Brachiation
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White-handed gibbons when swinging |
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| A white-handed gibbon getting food (watercolor drawing) |
Brachiation (from Latin brachium = "arm") or rocking is a form of arboreal locomotion of primates , i.e. their movement in trees. They swing through the trees using only their front limbs, alternately reaching from branch to branch.
This type of locomotion is inherent in Siamangs and other gibbons . Primates, which move almost exclusively by hand, are called "real brachiators" or "hanglers". Species that use this alongside other modes of locomotion (optional) are identified by the prefix “Semi”, such as B. the spider monkeys , which move with a combination of jumping and shackling. Some of these New World monkeys also master suspensory behaviors in which they use their preying tail as their fifth grasping hand.
Some characteristics that allow primates to move quickly and safely by shackling are a short, stable lumbar spine , long front limbs with freely rotating wrists , long, curved fingers with short fingernails (instead of claws) and short, poorly developed or even reduced thumb.
Modern man has retained many of the physical properties that suggest a tree-dwelling ancestor would have it, including flexible shoulder joints and fingers that are good for grasping. In small great apes , such as those in the gibbon family, these characteristics are adaptations to the ability to brachiate.
Although great apes do not normally move in this way (with orangutans being the exception), human anatomy suggests that brachiation may have been a prerequisite or exaptation for walking on two legs and thus upright . Modern people are still capable of brachiation; some playgrounds have climbing frames where children can let off steam in this way.
In addition to structural adjustments to the skeleton, the mode of locomotion has influenced the nature and behavior of gibbons. For example, gibbon cubs are carried on their stomach, unlike other primates who carry their cubs on their backs. It also affects the way you play, fight, and copulate . It is believed that gibbons gained evolutionary advantages through brachiation. Another theory is that brachiation is a less noisy and noticeable way of moving than jumping and climbing other four-legged friends and is therefore more suitable for avoiding predators.
The advantages of getting food are indisputable. The bimanual suspension (with both hands) allows gibbons to reach food that is inaccessible to most other tree-living animals. While smaller primates cannot hold each other with both hands for long periods of time and larger primates are too heavy to use food resources at the ends of the branches, gibbons with long arms can easily harvest them when hanging.
See also
Web links
- The gibbons (Hylobatidae): locomotion. Retrieved March 7, 2016 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Geissmann: Comparative Primatology . 1st edition. Springer, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-642-55798-9 . Page 94 Google eBook. Retrieved March 7, 2016 .
- ↑ Jane Gibbons - Goodall Institute, Switzerland. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 8, 2016 ; accessed on March 8, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Thomas Geissmann: Comparative Primatology . 1st edition. Springer, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-642-55798-9 . Page 171 Google eBook. Retrieved March 7, 2016 .
- ↑ Evolution trends in primates (PDF, 0.8 MB). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 28, 2016 ; accessed on March 7, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Thomas Geissmann: Comparative Primatology . 1st edition. Springer, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-642-55798-9 . Page 256 Google eBook. Retrieved March 7, 2016 .
