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

Gorillas: The use of the arms

The Africanapes, in great contrast to their Asian relations, are much more terrestrial in their habits. Gorillas live in central Africa, one form in the forests of the Congo basin, another slightly larger one in the cool sodden moss-forests that cover the flanks of volcanoes on the borders of Rwanda and Zaire. Young gorillas often climb trees, but they do so rather carefully without the confidence of Orang Utans. This is not surprising since the gorilla foot cannot grasp in the way that an Orang Utan's can, so the arms have to provide the main means of hauling up the body. When gorillas descend, they do so feet-first, lowering themselves with their arms, sometimes sliding down, braking by pressing the soles of their feet flat on the trunk and showering moss, creepers and bark all around them.

Little Joe at the Franklin Park Zoo. (Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan)