstly, I will describe the physical characteristics of the animal, paying particular attention to the way in which their appearance has adapted to enable them to dominate in their habitat. Secondly, I will discuss the environment in which the macaques live in and the unique capabilities they maximise to develop a

The brown spider monkey is a species of spider monkey that inhabits areas of the continent of South America. The scientific name of the spider monkey is Ateles, while that of the brown spider monkey is Ateles hybridus. The habitat of the brown spider monkey consists of the undisturbed evergreen rainforests located in the subtropical and tropical lowlands of both Colombia and Venezuela. There are two subspecies of the brown spider monkey, Ateles hybridus hybridus and Ateles hybridus brunneus. (According to_____) Hybridus hybridus inhabits both Colombia and Venezuela in rainforests extending from the right of the banks of the Rio Magdalena River into western Venezuela. The latter subspecies, on the other hand, can only be found in the

This paper aims to study the traits of non-human primates. By observing two types of primates including Common Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus) and Western Gorillas (Gorilla Gorillas), I try to find out their characteristics, pattern of their behavior, and differences between these two primate species. Especially, characteristics and behavior such as social interaction, food acquisition and intelligence will be discussed and compared in this paper. In order to enhance the persuasiveness of my observation, I recorded and examined at least 25 distinct characteristics of both Common Squirrel Monkeys and Western Gorillas. It is also helpful for me to compare these two primates. Apart from exploring the primates’ traits and differentiation between them, this paper will discuss the effects of captivity. How being in captivity and on display in a zoo would influence their behaviors and emotions? The observation was a great success and I have successfully derived with a hypothesis base on our observing data. The ultimate goal of this paper is arousing humans’ awareness of the importance of studying primates.

They are very fast and can be able to run within short distances using the most minimal time. It takes less than 10 seconds to run within a distance of approximately 100 meters. While the animals move around they try to monitor the environment as quadrupedally and monitoring of the environment can be able to take as much as up to ten minutes in any case they have doubts of where they are, this alerts them of any predators. Consortship is a situation where the two animals would stay close to each other and monitor the movement and environment of each other. This is done as long as the animals are out in an environment that is not seen as being friendly. The patas can be seen to be less vocal and they move around in silence, they make certain noise only once when they have seen a predator. The noise or the sound takes just a few seconds as long as the danger is taken away

Orangutans (Figure 3) are our first cousins since they share 97 percent of our genetic material. Contrary to other apes, orangutans are semi solitary which is unique in its social organization (3). Adult males which are the most solitary, and they associate with only their current, former, and potential consorts. For the semi-solitary orangutans, the only playmate is its mother. Even female adults are more social than male ones, rarely they groom, touch, hold hands, chase, or fight. On rare occasions, female adults may groom; however, it lasts only few seconds. Sometimes, female adults meet and travel with one another to express the close relationship. The long call by a male orangutan expresses an alert to others about his presence. Usually, other orangutans only react if the call is close by or aggressive towards them. Male orangutan can use vocalization to express that he is angry and frustrated, and that call signals a threat to another male (3). Female orangutans also produce vocalization when they get upset by the presence of another male.

     I think that if culture is defined as learned behavior, than it is reasonable to say that primates posses a form of culture. Primates have been observed making tools to aid in collecting food and developing communication system, both of which are learned behaviors.

Stan Rice describes how these monkeys are carefree and they live their lives authentically. While the two friends are watching the monkeys they experience moments that would typically be considered private for humans. Rice writes: “And then there will be those moments we are embarrassed/and

The other adult female that would be my focal point did emerge but remained less social and more timid than the other orangutans but was also younger. The orangutans as supported by San Diego Zoo Orangutan website would use all four limbs to move about the trees and would occasionally walk on the ground bipedally and using its long arms for support. One of the more curious observations was the interaction between the non-human primates and the humans which seemed to stem of curiosity on both sides. For instance at one point before the focal observation an adult human female with her infant were tapping on the glass of the enclosure and the adult human female began to pull things from her purse and show it to the orangutan who was leaning on the glass barrier; among many of the items was a bag of chocolate candies which the orangutan did not particularly respond to. The eldest adult female orangutan however seemed to respond very curiously and attentively to any infant or child that approached the enclosure.

On Friday, March 31, a observation study was conducted at the L.A. Zoo. The time of arrival for the observation was at 11:48 am and the end of the observation was at 2:42 pm. The weather condition at the zoo was very sunny with a mild gust of wind every so often, which is a perfect weather condition to conduct a study. The main reason for conducting this observation study was to study and gather information about the many different types of primate that are located at the zoo. To see how different or similar each primate is to one anotherin different aspects.

Kavanagh, M. & Morris, D. (1983). Complete guide to monkeys, apes and other primates. London: Viking Press.

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