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Human strains once developed in Africa, when apes that lived in trees began to descend to the ground.
Other types of monkeys in Africa and Asia already got rid of their dependence on trees millions of years ago.
Climate change and the thinning of forests are currently leading to a similar development in both American monkeys and Madagascar proboscis monkeys, an international team of researchers found.
“The research started when many of us said they had noticed the same thing. Some populations of tree-dwelling primates have begun to spend more time on the ground, although the same species in more undisturbed areas may never descend to the ground,” describes the study in the bulletin American Timothy Eppley.
The study was published in the American Academy of Sciences In the Pnas science journal.
Team delved into the matter in more detail by collecting a total of approximately 15,000 hours of observations of 32 monkey species from various parts of South and Central America and 15 prosimian species throughout Madagascar.
On average, monkeys spent a couple of percent of their time on the ground, semi-monkeys about five. Differences were found between species and within the same species.
Primates seem to be attracted to the land by both the environmental conditions and the range of habits of each species, the researchers report in the Pnas magazine.
Moving in fragmented forests is difficult, unless you occasionally descend from a tree. As the climate warms, landing becomes more and more attractive.
In the tropics, the forest floor is cooler than the canopy, and there is water on the ground for drinking and bathing.
Nowadays, for example, brown lemurs from the hottest forests of Madagascar spend more time on the ground than their cooler congeners.
Most primates are kept in trees by eating fruit. The species that specialize in it, hunker down more reluctantly than the leaf eaters and omnivores, for whom new ground cover opens up.
To land also seems to be encouraged by the protection afforded by a large herd.
For example, spider monkeys in Brazil and bokombals in Madagascar hang out in larger groups in the forest than in the trees.
The spread of people may hinder development, as tree dwellers do not like to land near human settlements or roads.
Published in Science in Nature 1/2023
#Zoology #Primates #descend #tree #human #trunks #Warming #drives #growths #canopy #ground
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#Zoology #Primates #descend #tree #human #trunks #Warming #drives #growths #canopy
( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )
