#primatology

[er-cryptid]

The golden pottos are part of family _____.

Lorisidae

[radiummp3]

hello ! redoing my intro here lol. anyways. welcome welcome. my name is radium, or urani :)

a little about myself:

im an environmental science major, hoping to use it to pursue primatology and the general conservation of primates. i am very passionate about nature and many of my posts (when I do post) will most likely center around it. love making biological headcanons for non human species.

I also quite enjoy to dabble in nuclear research, a large part of my identity is that.

playing games is another thing! im very fond of psychonauts, grim fandango, and postal: brain damaged at the moment.

my dni is veryyyy simple. its a general dni, and id prefer if those with genshin impact profiles did not interact and instead blocked me. also anyone under the age of 17, i am 19. whole adult. go away.

plllease send asks i like to answer

[sequestered-jester]

I’ve been watching that docuseries abt the orangutans at Nyaru Menteng rehab center LITERALLY on the brink of tears the entire time, orangutans make me so emotional… with their giant ass eyes like ough

I could NEVER do the work these people do— like, when I see the baby orangs clinging to the rehabbers and not wanting to do anything but cuddle, I know in my heart of hearts that if that was me? I wouldn’t be able to do what’s best for that animal— I would just let them have cuddle time forever, they would NOT be able to get released back into the wild 💀💀💀

The show is “Orangutan jungle school” for anyone wondering

[scienceguy22]

The most redundant name in biology.

Did you know that the Western lowland gorilla is formally named Gorilla gorilla gorilla? No kidding. It's not an error, a joke, or a lazy scientist. The rules of naming place the genus first, followed by the species & the subspecies (if any). In the case of the Western lowland gorilla, its genus is Gorilla, the species is gorilla, & its subspecies is gorilla, hence Gorilla gorilla gorilla. This falls under the strict Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The name "gorilla" comes from a 5th-century BCE Carthaginian explorer, Hanno the Navigator, who described a group of "hairy women" called gorillai.

[scienceguy22]

The jungle's longest lactation marathon. How do you determine how many months or years animal mothers nurse their babies?

You could supposedly stay to see if you're not in a rush and can wait, but that could take months, a year, or longer. Recently, a group of scientists studying orangutan breastfeeding chose a rather unusual option: their excrement. Researchers looked for milk-specific proteins in the excrement of wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), according to the journal Communications Biology. By using a technique known as "proteomics," the scientists can gain a better understanding of what the animals are eating. For example, barium, a naturally occurring element, accumulates in teeth while infants drink. When nursing stops, barium drops sharply. Scientists analyzed microscopic tooth fragments found in orangutan feces to track these changes by using laser ablation mass spectrometry. This is a technique where a laser (an acronym that stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation") zaps a tiny bit of a solid (like a tooth), turns it into a vapor, & a machine measures what elements are in the vapor.

Barium peaks persisted for up to 8 years—signifying the mothers breastfed their babies for that long! That's the longest known duration among mammals. For comparison, humans typically feed for 6 months up to 2 years & chimps for 4-5 years. There are some outstanding facts about orangutans not seen in any other mammal. The first exceptional biological trait is their slowest life history of any mammal. This refers to the pace at which they grow, mature, reproduce, raise offspring & die. (It also means a long childhood, late maturity, few babies, long gaps between babies, lots of parental investment & a long lifespan (45-50 years on average for wild orangutans & occasionally over 60 in captivity).) They outlive chimps by about 5 years & gorillas by 10-15 years. Slow life history means a long dependency period. Infants breastfeed for up to 8 years because infants need years to learn how to find food in unpredictable forests. Slow brain development requires long nutritional support.

Orangutans also have the longest interbirth interval of any mammal (7-9 years). The next runner-ups are chimps & elephants (4-6 years), gorillas (4-5 years), humans (traditional societies) (3-4 years), dolphins (2-3 years), & mice (3 weeks). While moms breastfeed, they have lots of time to teach one-on-one survival skills. Orangutan moms have only one baby. Twins in orangutans are so uncommon that in the entire history of documenting orangutans, there have only been a handful of twin cases. And in those extremely rare instances, if she is unlucky enough to have twins, one infant almost always dies. Their entire evolutionary strategy is built for one baby at a time. Orangutans live in the resource-scarce rainforests of Borneo & Sumatra. Food availability fluctuates wildly—fruit crops can vanish for months. Extended breastfeeding ensures babies survive lean seasons. The more milk a young orangutan drinks, the more probiotic intestinal bacteria it has & the sturdier its biological protections are. Such consistent & enduring breastfeeding probably helps the very high survival of orangutan babies & plays a role in their slow reproductive approach. It's an energy insurance policy because milk provides steady calories when fruit is scarce.

If humans breastfed as long proportionally as orangutans do, we'd nurse until about age 12—middle school! Now some sobering news: all three species of orangutans—Bornean, Sumatran, & Tapanuli species are critically endangered, the highest risk category before "extinct in the wild." The Tapunuli orangutan is also the rarest great ape on Earth. Why are they critically extinct? 1. The main causes are habitat loss due to palm oil plantations, illegal logging, mining, road building, forest fragmentation & wildfires. They are losing 10s of 1,000s of acres of forest every year. 2. Hunting & poaching: infants are captured for the pet trade, & mothers are killed to obtain their infants. Orangutans reproduce more slowly than any other mammal on Earth. They simply can't replace lost individuals. If you remove even a few adults from a population, it can take decades to recover—if it recovers at all. Stats estimate about 104,000 Bornean orangutans remain, but they are declining fast. Only 14,000 Sumatran orangutans & just 800 Tapanuli orangutans are left on Earth.

[er-cryptid]

What suborder includes Bioko Allen’s bushbaby?

Strepsirrhini

[scienceguy22]

The 1% that changes everything.

Primates (the great apes), as you probably know, share 98-99% of our DNA, yet there is one thing humans have that no other species in the world shares—the white around our eyes. Isn't that weird? What is the reason for that? First of all, the "98-99% similarity" refers to DNA letters, not to how genes are registered, expressed, or shaped by evolution. A tiny difference in regulatory genes can produce massive differences in visible traits, especially on the face. The white around our eyes is known as the "sclera." That is controlled by pigmentation genes, regulatory switches that turn pigment on or off & developmental timing genes. Humans developed the whites around our eyes to make gaze direction extremely visible, which supercharged communication, cooperation & trust. Humans are evolutionarily designed to broadcast where we are looking. The visible large, bright white sclera creates a marked contrast with the iris & the pupil, making gaze direction obvious.

Other primates have dark brown or black sclerae, making their gaze hard to track—likely an adaptation to conceal intentions. Human sclera evolved as a social communication tool, helping us coordinate, cooperate & understand each other's intentions. Biologists consider this one of the most sophisticated nonverbal communication systems in the animal kingdom. Being able to see where someone is actually looking helps with joint attention ("Look over there!"). It helps with teaching, learning, coordinated hunting or foraging & silent communication during danger. This is called the "cooperative eye hypothesis." The white sclera emphasizes our gaze, making it harder to deceive others. It reveals micromovements of the eyes; it makes lying or hiding intentions more difficult & signals honesty & prosocial behavior. A bright sclera makes it easier for babies to track a caregiver's attention & interpret emotional cues. This strengthened parent-child bonding & improved our survival.

Prey animals don't want prey to know where they are looking. Primates in competitive social groups hide intentions to avoid conflict. Thus, dark sclerae act as camouflage. Humans are the exception. Our evolutionary pressures favored cooperation over competition.

[er-cryptid]

Genus Plecturocebus is part of family _____.

Pitheciidae