Primates In Madagascar

2770 Words12 Pages
Each day the average human wakes up, showers, eats breakfast, goes to work and indulges in the millions of mutual activities that just seem….well normal. How did we get here, where did we come from, and what are we? Religion, atheism, creationist, fundamentalist all seem to have an answer however, through substantial studies there is plenty of evidence that concludes man has in fact evolved since the beginning of time. Present evidence shows man sharing a common ancestor with what we know as present day primates, but what primates are along our lineage and how come we don’t walk on all fours and aren’t two feet tall? How man evolved in becoming bipedal through a common ancestor still continues to puzzle scientist, yet, nothing is impossible…show more content…
The Lemuroid that we believe to be the oldest is the ringed tailed Lemur. We believe that the ring tailed lemur originated in the tropical rainforests of Madagascar. This is believed because Madagascar is the only place in the world were the lemur is found and as the continents drifted, Madagascar was the only place that these primate could have stayed adapted to. The pelvis feature of the lemur is narrow and long, which is quite similar in most primates in all grades excluding the human. The ring tailed lemur is able to stand on its two feel however, not for long. Walking is not quite an option for the lemur because of how the pelvis is set up. A walking lemur is close in resemblance to a walking dog. They have spure like digits (PIN) and even though they can climb, there are the most terrestrial of all lemuroids. My favorite part about them is how they sunbath in a pose as if they were worshiping something. The conditions of Madagascar that the lemur had to adapt to forced them to become terrestrial creatures showing more evidence that over time terrestrial primates had to get used to scoping for predators as well as picking food from trees. The Guenon is another example from this era and by far is my favorite lemuroid due to the wise man beard. This type of lemur is found in varies parts of Africa (PIN). They are fair in size with longer legs, quite…show more content…
The Spider monkey is the most interesting species of the third grade of primates due to, well keep reading. They originate from rain forest and mountain forest of Central and North America (PIN). These monkeys are named for their long arms, tails and legs. The spider monkey moves through trees with great skill and are able to use their tail as an extra lim. The tail is used in almost every move they make, climbing trees, grasping branches, balancing and even protecting themselves from predators. (PIN) I really noticed how much they value their tails, as I observed them at the Los Angeles zoo, Their tails are very unique and are not found in any old world monkeys. Hey have long fingers which resemble hooks are used to exactly as that, they hook and grip branches. The cool thing about the spider monkey is that they have little to no thumbs. Nature has selected out the thumb in order for the spider monkey to swing through trees since they are closely 100% arboreal as well as 100% quadrapedal. (PIN). These monkeys are nearly never found on terrestrial land. The Capuchin monkey is another species that I really enjoyed. They come from the tropical forests of Central and South Africa. The Capuchins are very active and intelligent. This species can grasp items and their thumb is close, but not opposable like the human species. Like chimps, the capuchins have been seen to use tools to catch termites. The next evolution that we witness is

More about Primates In Madagascar

Open Document