Primate Behavior a Study of Orangutans and Mandrills Essay

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach

For this assignment, I have decided to design an enclosure about the primate, Mandrill. I will, in words, describe an enclosure that will prevent these nonhuman primates from not being suited to their natural habitat needs. Throughout this assignment, I will design my very own version of a perfect enclosure that secures these primates by critically thinking of any psychological or physical problems that can occur. What also will need to partake is considering the perspective of the nonhuman primates, the zookeepers, and the visitors as well. Designing an enclosure has to be precise and detailed. I will do the best I can to be as detailed as I can be when designing this enclosure.

I primarily observed three orangutans, one male, one female, and one juvenile, of Sumatran and Bornean descent, scientifically known as Pongo abelli and Pongo pygmaeus, respectively, and to a lesser extent, two gibbons known as siamangs, or Symphalangus syndactylus. These primates share the same enclosure in the San Diego Zoo in California. I observed the orangutans from 12:58 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. CST on September 19th. During this time frame, the three orangutans mainly stayed high up in their man-made structures, consisting of multiple metal bars covered with nets, ropes, and hammocks. The female and juvenile orangutans stayed above ground from 12:58 P.M. to 1:31 P.M., and again from 1:48 P.M. until 2:00 P.M, approximately 45 minutes. During

The animal I have chosen to study is the Japanese macaque, more commonly known as the Japanese snow monkey. Sir David Attenborough recently described the macaque as “one of the most successful and versatile of all primates”, commending its capacity to be “versatile, resilient, enterprising, tough and capable of surviving in extreme conditions”. This essay will continue by examining the Japanese macaque in a number of ways. Firstly, I will describe the physical characteristics of the animal, paying particular attention to the way in which their appearance has adapted to enable them to dominate in their habitat. Secondly, I will discuss the environment in which the macaques live in and the unique capabilities they maximise to develop a

Primate conservation has long been a topic of debate, reliant most heavily on the struggle to provide the necessary resources to combat the declining rate of population growth among various species. Orangutans in particular, both Sumatran and Bornean, have experienced a rapid drop in their free-living populations. With an estimate of only 27,000 left in the wild, questions have been raised over what selective pressures are impacting the steady decline of these animals existence. While hunting and poaching have been identified as contributing factors, habitat loss primarily takes center stage in their demise. Conservation efforts have been made and continue to be somewhat successful, however, challenges and set backs continue to threaten

The observations of Common Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus) and Western Gorillas (Gorilla Gorillas) were made on 31th October, 2015 at the San Francisco Zoo where is located on 1 Zoo Road San Francisco, CA 9413. The observations has lasted about 3 hours, from 1:40 pm – 4:40 pm, and each primate has been observing for around 1 to 2 hours. Common Squirrel monkey is a small new

Orangutans (Figure 3) are our first cousins since they share 97 percent of our genetic material. Contrary to other apes, orangutans are semi solitary which is unique in its social organization (3). Adult males which are the most solitary, and they associate with only their current, former, and potential consorts. For the semi-solitary orangutans, the only playmate is its mother. Even female adults are more social than male ones, rarely they groom, touch, hold hands, chase, or fight. On rare occasions, female adults may groom; however, it lasts only few seconds. Sometimes, female adults meet and travel with one another to express the close relationship. The long call by a male orangutan expresses an alert to others about his presence. Usually, other orangutans only react if the call is close by or aggressive towards them. Male orangutan can use vocalization to express that he is angry and frustrated, and that call signals a threat to another male (3). Female orangutans also produce vocalization when they get upset by the presence of another male.

For the Orangutan in the zoo each enclosure they had a total of three orangutan in each pen, most were all adults, except one which was a young juvenile. As well as it is appear to be that none of these orangutan are a part of a subgroup because some, if not all isolated themselves from others. In which is very common according to Lang C. (2005), "Adult males and independent adolescents of both sexes range alone while adult females range with their dependent and weaned offspring" (Primate Factsheet pongo, para. 1). So the zoo's orangutan act very similar to the wild ones. Next the differences is how are they physically built between in each others. For the orangutan, if they are standing they are about 5 feet tall, however including arm and leg span due to how they are built to climb and swing to places their body size will be seven feet tall. Another difference was that they had no tail due to they ancestors evolution to who they are now, which remove the chance of having the ability to have a prehensile tail in the process. The last physically difference is their hands. They have all fingers and thumbs, but they don't use their thumbs to grab; they use mostly their fingers to grasp objects. Which make them who they are

Primate Intraspecific Behavioural Variation in Response to Habitat Differences: a comparison between three subspecies of Bornean Orang-utan and impacts on population survival

First Orangutan Murder Seen as Pair Team up to Kill Female” by Sam Wong, is an intriguing story about a murder committed by an orangutan couple on an orangutan female. Wong writes, “the first time lethal aggression has been seen between females of the species”, before this I was not aware that orangutans were not violent to each other. However, according to the article orangutan females maintain cohesion with each other and are not prone to violence. During, this article Wong cites Anna Marzec who observed the orangutan’s behavior from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Marzec was quoted saying, “We had never seen anything like this before”. Marzec acknowledges that the company of a male orangutan may have initiated the altercation. Kondor,

My choice was orangutans, the "man of the forest" which reside on two islands in Indonesia called Sumatra and Borneo. I wish to learn more about their behavior, their ability to live in solitary but also be social at the same time. I think it is fascinating that they are orange and live high up in trees mostly. They are gentle and seem like little old people to me, yet they are so different and clearly wild animals. I've always been so curious why orangutans are so similar to us but are so far down the primate line from us. My experience at the Sacramento Zoo was enjoyable, I noticed all the toys and food they had around in their enclosure. All the primates ignored everyone for the most part but I was able to sort of get their attention with sticks and they seemed intrigued for a moment. Thier was no zoo keepers around to ask the gender though so I wasn't able to find that out. The orangutans were Sumatra Orangutans that are red-orange with light colors throughout the hair, there were two together in the Sacramento Zoos orangutans enclosure. One was smaller and the other was bigger, they both were sitting on a branch high up in their man-made jungle gym. The bigger one was snacking on a branch of leaves and the other was sunbathing nearby. They both used the branches they were sitting on as hammocks always gripping them with their long hands. The two orangutans

Orangutans are the world’s largest arboreal mammal. The adults can get very big in size; some of them can get up to between 120 pounds all the way to a close 200. They also can stand up very tall and get up to between four to five feet, which is literally my grandma’s height. Orangutan’s hair colors are slightly different than one another. Some have dark orange, brown orange and sometimes even pale orange. Those are some of the rare colors you will see in orangutans; the most common hair color for an orangutan is reddish orange. Their physical appearance is almost looking at a human being who is very hairy. They have almost everything we have and look just like them for example. Orangutans have hands and feet just like us with opposable thumbs so

My aim of this investigation is to research the lifestyle of the Mountain Gorilla which is a critically endangered species. Then to examine the threats posed to its population and the conservation measures in place for its population.

Orangutan is a great ape of Southeast Asia. Its name means “man of the jungle” in Malay, an Indonesian language. Orangutans live only on the island of Borneo and in the northern corner of the island of Sumatra.