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Gérard C, Bardo A, Guéry JP, Pouydebat E, Narat V, Simmen B. Influence of food physical properties and environmental context on manipulative behaviors highlighted by new methodological approaches in zoo-housed bonobos (Pan paniscus). Am J Primatol 2024; 86:e23624. [PMID: 38546028 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024]
Abstract
Research on manipulative abilities in nonhuman primates, in the context of hominid evolution, has mostly focused on manual/pedal postures considered as static behaviors. While these behavioral repertoires highlighted the range of manipulative abilities in many species, manipulation is a dynamic process that mostly involves successive types of grips before reaching its goal. The present study aims to investigate the use of manual/pedal postures in zoo-housed bonobos in diverse dynamic food processing by using an innovative approach: the optimal matching analysis that compares sequences (i.e., succession of grasping postures) with each other. To characterize the manipulative techniques spontaneously employed by bonobos, we performed this sequential analysis of manual/pedal postures during 766 complete feeding sequences of 17 individuals. We analyzed the effectiveness with a score defined by a partial proxy of food intake (i.e., the number of mouthfuls) linked to a handling score measuring both the diversity and changes of manual postures during each sequence. We identified four techniques, used differently depending on the physical substrate on which the individual performed food manipulation and the food physical properties. Our results showed that manipulative techniques were more complex (i.e., higher handling score) for large foods and on substrates with lower stability. But the effectiveness score was not significantly lower for these items since manipulative complexity seemed to be compensated by a greater number of mouthfuls. It appeared that the techniques employed involved a trade-off between manipulative complexity and the amount of food ingested. This study allowed us to test and validate innovative analysis methods that are applicable to diverse ethological studies involving sequential events. Our results bring new data for a better understanding of the evolution of manual abilities in primates in association with different ecological contexts and both terrestrial and arboreal substrates and suggest that social and individual influences need to be explored further.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Gérard
- Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Ameline Bardo
- Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Mécanismes adaptatifs et évolution (MECADEV), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Victor Narat
- Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Bruno Simmen
- Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
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2
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Kemp AD. Effect of binocular visual cue availability on fruit and insect grasping performance in two cheirogaleids: Implications for primate origins hypotheses. J Hum Evol 2024; 188:103456. [PMID: 38325119 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
Forward-facing eyes with parallel optic axes, which provide a wide field of binocular vision and precise depth perception, are among the diagnostic features of crown primates; however, the adaptive significance of this feature remains contentious. Two of the most prominent primate-origins hypotheses propose that either foraging for fruit or nocturnal predation on insects created selective pressures that led to the evolution of diagnostic primate traits, including a wide binocular field. To determine whether either of these hypotheses provides a viable explanation for the evolution of primates' derived eye orientation, the importance of binocular depth cues for the two tasks invoked by these hypotheses was evaluated experimentally in Microcebus murinus and Cheirogaleus medius, cheirogaleids' considered reasonable living analogs of the earliest euprimates. Performance in grasping insects and fruit was evaluated when the animals made use of their full binocular visual field and when their binocular visual field was restricted using a helmet-mounted blinder. Restriction of the binocular field had no effect on fruit grasping performance; however, restriction of the binocular field resulted in a significant deficit in insect predation performance. Differences in behavioral variables also suggest that insect predation is a more visually demanding task than fruit foraging. These results support the role of insect predation, but not fruit foraging, in contributing to the selective pressures that led to the evolution of parallel optic axes and a wide binocular field in crown primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Addison D Kemp
- Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 403 Bishop Memorial Teaching Building, 133 San Pablo St, Los Angeles, CA, 90033-9112, USA.
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3
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Soppelsa J, Pouydebat E, Lefeuvre M, Mulot B, Houssin C, Cornette R. The relationship between distal trunk morphology and object grasping in the African savannah elephant ( Loxodonta africana). PeerJ 2022; 10:e13108. [PMID: 35368332 PMCID: PMC8969868 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Background During reach-to-grasp movements, the human hand is preshaped depending on the properties of the object. Preshaping may result from learning, morphology, or motor control variability and can confer a selective advantage on that individual or species. This preshaping ability is known in several mammals (i.e., primates, carnivores and rodents). However, apart from the tongue preshaping of lizards and chameleons, little is known about preshaping of other grasping appendages. In particular, the elephant trunk, a muscular hydrostat, has impressive grasping skills and thus is commonly called a hand. Data on elephant trunk grasping strategies are scarce, and nothing is known about whether elephants preshape their trunk tip according to the properties of their food. Methods To determine the influence of food sizes and shapes on the form of the trunk tip, we investigated the morphology of the distal part of the trunk during grasping movements. The influence of food item form on trunk tip shape was quantified in six female African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana). Three food item types were presented to the elephants (elongated, flat, and cubic), as well as three different sizes of cubic items. A total of 107 ± 10 grips per individual were video recorded, and the related trunk tip shapes were recorded with a 2D geometric morphometric approach. Results Half of the individuals adjusted the shape of the distal part of their trunk according to the object type. Of the three elephants that did not preshape their trunk tip, one was blind and another was subadult. Discussion and perspectives We found that elephants preshaped their trunk tip, similar to the preshaping of other species' hands or paws during reach-to-grasp movements. This preshaping may be influenced by visual feedback and individual learning. To confirm these results, this study could be replicated with a larger sample of elephants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Soppelsa
- Adaptive Mechanisms and Evolution (MECADEV), Centre national de la recherche scientifique/Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Adaptive Mechanisms and Evolution (MECADEV), Centre national de la recherche scientifique/Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Maëlle Lefeuvre
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University Cracow, Cracow, Poland
| | - Baptiste Mulot
- Zooparc de Beauval & Beauval Nature, Saint-Aignan, France
| | - Céline Houssin
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Centre national de la recherche scientifique/ Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, SU, EPHE, UA, Paris, France
| | - Raphaël Cornette
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Centre national de la recherche scientifique/ Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, SU, EPHE, UA, Paris, France
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4
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Lefeuvre M, Gouat P, Mulot B, Cornette R, Pouydebat E. Behavioural variability among captive African elephants in the use of the trunk while feeding. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9678. [PMID: 32874780 PMCID: PMC7441921 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Proboscideans, an order of mammals including elephants, are the largest of the Earth lands animals. One probable consequence of the rapid increase of their body size is the development of the trunk, a multitask highly sensitive organ used in a large repertoire of behaviours. The absence of bones in the trunk allows a substantial degree of freedom for movement in all directions, and this ability could underlie individual-level strategies. We hypothesised a stronger behavioural variability in simple tasks, and a correlation between the employed behaviours and the shape and size of the food. The observations of a captive group of African elephants allowed us to create a complete catalogue of trunk movements in feeding activities. We noted manipulative strategies and impact of food item properties on the performed behaviours. The results show that a given item is manipulated with a small panel of behaviours, and some behaviours are specific to a single shape of items. The study of the five main feeding behaviours emphasises a significant variability between the elephants. Each individual differed from every other individual in the proportion of at least one behaviour, and every behaviour was performed in different proportions by the elephants. Our findings suggest that during their lives elephants develop individual strategies adapted to the manipulated items, which increases their feeding efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maëlle Lefeuvre
- Adaptive Mechanisms and Evolution, CNRS/MNHN MECADEV, Paris, France.,Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
| | - Patrick Gouat
- Laboratoire d'Éthologie Expérimentale et Comparée E.A. 4443, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Baptiste Mulot
- Zooparc de Beauval & Beauval Nature, Saint-Aignan, France
| | - Raphaël Cornette
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
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5
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Boulinguez-Ambroise G, Herrel A, Pouydebat E. Ontogeny of locomotion in mouse lemurs: Implications for primate evolution. J Hum Evol 2020; 142:102732. [PMID: 32172006 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Revised: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 12/02/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The environment of juvenile primates is very challenging. They have to forage and move on the same substrates as adults do and escape the same predators, despite their immature state. In this study, we explore the developmental strategies that may provide effective locomotor abilities early in life. This could provide new insights into the selective pressures acting on juvenile primates and into evolution of primate locomotion. We conducted an ontogenetic study of 36 arboreal gray mouse lemurs from birth to adulthood (6 months of age). The investigated parameters were, for both limbs, (1) grasping behavior during locomotion (i.e., grip postures), (2) grasping performance (i.e., pull strength), and (3) motor coordination (i.e., rotarod test). Our results show that 8-day-old babies are able to climb substrates of various slopes and diameters outside of their nest. Although juveniles cannot successfully complete a motor coordination test before 30 days of age, young individuals display relative pull strengths that are very high or even on par with adults, guaranteeing stability on narrow substrates. These powerful grasps highlight the importance of the grasping function for these juveniles that are not carried and move independently on arboreal substrates shortly after their first week of life. Moreover, the pedal grasping provides a secure grasp on all substrates across ontogeny; however, manual secure grasps decrease during development, being highly used only shortly after birth on vertical and narrow substrates. These results first suggest different functional roles of the hands and feet, with the hind limbs ensuring body balance on the substrates, freeing the upper limbs for manipulation. They further show vertical and narrow branches to be especially challenging, requiring strong grasps, which suggests that they may drive the evolution of strong grasping abilities in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anthony Herrel
- UMR 7179-CNRS, National Museum of Natural History, 75321, Paris, Cedex 5, France
| | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- UMR 7179-CNRS, National Museum of Natural History, 75321, Paris, Cedex 5, France
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6
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Toussaint S, Llamosi A, Morino L, Youlatos D. The Central Role of Small Vertical Substrates for the Origin of Grasping in Early Primates. Curr Biol 2020; 30:1600-1613.e3. [PMID: 32169214 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Revised: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The manual and pedal grasping abilities of primates, characterized by an opposable hallux, flat nails, and elongated digits, constitute a unique combination of features that likely promoted their characteristic use of arboreal habitats. These hand and foot specificities are central for understanding the origins and early evolution of primates and have long been associated with foraging in a fine-branch milieu. However, other arboreal mammals occupy similar niches, and it remains unclear how substrate type may have exerted a selective pressure on the acquisition of nails and a divergent pollex/hallux in primates or in what sequential order these traits evolved. Here, we video-recorded 14,564 grasps during arboreal locomotion in 11 primate species (6 strepsirrhines and 5 platyrrhines) and 11 non-primate arboreal species (1 scandentian, 3 rodents, 3 carnivorans, and 4 marsupials). We quantified our observations with 19 variables to analyze the effect of substrate orientation and diameter on hand and foot postural repertoire. We found that hand and foot postures correlate with phylogeny. Also, primates exhibited high repertoire diversity, with a strong capability for postural adjustment compared to the other studied groups. Surprisingly, nails do not confer an advantage in negotiating small substrates unless the animal is large, but the possession of a grasping pollex and hallux is crucial for climbing small vertical substrates. We propose that the divergent hallux and pollex may have resulted from a frequent use of vertical plants in early primate ecological scenarios, although nails may not have resulted from a fundamental adaptation to arboreal locomotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Severine Toussaint
- Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, UMR 7207, CNRS/MNHN/UPMC, 8 rue Buffon CP38, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France; Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire, Département Frontières du vivant et de l'apprendre, 8 bis rue Charles V, 75004 Paris, France; UFR Sciences Du Vivant, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, Sorbonne Universités, 35 rue Hélène Brion, 75013 Paris, France.
| | - Artémis Llamosi
- Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire, Département Frontières du vivant et de l'apprendre, 8 bis rue Charles V, 75004 Paris, France; UFR Sciences Du Vivant, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, Sorbonne Universités, 35 rue Hélène Brion, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Luca Morino
- Parc Zoologique de Paris, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, 53 avenue de Saint Maurice, 75012 Paris, France
| | - Dionisios Youlatos
- Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Panepistimioupoli, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
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7
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Peckre LR, Lowie A, Brewer D, Ehmke E, Welser K, Shaw E, Wall C, Pouydebat E, Fabre AC. Food mobility and the evolution of grasping behaviour: a case study in strepsirrhine primates. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:jeb.207688. [PMID: 31558589 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.207688] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Manual grasping is widespread among tetrapods but is more prominent and dexterous in primates. Whether the selective pressures that drove the evolution of dexterous hand grasping involved the collection of fruit or predation on mobile insects remains an area of debate. One way to explore this question is to examine preferences for manual versus oral grasping of a moving object. Previous studies on strepsirrhines have shown a preference for oral grasping when grasping static food items and a preference for manual grasping when grasping mobile prey such as insects, but little is known about the factors at play. Using a controlled experiment with a simple and predictable motion of a food item, we tested and compared the grasping behaviours of 53 captive individuals belonging to 17 species of strepsirrhines while grasping swinging food items and static food items. The swinging motion increased the frequency of hand-use for all individuals. Our results provide evidence that the swinging motion of the food is a sufficient parameter to increase hand grasping in a wide variety of strepsirrhine primates. From an evolutionary perspective, this result gives some support to the idea that hand-grasping abilities evolved under selective pressure associated with the predation of food items in motion. Looking at a common grasping pattern across a large set of species, this study provides important insight into comparative approaches to understanding the evolution of the hand grasping of food in primates and potentially other tetrapod taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Rachel Peckre
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier, Case postale 55, 75231 Paris Cedex 5, France .,Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.,Leibniz Science Campus 'Primate Cognition', 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Aurélien Lowie
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier, Case postale 55, 75231 Paris Cedex 5, France.,Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Erin Ehmke
- Duke Lemur Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA
| | - Kay Welser
- Duke Lemur Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA
| | - Erin Shaw
- Duke Lemur Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA
| | - Christine Wall
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | | | - Anne-Claire Fabre
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier, Case postale 55, 75231 Paris Cedex 5, France.,Duke Lemur Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA.,Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5DB, UK
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8
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My branch is your branch: Talar morphology correlates with relative substrate size in platyrrhines at Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Ecuador. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:23-31. [PMID: 31358182 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Given that most species of primates are predominantly arboreal, maintaining the ability to move among branches of varying sizes has presumably been a common selective force in primate evolution. However, empirical evaluations of the relationships between morphological variation and characteristics of substrate geometry, such as substrate diameter relative to an animal's body mass, have been limited by the lack of quantified substrate usage in the wild. Here we use recently published quantitative data to assess the relationships between relative substrate size and talar morphology in nine New World monkey species at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Ecuador. Within this sample, both fibular facet angle (the angle between the fibular facet and the trochlear rims) and body-mass-standardized area of the medial tibial facet decrease as average and maximum relative substrate size increases. Correlations between medial tibial facet area and relative substrate size are driven by the inclusion of callitrichids in this sample. Nevertheless, these findings strengthen the hypothesis that variation in fibular facet orientation and medial tibial facet area are functionally correlated with habitual degrees of pedal inversion. They also strengthen the notion that evolutionarily changing body mass could impact habitat geometry experienced by a lineage and thereby substantially impact major trends in primate morphological evolution. This study highlights the importance of empirical data on substrate use in living primates for inferring functional and evolutionary implications of morphological variation.
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9
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Pouydebat E, Bardo A. An interdisciplinary approach to the evolution of grasping and manipulation. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département d’Ecologie et de Gestion de la Biodiversité, Paris, France
| | - Ameline Bardo
- Animal Postcranial Evolution Laboratory, Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK
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10
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Nyakatura JA. Early primate evolution: insights into the functional significance of grasping from motion analyses of extant mammals. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John A Nyakatura
- AG Morphologie und Formengeschichte, Institut für Biologie, Humboldt Universität, Philippstraße, Berlin, Germany
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11
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Peckre LR, Fabre AC, Hambuckers J, Wall CE, Socias-Martínez L, Pouydebat E. Food properties influence grasping strategies in strepsirrhines. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Louise R Peckre
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier, Case postale, Paris Cedex 5, France
- Behavioural Ecology & Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Anne-Claire Fabre
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier, Case postale, Paris Cedex 5, France
- Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Julien Hambuckers
- Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Chair of Statistics, Humboldtallee, Göttingen, Germany
- HEC Liège, University of Liège, 14 rue Louvrex, Liège, Belgium
| | - Christine E Wall
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, USA
| | - lluís Socias-Martínez
- Behavioural Ecology & Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg, Göttingen, Germany
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12
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Boulinguez‐Ambroise G, Zablocki‐Thomas P, Aujard F, Herrel A, Pouydebat E. Ontogeny of food grasping in mouse lemurs: behavior, morphology and performance. J Zool (1987) 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - F. Aujard
- UMR 7179‐ CNRS, National Museum of Natural History Paris France
| | - A. Herrel
- UMR 7179‐ CNRS, National Museum of Natural History Paris France
| | - E. Pouydebat
- UMR 7179‐ CNRS, National Museum of Natural History Paris France
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13
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Montuelle SJ, Kane EA. Food Capture in Vertebrates: A Complex Integrative Performance of the Cranial and Postcranial Systems. FEEDING IN VERTEBRATES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-13739-7_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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14
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Le Brazidec M, Herrel A, Thomas P, Grégoire BA, Aujard F, Pouydebat E. How Aging Affects Grasping Behavior and Pull Strength in Captive Gray Mouse Lemurs (Microcebus murinus). INT J PRIMATOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-017-0001-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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15
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Anzeraey A, Aumont M, Decamps T, Herrel A, Pouydebat E. The effect of food properties on grasping and manipulation in the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 220:4486-4491. [PMID: 28982969 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.159442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2017] [Accepted: 10/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The ability to grasp an object is fundamental from an evolutionary perspective. Involved in many daily activities, grasping has been extensively studied in primates and other mammals. Yet other groups of tetrapods, including anurans, have also evolved significant forelimb prehensile capacities that are often thought to have originated in an arboreal context. In addition, grasping is also observed in aquatic species. But how aquatic frogs use their forelimbs to capture and manipulate prey remains largely unknown. The aim of this study is to explore how the grasping and manipulation of food items in aquatic frogs is impacted by food properties such as size and mobility. To do so, we uses the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis and quantified the use of the hands and fingers while processing mobile and stationary prey of different sizes (small, intermediate and large). Our results show that X. laevis is able to individualize the digits and that the mobility and the length of the prey significantly influence the kind of grasping pattern used. Grasping abilities are thus not specific to terrestrial or arboreal species. These results illustrate how prey properties impact grasping and manipulation strategies in an aquatic frog and shed further light on the ecological contexts that may have given rise to the origin of grasping in frogs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aude Anzeraey
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département Adaptations du Vivant, 75005, Paris Cedex 5, France
| | - Madeleine Aumont
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département Adaptations du Vivant, 75005, Paris Cedex 5, France
| | - Thierry Decamps
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département Adaptations du Vivant, 75005, Paris Cedex 5, France
| | - Anthony Herrel
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département Adaptations du Vivant, 75005, Paris Cedex 5, France
| | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département Adaptations du Vivant, 75005, Paris Cedex 5, France
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16
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Boyer DM, Toussaint S, Godinot M. Postcrania of the most primitive euprimate and implications for primate origins. J Hum Evol 2017; 111:202-215. [PMID: 28874272 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2017] [Revised: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The fossil record of early primates is largely comprised of dentitions. While teeth can indicate phylogenetic relationships and dietary preferences, they say little about hypotheses pertaining to the positional behavior or substrate preference of the ancestral crown primate. Here we report the discovery of a talus bone of the dentally primitive fossil euprimate Donrussellia provincialis. Our comparisons and analyses indicate that this talus is more primitive than that of other euprimates. It lacks features exclusive to strepsirrhines, like a large medial tibial facet and a sloping fibular facet. It also lacks the medially positioned flexor-fibularis groove of extant haplorhines. In these respects, the talus of D. provincialis comes surprisingly close to that of the pen-tailed treeshrew, Ptilocercus lowii, and extinct plesiadapiforms for which tali are known. However, it differs from P. lowii and is more like other early euprimates in exhibiting an expanded posterior trochlear shelf and deep talar body. In overall form, the bone approximates more leaping reliant euprimates. The phylogenetically basal signal from the new fossil is confirmed with cladistic analyses of two different character matrices, which place D. provincialis as the most basal strepsirrhine when the new tarsal data are included. Interpreting our results in the context of other recent discoveries, we conclude that the lineage leading to the ancestral euprimate had already become somewhat leaping specialized, while certain specializations for the small branch niche came after crown primates began to radiate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doug M Boyer
- Duke University, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
| | - Séverine Toussaint
- UFR Sciences Du Vivant, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, Sorbonne Universités, Centre de Recherche sur La Paléobiodiversité et Les Paléoenvironnements (CR2P, UMR 7207), CNRS/MNHN/UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Marc Godinot
- École Pratique des Hautes Études, PSL, UMR 7207 CR2P, Paris, France
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Fabre AC, Marigó J, Granatosky MC, Schmitt D. Functional associations between support use and forelimb shape in strepsirrhines and their relevance to inferring locomotor behavior in early primates. J Hum Evol 2017. [PMID: 28622924 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of primates is intimately linked to their initial invasion of an arboreal environment. However, moving and foraging in this milieu creates significant mechanical challenges related to the presence of substrates differing in their size and orientation. It is widely assumed that primates are behaviorally and anatomically adapted to movement on specific substrates, but few explicit tests of this relationship in an evolutionary context have been conducted. Without direct tests of form-function relationships in living primates it is impossible to reliably infer behavior in fossil taxa. In this study, we test a hypothesis of co-variation between forelimb morphology and the type of substrates used by strepsirrhines. If associations between anatomy and substrate use exist, these can then be applied to better understand limb anatomy of extinct primates. The co-variation between each forelimb long bone and the type of substrate used was studied in a phylogenetic context. Our results show that despite the presence of significant phylogenetic signal for each long bone of the forelimb, clear support use associations are present. A strong co-variation was found between the type of substrate used and the shape of the radius, with and without taking phylogeny into account, whereas co-variation was significant for the ulna only when taking phylogeny into account. Species that use a thin branch milieu show radii that are gracile and straight and have a distal articular shape that allows for a wide range of movements. In contrast, extant species that commonly use large supports show a relatively robust and curved radius with an increased surface area available for forearm and hand muscles in pronated posture. These results, especially for the radius, support the idea that strepsirrhine primates exhibit specific skeletal adaptations associated with the supports that they habitually move on. With these robust associations in hand it will be possible to explore the same variables in extinct early primates and primate relatives and thus improve the reliability of inferences concerning substrate use in early primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Claire Fabre
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA; UMR 7179, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Mécadev, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 55, 75231, Paris Cedex 5, France.
| | - Judit Marigó
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA; UMR 7207 CR2P - C.N.R.S., M.N.H.N., U.P.M.C.-Paris 6, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75005, Paris, France; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici Z (ICTA-ICP), Carrer de les Columnes s/n, Campus UAB, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Michael C Granatosky
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Daniel Schmitt
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
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18
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Yapuncich GS, Seiffert ER, Boyer DM. Quantification of the position and depth of the flexor hallucis longus groove in euarchontans, with implications for the evolution of primate positional behavior. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 163:367-406. [PMID: 28345775 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2016] [Revised: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE On the talus, the position and depth of the groove for the flexor hallucis longus tendon have been used to infer phylogenetic affinities and positional behaviors of fossil primates. This study quantifies aspects of the flexor hallucis longus groove (FHLG) to test if: (1) a lateral FHLG is a derived strepsirrhine feature, (2) a lateral FHLG reflects inverted and abducted foot postures, and (3) a deeper FHLG indicates a larger muscle. METHODS We used linear measurements of microCT-generated models from a sample of euarchontans (n = 378 specimens, 125 species) to quantify FHLG position and depth. Data are analyzed with ANOVA, Ordinary and Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares, and Bayesian Ancestral State Reconstruction (ASR). RESULTS Extant strepsirrhines, adapiforms, plesiadapiforms, dermopterans, and Ptilocercus exhibit lateral FHLGs. Extant anthropoids, subfossil lemurs, and Tupaia have medial FHLGs. FHLGs of omomyiforms and basal fossil anthropoids are intermediate between those of strepsirrhines and extant anthropoids. FHLG position has few correlations with pedal inversion features. Relative FHLG depth is not significantly correlated with body mass. ASRs support a directional model for FHLG position and a random walk model for FHLG depth. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of lateral FHLGs in many non-euprimates suggests a lateral FHLG is not a derived strepsirrhine feature. The lack of correlations with pedal inversion features suggests a lateral FHLG is not a sufficient indicator of strepsirrhine-like foot postures. Instead, a lateral FHLG may reduce the risk of tendon displacement in abducted foot postures on large diameter supports. A deep FHLG does not indicate a larger muscle, but likely reduces bowstringing during plantarflexion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel S Yapuncich
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Erik R Seiffert
- Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Doug M Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
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