Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effects of Substrate Size, Orientaton and Compliance Upon Prosimian Arboreal Quadrupedalism

灵长类是人类所属的哺乳动物目，其特点是在树上活动。这也是灵长类区别于大多数其他动物群体的一个关键特征。因此，理解这种运动模式的发展对于理解我们自己的根源很重要。这个项目考察了灵长类动物在树栖支架上的运动。树上的生活对平衡和运动提出了许多挑战。树状支撑物在直径(大小)、角度方向以及它们在动物重量下移动的程度(顺应性)上有所不同。虽然许多研究已经确定了与树栖栖息地的使用相关的行为和形态特化，但详细的运动数据对于更好地理解灵长类在树栖环境中维持平衡所使用的姿势策略是必要的。由于在野外很难收集到准确的运动数据，对模拟树枝进行的实验室研究使我们能够检查这些问题。这项研究考察了原猴灵长类三个家族的成员对树栖支持类型的不同做出的运动调整。研究人员从六个物种中挑选了受试者，以比较不同体型和比例的动物的运动反应，以解决被认为是最早的灵长类动物特征的树状现实适应问题。

Primates, the order of mammals to which humans belong, are characterized by arboreal locomotion. This is also a key feature that differentiates primates from most other groups of animals. As such, understanding the development of this locomotor pattern is important in understanding our own roots. This project examines primate locomotion on arboreal supports. Life in the trees presents many challenges for balance and movement. Arboreal supports differ in diameter (size), in angular orientation, and in the degree to which they move under the weight of an animal (compliance). While a number of studies have identified behavioral and morphological specializations correlated with the use of an arboreal habitat, detailed locomotor data are necessary to better understand the postural strategies primates use to maintain balance in an arboreal setting. Since precise locomotor data are difficult to collect in the wild, laboratory studies on simulated branches allow us to examine these issues. This study examines locomotor adjustments that members of three families of prosimian primates make in response to differences in arboreal support type. Subjects have been chosen from six species to compare locomotor responses in animals of different body sizes and proportions, to address adaptations to arboreality that have been suggested to characterize the earliest primates.