Comparing of Primates

LEMURS

Lemurs are know as Prosimians or better yet the "pre monkey".  Leumurs mostly lived in tropical regions, but some also reside in dry deserts. Today they are mostly found on the island of Madagascar and near the Comoro Islands.  There are many different species of lemurs of which most live in trees and bushes, there is only one species who lives mostly on ground level, that would be the ringtail lemur. Nocturnal lemurs tend to live alone while those who are not tend to live in social groups with others. These 'morning' lemurs eat fruits and vegetables and tend to be very vocal.  It has been found that females are the dominant gender in this species. These dominant females express very aggressive behavior upon the males to express their power.  The environment plays a big role on females successful reproduction of off springs. Female Lemurs typically give birth to one off spring per year because of the environment. Mating season is only about 7-21 days and the females all mate around the same time each year.  In whole the environment effects lemurs in many ways. Because of the harsh environment that these animals live in living in groups allow these primates to survive longer and better because of the social benefits and the greater force of finding food, rather than the nocturnal ones who live on their own and have a lower success rate in survival. This also goes along with the small birth rate because of the environment that disadvantages the species in reproducing.

SPIDER MONKEY

Spider monkeys are under the family of New World Monkeys who are 'limited to tropical forest environments of southern Mexico, Central, and South America."  Spider monkeys live most of their lives up very high from the forest floors in the canopies.  They tend to live in groups of several dozen, but will move around independently in the area that the group is living.  The females tend to be the dominant one in this species as well.  Each female will produce one offspring every 3 - 4 year and the females are solely responsible for raising the offspring.  Because there is such a big group these primates plan out their foraging routes and plan where they will get food depending on how plentiful or scarce the supply is. These primates are small animals compared to the many big predators that leaves them up in the trees, this limits how and where they get their food, also the environment of scarce food at times and their level on the food chains has mothers spacing the amount of time between their offspring. This allows them to care for one baby until they can fend for themselves, mothers tend to carry their baby's on their back while the babies cling on.

BABOON 

The Baboon is within the Old World Monkey family. Old World Monkeys occupy many different environments in South and East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the tip of Spain.  Some of the environments that they live in within these regions are tropical forest, arid grasslands, and mountain areas with heavy snows.  Baboons form troops that are very large, that contains a hierarchy.  These primates spend lots of time with one another, females especially tend to stay in a matrilineal group, while males have tendencies to move from many groups; these primates tend to be polygamous. Due to the hierarchy of this species, allows for the ones of higher stature to take food and water from those of lower rank. This in turn, especially during harsh seasonal conditions, can cause reproductive harm and sickness, and death. 

GIBBON

Gibbons are part of the ape family, specifically Hylobatidae; these primates originated from Southeast Asia.  They spend most of their time in trees in tropical rain forests.  These primates are very social and group together in small families much similar to humans (parents and off spring) and stay with the same mate for their life span.  Gibbons can only have one offspring at a time. Due to the destruction of rain forests, the Gibbons natural habitat, it is making it near to impossible for these small family groups to survive and defend themselves when trees are being cut down. Not only are Gibbon disappearing due to this, their slow 7month pregnancy with only one offspring makes it hard for a speedy reproductions of this species, making them endangered.

CHIMPANZEE

Chimpanzees are also part of the ape family known also as Hominidae and are found to originate in Africa.  They live in areas that are humid canopy forests, dry forests, and savannas.  These primates are very social and live in groups where the males are dominant.  Males are very closely bonded and stay in these social groups for life.  The only time the group breaks up is to go foraging for food. Because the males are dominant they can protect the group from harms way while the females can produce offspring and care for them.

Overall the environment seems to play a big role on impacting the sociality and mating patterns of these five species of primates.  This goes into how scarce food is, how harsh the elements are, and how prone to enemies these species are in their environment.  This in turn influences mating patterns and how social these animals are with one another.  Species who are not going extinct due to the deterioration of their habitat (who are not adapting well to this new environment) and those who are in smaller groups tend to effect their survival and reproduction rate. While those who are in big groups are able to find more food and protect one another.

Old World Monkey Habitat

Baboon Sociality and Mating 

New World Monkey Habitat

Spider Monkey Sociality and Mating 

Lemurs Habitat

Lemur Sociality and Mating

Ape Family Habitat

GIbbon Sociality and Mating 

Chimpanzee Mating and Sociality