Monkey Business

Sociality and Mating patterns

-Lemurs (Prosimians/Strepsirhini)

      Lemurs are naturally only found on the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa.  They can also be found in some small neighboring islands such as Comoros.

      Lemurs live in groups, usually less than 15 and are very territorial, although they seem to be very social as well. Females usually share nests with their young, other female lemurs, and possibly with a male. Multi-male groups are the most common among their species. The females usually stay with the group they were born into, as for males, they leave their group for another once the have sexually matured.

    

           Madagascar has two completely different climate regions, the rain forest in the east and dry regions in the west. They usually survive the climate by living in smaller groups, have strict breeding seasons, and store fat. Resources are limited during the harsh climate so they resort to different food sources such as seeds, bugs, and leaves.

  Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini)

   The spider monkey lives in the rain forests of Peru, Brazil, South America and even Central Mexico.

   They are usually found at the top of the trees moving around freely worry free. They travel in groups of about 15 but separate during the day to avoid predators. With spider monkeys, the male is the one that stays in the group and the females leave and join other groups at puberty. The females are the ones that choose who they will mate with, the male normally know when to mate by watching the female when they’re on their cycle. Their cycles last up to 27 days, and they mate for about 3 days.

The Spider monkey survives because of its long limbs, being extremely acrobatic, in the trees it is nearly impossible to be caught by a predator. They use they’re tail as a fifth limb, aiding them in moving around. But once on floor, the spider monkey is clumsy and vulnerable. The spider monkey also seems to be an endangered species, major threats are habitat loss and hunting by humans.

Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae)

The baboon can be found in Africa, South and East Asia, some rainforests, and even in the mountains. Baboons live in a variety of environments, being able to adapt to them.

Baboons are very loud and love to communicate with one another. Baboons often argue and even fight with each other usually it is the males over a female. But in some rare cases the females have fought over food or their young ones. Without all the commotion, the baboons wouldn’t succeed. Baboons are completely different when it comes to mating. They have to offer some sort of a bribe such as bananas and have to caress the female so that she will mate with him.

Baboons are extremely adaptive, from snowy mountains to dry plains. Whatever the environment, the baboons are very intelligent and will learn to adapt quickly.

Gibbon (Lesser ape/Hylobatidae)

The Gibbon is found in the tropical and subtropical parts of India, Indonesia, and even China. 

Gibbons are social creatures but are extremely territorial. They defend their territory with their amazing vocal abilities that can be heard from 1 km away. Gibbons are a bit more attached than other primates, once two gibbons mate, they will be together for life. They often sing in order to attract their mates.

The gibbon species is endangered due to human agriculture, they are slowly losing their habitats. They are also hunted, humans sell their body parts for medicine.

Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae)

Chimpanzees are found in Central and Western Africa. They are omnivores meaning they eat plants and meat. The scavage the forest in search for fruits, seeds, and plants. They drink water by chewing up a plant and dipping it in 

water so that it soaks up the water, and they make a fresh nest every night.

Chimpanzees live in really large groups but travel in small ones, they spend alot of time together in the trees and on the ground. They often groom each other and share food with one another.

Chimpanzees are hunted and killed for their meat, this species is endangered. There were about 2 million chimpanzees and today there are about 200,000.