LEMURS
The lemurs social group is a good size of 11-17 lemurs. They female lemurs have the advantage of staying in the same unit unlike the males. Most of the female lemurs are related because they’ve remained in the unit. The males leave when they reach sexual maturity and find other groups to mate in. The females are much higher than the male lemurs. There are a few males that are considered high ranking and they have more advantage than the lower ranking males. These higher ranking males get to interact with high rank females and by doing this they have access to mating them and access to food. When the groups get larger and larger, the low ranking males and females are forced to find other groups.
Breeding season usually lasts between 7 and 21 days. All of the adult females are ready to mate around the same time each year. The trait of sociality and mating is influenced by the environment the lemurs inhabit. The females usually give birth to only one baby because of the harsh environments. The males who are looking to mate check the woman’s genitals to have sexual intercourse and the female might either response or act aggressively. Sometimes it is the other way around and females might lift their tails and show the males their genitals. Because of the environment, they have high reproductive fertility with gestation periods lasting anywhere between 135 to 145 days. The females give birth each year.
Spider monkeys display wild behavior and make rough barking sounds to scare away predators Spider monkeys prefer living in moist tropical forests, however, they can also be found in high rainforests, high mountain savanna forests and some marsh and swamp forests. Spider Monkey’s conform to a fission-fusion social system which is a large group divided by smaller temporary sub-groups which is where the monkeys spend the majority of their time travelling and socializing. These sub groups usually consist of an adult male, an adult female and her dependent offspring. Mating begins with the female Spider Monkey approaching the male and showing him her genitals. They sniff each other to see if the other is ready for mating. Each female will give birth to one offspring every 3 or 4 years. The males are not involved in raising the offspring. Due to seasonal fruit shortages, competition between groups increases, and the need for smaller groups used to forage for fruits becomes necessary. The benefit of still being a part of a larger group however is beneficial in terms of protection from predators and larger numbers to increase chances of reproducing and mating.
BABOONS
Baboons like to live in savannas but are often seen in tropical forests. Their groups are extremely large ranging from 15-150. The group consists of males, females, and their offspring. The males leave and mate with other groups while the females stay in the same group. The higher ranked females can take food and water from lower ranked females. The differences in rank can have an effect on adaption of feeding behavior, stress physiology and reproduction success. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/baboon/
Mating occurs when the female presents her swollen rump to a male baboon while grooming or when during her estrus cycle. Both males and females have multiple mates. There is no reproduction cycle so females give birth year around. Higher breeding females breed more often than lower ranking females. Higher ranking females have higher reproductive rates because they have more resources when it comes to food oppose to lower ranking females.
GIBBONS
GIBBONS
Gibbons live in small groups, male, female, and offspring. Most of their time is spent grooming each other. You can find them in tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia.
Gibbons stay with their same mate for a lifetime. Female gibbons are pregnant for 7 months and have one offspring at a time. Both the male and female rear the young. Unfortunately, gibbons are endangered and aren’t adapting quite well to new environments.
CHIMPANZEE
The male chimpanzees are in charge of their groups. Women have no high role in these groups. Chimpanzees can be found in rainforests, savannas, swamps, and dry woodlands. The group is very close and does most things together. The males get to stay in their groups until death while the women have to find new groups. This is a reason why male chimpanzees have such a great bond. One of their social activities is grooming each other.
When the females are ready to mate, their genitals enlarge. The mate more when there’s an abundance of food. The females produce a single offspring. It is said that the males will kill the offspring if it isn’t theirs. There is a higher reproductive level when there’s more food. Chimpanzees are also endangered species because of habitat destruction.
Reproductive success depends a lot on the availiabitly of food. Some of these species are endangered because their habitats are being destroyed and they’re forced to live elsewhere. Once the migrate somewhere new, they’re having a difficult time adapting. Those who live in larger groups have a better chance of living because they can scare away their predators and find more food.
Okay, first of all, you can't call female primates "women" unless they are human. :-) That's a name unique to us. For other primates, they are just "females". That made me do a double-take every I read it!
ReplyDeleteThis is a difficult topic to cover and make connections. For some of these primates, you did very well digging up the connection between their reproductive and social behaviors and their environment, particularly where you made the connection between reproductive success and resource availability (chimps/baboon).
In other places, you state that there is a relationship but then don't explain it. For example, you mention the "harsh environment" as the connection with small offspring numbers in lemurs, but you never really describe the environment of the lemurs. A similar comment is made regarding gestational periods. In others, the environmental descriptions were too brief to allow for significant connections.
You are on the right track with this and pulled out a lot of interesting information and you are just on the edge of making a lot of fantastic connections. A little more emphasis on the environmental descriptions would have helped.