Study Of Gorillas Essay Research Paper Los

Study Of Gorillas Essay, Research Paper

Los Angeles Zoo OBJECTIVE The purpose of this observation was to study the activities and behavior of some selected primates, and to discuss the differences and similarities of these primates. It would have been ideal to examine three primates from each continent, but at the Los Angeles Zoo, the primates there only represented Africa, South America and what the Los Angeles zoo calls “Eurasia.” For this study I observed three different primates from Africa, two primates from South America, and two primates from “Eurasia”. I wasn’t able to observe any primates from Australia or Northern America at the zoo. RESULTS The primates that I observed from Africa were the Colobus Monkey, the Ringed tailed Lemur, and the Western low land Gorilla which are all Old World Primates. The primates I observed from South America were the Howler monkey, and the Uakari. The primates that were observed from “Eurasia” were the Orangutan and the Siamang. HABITAT The primates of South America have been undergoing loses to their habitat and the study of non-human primates play an important role to public health. They are valuable to helping discover new vaccines, and they are also beneficial to helping humans understand diseases such as diabetes, malaria, AIDS, yellow fever, mental disorders, and some forms of cancer. Therefore the availability of non-human primates for biomedical purposes is very important, but there has been major threats to their environment both in South America and in Africa. The major factor contributing to the decline of the non-human primate populations is habitat destruction. More than 90% of all primates dwell in tropical forests, and as these forests continue to disappear, so do these primates. The primates are having to make major adaptations, as their habitats are constantly changing because of agriculture activities. Of the 76 species of New World Monkeys in the world, as of 1990, 28 of these species are on the endangered list. Of the 20 primates at the Los Angeles Zoo, 9 of then are endangered species. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION SOUTH AMERICA Howler Monkey Howler monkeys are in the class Aloutta and are simian new world monkeys. They eat tough green vegetation and have strong dentition to eat through their foods. Howlers can be found in the Andean forest, at altitudes of 2,800 m above sea level. These primates moved among branches and trees, but they didnt display the jumping or hoping like the Colobus and the Lemurs did. In fact they didnt move fast in the trees, and when they moved from branch to branch, they would pull the branch inward that they were moving to, then they would swing on it. Ukari The Ukari is known as Cacajao calvus, a New World Monkey, and are expected to be found dwelling in tropical regions of Columbia. There are usually found in the forests of the low lands, under 1000 m above sea level. AFRICA Western Low Land Gorilla The Western low land Gorilla is among the largest Gorillas of the four great apes; which are the Gorilla, Orangutan, Large Chimpanzee and the Pigmy Chimpanzee. They usually grow about 6′2″ and over 400 lbs. They roam the dense moist forest of Africa in groups of 2-30 members. Their time is divided between feeding and resting. At night these gorillas make night nests from vegetation. These are peaceful animals and will not attack unless they are molested. These primates were among the slowest moving primates that I observed at the zoo. The gorilla I observed was in the same location with four other similar gorillas. The one I observed was a smaller female who was doing a lot of scratching. When I first noticed her she was scratching her forearm and her nose. This gorilla later walked across to the other side of the exhibit. She sat down in the grass with her back facing the crowd, eating off the ground. She was picking in the grass at small objects, picking them up and eating them. She was sitting next to the largest gorilla, who was probably the father, but there was no interaction among the two. After about five minutes of sitting stationary, the gorilla walked back to the original location, then walked behind a large rock out of sight. The large father gorilla that the female was sitting next to earlier, never moved from his sitting position against the rock wall. in the middle of the exhibit. The only part of his body that moved was his head and neck. When one of the other gorillas were moving around, the father would just look around to see what was going on, but would never get up and walk. The first female came back into vision, eating some grass. When she was finished eating the grass that was in her hand, she would grab some more grass from the ground using her mouth instead of her hands. After she grabbed plenty of grass with her mouth, she walked off on all four limbs, out of sight. At the same time that this gorilla was walking off, another female was laying on her back on the grass masturbating. This is called rhythmic genital rubbing(rgr) and it is very common in captive gorillas.(Michael p523) I also observed a male engaging in rhythmic pelvic movements(rpm) against a rock. The rgr can be done by one gorilla to another, and also by the same sex. The menstrual cycle of these gorillas is 31 days. Ring Tailed Lemur The scientific name for the lemur is lemur catta, and it resides in the arid, rocky regions of Madagascar. It enjoys eating fruits, insects and eggs. The Lemurs are only fo