Body Size and Sexual Dimorphism
Lemurs
a. Lemurs are only found on the island of Madagascar and other islands off the east coast of Africa. Generally they live in trees or bushes.
b. Lemurs range in size from 30g to 9kg. Also Lemurs are unique because both the male and the females are not different in size.
c. In the environment, the larger Lemurs tend to be diurnal and eat leaves, fruit, buds, bark and shoots. While the smaller Lemurs are nocturnal and insectivorous. The smaller Lemurs have adapted by avoiding larger predators during the day by feeding in the night.
Spider Monkeys
a. Spider Monkeys are found in the tropical forests of South America and Central America. They live around wet regions and are found on the top of trees.
b. Male and female Spider monkeys weigh around 20lbs. Also female Spider monkeys are usually a little larger than the males.
c. Since they have large sizes, Spider Monkeys prefer an environment that has huge areas of forest.
Baboons
a. Baboons are found in savannah-like areas and woodlands and hills throughout Africa.
b. Different types of Baboons vary in size, but they range from 20 inches to 40 inches and ranging from 30lbs to 90lbs in weight. Among Baboons, males weigh twice as much as females. In addition another type of sexual dimorphism that is present is color.
c. Body size is an advantage to the male Baboons because of the competition for the females. It determines the chances of mating among Baboons.
Gibbons
a. Gibbons live in the tropical and subtropical rainforests from India to Indonesia and also from north to southern China.
b. Gibbons weigh from 13 pounds to 25 pounds. They exhibit little sexual dimorphism.
c. Their small sizes allow them to move around their environment and feed while hanging from tree branches.
Chimpanzee
a. Chimps live in forest areas and in large communities.
b. A male chimpanzee weighs about 150 pounds and females weigh about 100 pounds. Sexual dimorphism in chimpanzees are similar in humans such as shape and size.
c. Chimps depend on their communities in order to survive in their environment.
I liked when you explained the presense of sexual dimorphism in baboons as being related to their mating patterns. What about the other primates? Why do some have dimorphism between the sexes and some don't? Could that also be related to the mating patterns or are their other influences. I would have liked to have seen more of this discussion.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that in regards to the Lemurs, the males and females do not differ in size. Do they have notable differences to help tell them apart? With the Female spider monkey, I was interested to read how they are generally larger than the males. I am curious to know why that is. Are the females more protective or do they do the hunting? My assumptions in size would be dependent on their need for survival to have a size advantage like the Baboons with their size being doubled that of their females.
ReplyDeleteVery nice post!