Experimental Studies on Primate Locomotion

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Over the past forty years, many studies have collected empirical data documenting aspects of the locomotor behavior of anthropoid primates (monkeys and apes). The results of some of this research have revealed unusual characteristics in the form of quadrupedalism that primates display. This has in turn led to suggestions of distinctiveness in primates among mammals in such things as patterns of neural control of movement. However, based largely on data for anthropoids only, such conclusions are premature without comparable data on prosimian primates. The goals of the proposed study, therefore, are to undertake a set of laboratory based studies concerning aspects of locomotor behavior among prosimian primates in order to supplement the currently sparse empirical data base, and allow comparisons with the better-documented locomotor behavior of anthropoid primates as well as nonprimate mammals. The specific questions this study will address include documentation of patterns of muscle recruitment during quadrupedal walking, and analysis of substrate reaction force distribution during quadrupedal leaping in Varecia variegata and Eulemur rubriventer. The results of this research will add to a growing empirical data base on primate locomotor behavior, permitting legitimate conclusions regarding what is or isn't characteristic of the Order. Such information will contribute to a more precise definition of what it means to be a primate, and what factors were involved in the origins of the Order and its eventual dispersal and diversification. The Stony Brook Primate Locomotion Laboratory continues to serve as a major resource for student and senior researchers from around the world.