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Janisch J, Myers LC, Schapker N, Kirven J, Shapiro LJ, Young JW. Pump and sway: Wild primates use compliant supports as a tool to augment leaping in the canopy. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024; 184:e24914. [PMID: 38515235 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Despite qualitative observations of wild primates pumping branches before leaping across gaps in the canopy, most studies have suggested that support compliance increases the energetic cost of arboreal leaping, thus limiting leaping performance. In this study, we quantified branch pumping behavior and tree swaying in wild primates to test the hypothesis that these behaviors improve leaping performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS We recorded wild colobine monkeys crossing gaps in the canopy and quantitatively tracked the kinematics of both the monkey and the compliant support during behavioral sequences. We also empirically measured the compliance of a sample of locomotor supports in the monkeys' natural habitat, allowing us to quantify the resonant properties of substrates used during leaping. RESULTS Analyses of three recordings show that adult red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) use branch compliance to their advantage by actively pumping branches before leaping, augmenting their vertical velocity at take-off. Quantitative modeling of branch resonance periods, based on empirical measurements of support compliance, suggests that monkeys specifically employed branch pumping on relatively thin branches with protracted periods of oscillation. Finally, an additional four recordings show that both red colobus and black and white colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza) utilize tree swaying to cross large gaps, augmenting horizontal velocity at take-off. DISCUSSION This deliberate branch manipulation to produce a mechanical effect for stronger propulsion is consistent with the framework of instrumental problem-solving. To our knowledge, this is the first study of wild primates which quantitatively shows how compliant branches can be used advantageously to augment locomotor performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Janisch
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA
| | - Lydia C Myers
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Nicole Schapker
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA
| | - Jack Kirven
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA
| | - Liza J Shapiro
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Jesse W Young
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA
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Boulinguez-Ambroise G, Dunham N, Phelps T, Mazonas T, Nguyen P, Bradley-Cronkwright M, Boyer DM, Yapuncich GS, Zeininger A, Schmitt D, Young JW. Jumping performance in tree squirrels: Insights into primate evolution. J Hum Evol 2023; 180:103386. [PMID: 37209637 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Morphological traits suggesting powerful jumping abilities are characteristic of early crown primate fossils. Because tree squirrels lack certain 'primatelike' grasping features but frequently travel on the narrow terminal branches of trees, they make a viable extant model for an early stage of primate evolution. Here, we explore biomechanical determinants of jumping performance in the arboreal Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis, n = 3) as a greater understanding of the biomechanical strategies that squirrels use to modulate jumping performance could inform theories of selection for increased jumping ability during early primate evolution. We assessed vertical jumping performance by using instrumented force platforms upon which were mounted launching supports of various sizes, allowing us to test the influence of substrate diameter on jumping kinetics and performance. We used standard ergometric methods to quantify jumping parameters (e.g., takeoff velocity, total displacement, peak mechanical power) from force platform data during push-off. We found that tree squirrels display divergent mechanical strategies according to the type of substrate, prioritizing force production on flat ground versus center of mass displacement on narrower poles. As jumping represents a significant part of the locomotor behavior of most primates, we suggest that jumping from small arboreal substrates may have acted as a potential driver of the selection for elongated hindlimb segments in primates, allowing the center of mass to be accelerated over a longer distance-and thereby reducing the need for high substrate reaction forces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grégoire Boulinguez-Ambroise
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), 4209 State Road 44, Rootstown, 44272, OH, USA.
| | - Noah Dunham
- Division of Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland, 44109, OH, USA; Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 2080 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, 44106, OH, USA
| | - Taylor Phelps
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), 4209 State Road 44, Rootstown, 44272, OH, USA
| | - Thomas Mazonas
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), 4209 State Road 44, Rootstown, 44272, OH, USA
| | - Peter Nguyen
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), 4209 State Road 44, Rootstown, 44272, OH, USA
| | | | - Doug M Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, 130 Science Drive, Durham, 27708, NC, USA
| | - Gabriel S Yapuncich
- Medical Education Administration, Duke University School of Medicine, 40 Duke Medicine Circle, Durham, 27710, NC, USA
| | - Angel Zeininger
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, 130 Science Drive, Durham, 27708, NC, USA
| | - Daniel Schmitt
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, 130 Science Drive, Durham, 27708, NC, USA
| | - Jesse W Young
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), 4209 State Road 44, Rootstown, 44272, OH, USA
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Measuring the Impact of Forest Edges on the Highly Arboreal Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur Sahamalaza, in North-Western Madagascar. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00333-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The progressive fragmentation of forest habitat is causing an increase in edge areas that may differ structurally and in quality from forest interiors. We investigated the impact of edge effects on habitat structure, behaviour, and ecology of the small, nocturnal, and highly arboreal Sahamalaza sportive lemur, Lepilemur sahamalaza. To understand edge effects, we established edge-to-interior gradients using temperature, humidity, and light intensity measurements along transects. From 773 h of behavioural observations on 14 individual sportive lemurs between 2015 and 2016, we compared home range sizes, activity budgets, and habitat use of animals inhabiting the edge area and those in the core forest. We found that microclimatic edge effects penetrated the forest up to 165 m, but that there was no significant edge effect on vegetation; forest vegetation was structurally variable throughout. Individual sportive lemurs living in the edge area used more trees with a diameter at breast height of less than 5 cm but showed no other behavioural differences to individuals inhabiting the core forest. The study shows that this species may not be impacted by edge effects, at least in situations in which vegetation structure is not affected, despite microclimatic differences.
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Delciellos AC, Ribeiro SE, Prevedello JA, Vieira MV. Changes in aboveground locomotion of a scansorial opossum associated to habitat fragmentation. J Mammal 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyaa044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Habitat fragmentation may affect animal movement patterns due to changes in intra- and interspecific interactions as well as in habitat quality and structure. Although the effects of habitat fragmentation on terrestrial movements are relatively well-known, it is unclear whether and how they affect aboveground locomotion of individuals. We compared aboveground locomotion of a Neotropical small mammal, the gray four-eyed opossum, Philander quica, between two forest fragments and two areas of continuous forest in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We 1) quantified support availability and tested for active selection of different support diameters and inclinations by individuals; and 2) compared support diameters and inclinations used (observed values) among areas and between males and females. Both males and females selected supports based on diameters and inclinations in forest fragments. In continuous forests sites, females selected supports based on diameters and inclinations, but males selected only support diameters. Frequency of support diameter use differed significantly between forest fragments and continuous forest sites and between males and females. Frequency of support inclination use differed significantly between areas only for females, and between sexes only in continuous forest sites. Sex-related differences in support selection and use are likely related to differences in body size and conflicting energetic and behavioral demands related to use of arboreal space. Site-related differences in aboveground movements likely reflect the effects of forest edges that result in increased use of thinner supports in forest fragments. These results complement our previous findings that habitat fragmentation reduces daily home ranges and increases the total amount of aboveground locomotion of P. quica, and provide a more thorough picture of how forest-dependent species are able to use and persist in small forest fragments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Cláudia Delciellos
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Maracanã, CEP, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Suzy Emidio Ribeiro
- Laboratório de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ilha do Fundão, CEP, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Jayme Augusto Prevedello
- Laboratório de Ecologia de Paisagens, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Maracanã, CEP, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Marcus Vinícius Vieira
- Laboratório de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ilha do Fundão, CEP, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
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Abstract
Adaptive scenarios of crown primate origins remain contentious due to uncertain order of acquisition and functional significance of the clade's diagnostic traits. A feature of the talus bone in the ankle, known as the posterior trochlear shelf (PTS), is well-regarded as a derived crown primate trait, but its adaptive significance has been obscured by poorly understood function. Here we propose a novel biomechanical function for the PTS and model the talus as a cam mechanism. By surveying a large sample of primates and their closest relatives, we demonstrate that the PTS is most strongly developed in extant taxa that habitually grasp vertical supports with strongly dorsiflexed feet. Tali of the earliest fossils likely to represent crown primates exhibit more strongly developed PTS cam mechanisms than extant primates. As a cam, the PTS may increase grasping efficiency in dorsiflexed foot postures by increasing the path length of the flexor fibularis tendon, and thus improve the muscle's ability to maintain flexed digits without increasing energetic demands. Comparisons are made to other passive digital flexion mechanisms suggested to exist in other vertebrates. These results provide robust anatomical evidence that the habitual vertical support use exerted a strong selective pressure during crown primate origins.
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Locomotion, postures, substrate use, and foot grasping in the marsupial feathertail glider Acrobates pygmaeus (Diprotodontia: Acrobatidae): Insights into early euprimate evolution. J Hum Evol 2018; 123:148-159. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2017] [Revised: 07/22/2018] [Accepted: 07/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Granatosky MC, Tripp CH, Fabre AC, Schmitt D. Patterns of quadrupedal locomotion in a vertical clinging and leaping primate (Propithecus coquereli) with implications for understanding the functional demands of primate quadrupedal locomotion. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2016; 160:644-52. [PMID: 27062049 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2015] [Revised: 03/15/2016] [Accepted: 03/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Many primates exhibit a suite of characteristics that distinguish their quadrupedal gaits from non-primate mammals including the use of a diagonal sequence gait, a relatively protracted humerus at touchdown, and relatively high peak vertical forces on the hindlimbs compared to the forelimbs. These characteristics are thought to have evolved together in early, small-bodied primates possibly in response to the mechanical demands of navigating and foraging in a complex arboreal environment. It remains unclear, however, whether primates that employ quadrupedalism only rarely demonstrate the common primate pattern of quadrupedalism or instead use the common non-primate pattern or an entirely different mechanical pattern from either group. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study compared the kinematics and kinetics of two habitually quadrupedal primates (Lemur catta and Varecia variegata) to those of a dedicated vertical clinger and leaper (Propithecus coquereli) during bouts of quadrupedal walking. RESULTS All three species employed diagonal sequence gaits almost exclusively, displayed similar degrees of humeral protraction, and exhibited lower vertical peak forces in the forelimbs compared to the hindlimb. DISCUSSION From the data in this study, it is possible to reject the idea that P. coquereli uses a non-primate pattern of quadrupedal walking mechanics. Nor do they use an entirely different mechanical pattern from either most primates or most non-primates during quadrupedal locomotion. These findings provide support for the idea that this suite of characteristics is adaptive for the challenges of arboreal locomotion in primates and that these features of primate locomotion may be basal to the order or evolved independently in multiple lineages including indriids. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:644-652, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cameron H Tripp
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC
| | - Anne-Claire Fabre
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC
| | - Daniel Schmitt
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC
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Blanchard ML, Furnell S, Sellers WI, Crompton RH. Locomotor flexibility inLepilemurexplained by habitat and biomechanics. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2014; 156:58-66. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2014] [Accepted: 09/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mary L. Blanchard
- Musculoskeletal Biology II, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease; University of Liverpool; Liverpool L69 3GA UK
| | - Simon Furnell
- Faculty of Life Sciences; University of Manchester; Manchester M13 9PT UK
| | - William I. Sellers
- Faculty of Life Sciences; University of Manchester; Manchester M13 9PT UK
| | - Robin H. Crompton
- Musculoskeletal Biology II, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease; University of Liverpool; Liverpool L69 3GA UK
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Munds RA, Ali R, Nijman V, Nekaris KAI, Goossens B. Living together in the night: abundance and habitat use of sympatric and allopatric populations of slow lorises and tarsiers. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2013. [DOI: 10.3354/esr00556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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Chaplin G, Jablonski NG, Sussman RW, Kelley EA. The role of piloerection in primate thermoregulation. Folia Primatol (Basel) 2013; 85:1-17. [PMID: 24192984 DOI: 10.1159/000355007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2013] [Accepted: 07/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The insulating properties of the primate integument are influenced by many factors, including piloerection, which raises the hair and insulates the body by creating motionless air near the skin's surface. The involuntary muscles that control piloerection, the musculi arrectores pilorum (MAP), are mostly absent except on the tail in most strepsirhines, and are entirely absent in tarsiers and some lorisids. The absence of piloerection and the reduced effectiveness of pilary insulation in preventing heat loss affected the evolution of behavior and metabolic thermoregulation in these animals. In lemurs, this situation contributed to the use of positional and social behaviors such as sunning and huddling that help maintain thermal homeostasis during day-night and seasonal temperature cycles. It also contributed in many lemurs and lorises to the evolution of a wide variety of activity patterns and energy-conserving metabolic patterns such as cathemerality, daily torpor, and hibernation. The absence of functional MAP in strepsirhines and tarsiers implies the absence of effective piloerection in early primates, and the reacquisition of whole-body MAP in ancestral anthropoids prior to the separation of platyrrhine and catarrhine lineages. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Chaplin
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., USA
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Gebo DL. Vertical clinging and leaping revisited: Vertical support use as the ancestral condition of strepsirrhine primates. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2011; 146:323-35. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2011] [Accepted: 07/07/2011] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Channon AJ, Günther MM, Crompton RH, D'Août K, Preuschoft H, Vereecke EE. The effect of substrate compliance on the biomechanics of gibbon leaps. J Exp Biol 2011; 214:687-96. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.046797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
SUMMARY
The storage and recovery of elastic strain energy in the musculoskeletal systems of locomoting animals has been extensively studied, yet the external environment represents a second potentially useful energy store that has often been neglected. Recent studies have highlighted the ability of orangutans to usefully recover energy from swaying trees to minimise the cost of gap crossing. Although mechanically similar mechanisms have been hypothesised for wild leaping primates, to date no such energy recovery mechanisms have been demonstrated biomechanically in leapers. We used a setup consisting of a forceplate and two high-speed video cameras to conduct a biomechanical analysis of captive gibbons leaping from stiff and compliant poles. We found that the gibbons minimised pole deflection by using different leaping strategies. Two leap types were used: slower orthograde leaps and more rapid pronograde leaps. The slower leaps used a wider hip joint excursion to negate the downward movement of the pole, using more impulse to power the leap, but with no increase in work done on the centre of mass. Greater hip excursion also minimised the effective leap distance during orthograde leaps. The more rapid leaps conversely applied peak force earlier in stance where the pole was effectively stiffer, minimising deflection and potential energy loss. Neither leap type appeared to usefully recover energy from the pole to increase leap performance, but the gibbons demonstrated an ability to best adapt their leap biomechanics to counter the negative effects of the compliant pole.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony J. Channon
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Ashton Street, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
| | - Michael M. Günther
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Ashton Street, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
| | - Robin H. Crompton
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Ashton Street, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
| | - Kristiaan D'Août
- Laboratory for Functional Morphology, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, Antwerp B-2610, Belgium
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp B-2018, Belgium
| | - Holger Preuschoft
- Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Ruhr University, Bochum 44791, Germany
| | - Evie E. Vereecke
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Ashton Street, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
- Faculty of Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Campus Kortrijk, 8500, Belgium
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