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

Chimpanzees: Maternal support

The sexual bonds between individuals are variable. Some females and some males are monogamous. Other males will mate with many females, and the females themselves, when their hind-quarters inflame into pink fleshy cushions and they become sexually receptive, often court and mate with numerous males. The tie between the young and their mothers is very close. Immediately after birth, the infant clings to its mother's hair with its tiny fists, though at first it is not strong enough to stay there for long without maternal support. It will remain close to its mother, riding on her back like a jockey when the group travels, until it is about five years old. This close dependence, made possible by the baby's grasping hands, has a profound effect on Chimpanzee society, for as a result the young learn a great deal from their mother and she is able to keep a close eye on them as they grow up, supervising what they do, pulling them back from danger, showing them from her own example how to behave.

A Chimpanzee mother nurses her baby in captivity at a Chimpanzee orphanage.