Positional Behavior in Malagasy Primates

在马达加斯加岛上的许多独特的动植物中，有40多种狐猴形目灵长类动物。就骨骼解剖学而言，这些动物是最早的真灵长类动物(始新世、网甲科和网甲科)的最好的活着的类似物。因此，研究这些动物的位置行为(姿势和运动)对于彻底了解早期灵长类的运动系统至关重要。虽然马达加斯加狐猴的社会行为和生态方面已经成为几项研究的主题，但位置行为还没有得到所需的详细、客观、定量的审查，以便产生最有用的数据，以便与形态和历史研究相结合。该项目的目的是收集生活在拉诺马法纳国家公园12个物种群落中的6种马达加斯加狐猴的此类数据。这些动物所代表的物种数量、身体大小范围、系统发育多样性和微生境允许进行许多关键的比较，以测试各种因素对位置行为表达的影响。这项研究的结果将与其他灵长类动物的类似研究进行比较，目的是产生和测试身体大小、栖息地结构和遗传对灵长类位置行为影响的性质和规律性。

Among many unique animals and plants on the island of Madagascar are more than forty species of lemuriform primates. In terms of skeletal anatomy these animals represent the best living analogues for the earliest euprimates (Eocene Adapidae and Omomyidae). Thus, a study of the positional behavior (posture and locomotion) of these animals is crucial for a thorough understanding of the locomotor system of early primates. Although aspects of social behavior and ecology of Malagasy lemurs have been the subject of several studies, positional behavior has not received the detailed, objective, quantitative scrutiny it needs in order to generate the kinds of data most useful for integration with morphological and historical studies. The purpose of this project is to collect such data for six species of Malagasy lemurs living among a community of 12 species at Ranomafana National Park. The number of species, ranges of body sizes, phylogenetic diversity, and microhabitats represented by these animals allow many crucial comparisons to be made which test the influence of various factors on the expressions of positional behavior. The results generated from this study will be compared with similar studies on other primates, with the aim of generating and testing the nature and regularity of the influence of body size, habitat structure, and heritage on primate positional behavior.