Taxonomy And Conservation : Olive Baboons

As part of the only Old World Monkey group I analyzed the Silver Langur whose scientific name is Trachypitneus Cristatus. In this cage there was a total of 6 monkeys so there was very much activity. This

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

Isbell and Wright’s articles both focus on monkey species and their native environments, Africa for Isbell’s (1994) vervet Old World monkey and South America, Peru area, for Wright’s (1994) owl and titis monkeys. The articles main focus is the relationship between these monkeys and their natural predators. Focusing on how the predator aspect of their lives is determined by their environment and adaptations they make to ensure survival. Isbell’s Vervets Year of Doom focuses more on the adaptations that was forced upon the vervets’ because of their changing environment, the death of fever trees. While Wright’s Night Watch on the Amazon focusses more on how the primates way of life affects their relationship with predators and the likelihood of attacks. Both articles have similar aspects however the species way of life, specifically their environment and sleep schedule, are quite different as well as the authors way of observing and studying the primates within their habitats.

Robert Sapolsky is a neuroendocrinologist who wrote about his twenty years of work out in the national park of East Africa. Sapolsky’s turned his adventure into a novel, A Primate 's Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among Baboons, where he discusses the life of baboons and how they are similar to humans. I will analyze Sapolsky’s novel by explaining the complex social hierarchy he witnessed and discuss the ways in which the social hierarchy and rank system among baboons might compare to that of humans. I will then analyze how studying non-human primates in a natural setting is valuable, and will also explain how the scientific study of these non-human primates ultimately provides insight into not only our evolutionary past

According to Wikipedia, spider monkeys tend to live in medium sized groups of around two or three dozen individuals called troops, averaging at about 15 to 25 individuals in a group. The group will break up into smaller bands on occasion, like to split up to forage for food resources or if there are not enough resources to support the entire group to increase their chances of survival. They are typically found in large, unoccupied areas in the upper layer of the rainforests of Central and South America but can also be found in Mexico. They are primarily arboreal, meaning the spend most of their time swinging from trees, using their prehensile tails to move around. They use their tail as a fifth hand using it to help them

The second grade of primates evolved about 53 million years ago, in Eocene epoch. There are five tarsier species that all live in the islands of Southeast Asia, where they inhabit from tropical forest to backyard gardens (Jurmain, et al, 2011). They are considered to be closely related to lemurs and lorises (prosimian family) for the several traits that they share with Grade I primates while having some anthropoid features as well. However, tarsiers have distinctive characteristics that isolate them from other primates. They are categorized as the smallest creatures among the primate species and they are well known for their enormous eyes which is as large as its brain. They are normally nocturnal insectivores but sometimes carnivorous. They catch insects by jumping at them and as they jump from tree to tree, they even hunt for birds while in motion.

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.

The bonobos are also the only group of apes to be led by females. They live in a group of about 100 members. Bonobos are known to be one of the most peaceful animals, for example, if they come into contact with another monkey they will play with it and groom it.

Mandrills, or also known by their scientific name Mandrillus sphinx, live in the rain forests of equatorial Africa, (San Diego Balboa Zoo, Mandrill exhibit/plaques, 2018).

The eight primates whose sequences were used are: Homo sapiens sapiens (modern human), Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthal), Pan troglodytes (chimpanzee), Pan paniscus (bonobo), Gorilla gorilla (gorilla), Pongo abelii (Sumatran orangutan), Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean orangutan), and Hylobates lar (gibbon). Based on morphological similarities, it is hypothesized that Neanderthal is the most closely related species to humans. For instance, both species walk up right, have large brains, were able to develop and create tools and had spoken language—although more research is still needed to say for certain that Neanderthals did have spoken language. Additionally, it is also hypothesized that modern human and Neanderthal are both more closely related to the sister group of bonobo and chimpanzee, then to gorilla, then to the sister taxa of Sumatran orangutan and Bornean orangutan, and lastly the gibbon (the outgroup of this data). Hence, by developing the order of these eight primates through genetic data and phylogenetic character analysis, we can gain a new insight into the evolution of

At the Lowery Park Zoo located in Tampa Florida, I was able to conduct a field project on primates. These primates that I focused on are divided into the suborders Anthropoidea and Prosimii (. The first primate on my list is classified as a prosimian, the Ring-Tailed Lemur or the Lemur catta are located on the African island of Madagascar. Next I turned to the Mandrill or Mandrillus sphinx that fall in the suborder of Anthropoids, these monkeys are located in Nigeria, Africa. Lastly my attention was drawn to the Siamang Gibbon or Symphalangus syndactylus who also fell in the category of Anthropoids and are located in Malaysia and Sumatra. These monkeys all being related do have many differences among them as well as comparisons as I have

Bonobos are smart and well-rounded animals because they are omnivores, however, their diet consists of mostly fruits. During the off seasons of these staple resources, they must rely on fallback food when their preferred foods are unavailable. Extremely social animals, Bonobos search for their food by using a unique form of communication to locate and inform their group members of the food source.

279). Generally speaking, these divergence times support the known New World monkey fossil record. Palaentological evidence thus far describes Doliochocebus as a fossil of cebine, in the clade that includes extant members of genus Saimiri (Szalay and Delson, 1979). Based on estimations of the origin of the subfamily Cebinae which was 18 million years ago, this fossil was in fact the stem of the subfamily. Also, Stirtonia was considered to be an alouattinin fossil (Szalay and Delson, 1979) and according to their results the split between Alouatta and the remaining members of the family occurred 16 million years ago (Opazo et al., 2006 p. 279), a result that also agrees with the fossil record. Furthermore, the fossil pitheciid Cebupithecia is one of the most complete skeletons of a fossil platirrhine and believes to be dated near the time of the most recent common ancestor of the total group. By using the molecular clock, the split between the lineage that eventually led to Callicebus and the lineage leading to the other pitheiid genera occurred after the divergence of Callicebus but before the divergence of Pithecia, Cacajao, and Chiropotes (Opazo et al,. 2006, p. 294).

Baboons also known by their scientific name Papio anubis are among one of the most abundant species of monkeys in Africa. They are also some of the world’s largest monkeys in the primate order. All baboons have a strong torso, snout- like face, sharp canine teeth, powerful jaws, and a naked rump. Most baboons are at least twenty inches long and weight at most eighty-two pounds. The tails of most baboons are at least seventy cm long and have a characteristic arch. Unlike other primates most baboons live in savannas, where they spend most of their time roaming on the ground. However, baboons can and do climb trees to sleep, eat, and look out for trouble. Baboons live mostly in large troops that can be as small as ten members and as large as two hundred members. Most of the baboon troops are composed of females who are born into the troops and males who join the troop after gaining maturity. The