BCB705 Biodiversity: Chapter2 - Evolution of Biodiversity

Table of Contents

1. THE INFINITE VARIETY: THE BEGINNING OF LIFE
2. BUILDING BODIES: INVERTEBRATES OF THE OCEANS
3. THE FIRST FORESTS
4. THE SWARMING HORDES
5. THE CONQUEST OF THE WATER AND THE BIRTH OF THE VERTEBRATES
6. THE INVASION OF THE LAND
7. A WATER-TIGHT SKIN AND THE SHELLED EGG
8. LORDS OF THE AIR
9. EGGS, POUCHES AND PLACENTAS
10. THEME AND VARIATION
11. THE HUNTERS AND THE HUNTED
12. A LIFE IN THE TREES
    1. An ancestor to the primates
    2. The Ring-tailed lemur
    3. The male Ring-tailed lemur: The use of scent
    4. The Ring-tail: Time in trees
    5. Infant lemurs
    6. Sifakas
    7. The Indris
    8. The nocturnal lemurs
    9. The Aye-aye
    10. Competing with monkeys
    11. The Loris: Sign posting
    12. The Tarsier
    13. Monkeys: Sight is key
    14. Monkeys: The use of colourful displays and sound
    15. Monkeys: Anatomical features
    16. Scent in communication
    17. Marmosets
    18. Adapting to great weight
    19. Prehensile tails
    20. The adaptable Macaque monkey
    21. Macaques: Behavioural patterns
    22. Bi-pedalism
    23. The Orang Utan
    24. The Orang Utan: Supporting the great weight
    25. The Orang Utan: It's repertoire
    26. The Orang Utan: Solitude and size
    27. The Gibbons
    28. Gibbons: Family life
    29. Gorillas: The use of the arms
    30. Gorillas: Family groups
    31. Similarities between Gorillas and humans
    32. Gorillas: A placid existence
    33. Chimpanzees: Their diet
    34. Chimpanzees: Maternal support
    35. Chimpanzees: A friendly gesture
    36. Chimpanzees: The toolmakers
    37. New situations lead to greater change
    38. Test yourself
    39. Assignments
13. THE COMPULSIVE COMMUNICATORS

The Loris: Sign posting

In Africa, the prosimian group is represented by the Bush Babies (Galago and Euoticusspecies), the Potto (Perodicticus potto) and the Angwantibo (Arctocebus calabarensis). In Asia, the prosimians are represented by the Loris (Loris and Nycticebusspecies) and the tarsier (e.g. Tarsius syrichta). The Loris have large eyes and sign post their trees with scent and use it for route-finding in the dark. They use urine to signpost, but because they live in the tops of trees, they urinate on their hands and feet, rub them together and then on to the topmost branches in their territory.

Slender loris (Loris spp.)