Folivores
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Folivores
In zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less energy than other types of foods, and often toxic compounds.Jones, S., Martin, R., & Pilbeam, D. (1994) ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press For this reason, folivorous animals tend to have long digestive tracts and slow metabolisms. Many enlist the help of symbiotic bacteria to release the nutrients in their diet. Additionally, as has been observed in folivorous primates, they exhibit a strong preference for immature leaves which tend to be easier to masticate, are higher in energy and protein, and lower in fibre and poisons than more mature fibrous leaves. Folivory and flight It has been observed that folivory is extremely rare among flying vertebrates. Morton (1978) attributed this to the fact that leaves are heavy, slow to digest, and contain little energy relative to other foo ...
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Opisthocomus Hoazin
The hoatzin ( ) or hoactzin ( ) (''Opisthocomus hoazin'') is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South America. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Opisthocomus'' which is the only extant genus in the Opisthocomidae family under the order of Opisthocomiformes. Despite being the subject of intense debate by specialists, the taxonomic position of this family is still far from clear. The hoatzin is notable for its chicks having primitive claws on two of their wing digits; the species also is unique among birds, in possessing a digestive system that non-trivially supports the fermentation and the effective breaking-down of plant matter, a trait more commonly known from herbivorous ungulate-ruminant mammals and some primates. This bird is also the national bird of Guyana, where the local name for this bird is Canje pheasant. Description The hoatzin is pheasant-sized, with a total length of ...
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Sloth
Sloths are a Neotropical realm, Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant Arboreal locomotion, arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America. Sloths are considered to be most closely related to anteaters, together making up the xenarthran order Pilosa. There are six extant sloth species in two genera – ''Bradypus'' (three-toed sloths) and ''Choloepus'' (two-toed sloths). Despite this traditional naming, all sloths have three toes on each rear limb – although two-toed sloths have only two digits on each forelimb. The two groups of sloths are from different, distantly related families, and are thought to have evolved their morphology via parallel evolution from terrestrial ancestors. Besides the extant species, many species of ground sl ...
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Hoatzin
The hoatzin ( ) or hoactzin ( ) (''Opisthocomus hoazin'') is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South America. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Opisthocomus'' which is the only extant genus in the Opisthocomidae family under the order of Opisthocomiformes. Despite being the subject of intense debate by specialists, the taxonomic position of this family is still far from clear. The hoatzin is notable for its chicks having primitive claws on two of their wing digits; the species also is unique among birds, in possessing a digestive system that non-trivially supports the fermentation and the effective breaking-down of plant matter, a trait more commonly known from herbivorous ungulate-ruminant mammals and some primates. This bird is also the national bird of Guyana, where the local name for this bird is Canje pheasant. Description The hoatzin is pheasant-sized, with a total length of ...
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Howler Monkey
Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropical realm, Neotropics and are among the largest of the New World monkey, platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyteles''), the spider monkeys (''Ateles'') and woolly monkeys (''Lagotrix''). The monkeys are native to South America, South and Central American forests. They are famous for their Howling, howls, which can be heard from a distance through dense rain forest. Fifteen species are recognized. Previously classified in the Family (biology), family Cebidae, they are now placed in the family Atelidae. They are primarily folivores but also significant frugivores, acting as seed dispersal agents through their digestive system and their Animal locomotion, locomotion. Threats include human predation, habitat destruction, Wildlife trade, illegal wildlife trade, and Captivity (animal), capture for pets or zoo animals. Classification Anatomy and physiol ...
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Elephant Mother
Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''). They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea; extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, bringing food and water to the mouth and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs. Elephants are scattered throughout ...
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Group Size Measures
Many animals, including humans, tend to live in groups, herds, flock (birds), flocks, bands, Pack (canine), packs, Shoaling and schooling, shoals, or Bird colony, colonies (hereafter: groups) of conspecific individuals. The size of these groups, as expressed by the number of people/etc in a group such as eight groups of nine people in each one, is an important aspect of their social environment. Group size tend to be highly variable even within the same species, thus we often need statistical measures to quantify group size and statistical tests to compare these measures between two or more samples. Group size measures are notoriously hard to handle statistically since groups sizes typically follow an skewness, aggregated (right-skewed) distribution: most groups are small, few are large, and a very few are very large. Statistical measures of group size roughly fall into two categories. Outsiders' view of group size * Group size is the number of individuals within a group; * Mea ...
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Primate
Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and simians (monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 million years ago first from small terrestrial animal, terrestrial mammals, which adapted for life in tropical forests: many primate characteristics represent adaptations to the challenging environment among Canopy (biology), tree tops, including large brain sizes, binocular vision, color vision, Animal communication, vocalizations, shoulder girdles allowing a large degree of movement in the upper limbs, and opposable thumbs (in most but not all) that enable better grasping and dexterity. Primates range in size from Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, which weighs , to the eastern gorilla, weighing over . There are 376–524 species of living primates, depending on which classification is ...
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Infanticide (zoology)
In animals, infanticide involves the intentional killing of young offspring by a mature animal of the same species. Animal infanticide is studied in zoology, specifically in the field of ethology. Ovicide is the analogous destruction of eggs. The practice has been observed in many species throughout the animal kingdom, especially primates ( primate infanticide) but including microscopic rotifers, insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. Infanticide can be practiced by both males and females. Infanticide caused by sexual conflict has the general theme of the killer (often male) becoming the new sexual partner of the victim's parent, which would otherwise be unavailable. This represents a gain in fitness by the killer, and a loss in fitness by the parents of the offspring killed. This is a type of evolutionary struggle between the two sexes, in which the victim sex may have counter-adaptations that reduce the success of this practice. It may also occur for other reasons, s ...
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New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 33: "[16c: from the feminine of ''Americus'', the Latinized first name of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). The name ''America'' first appeared on a map in 1507 by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, referring to the area now called Brazil]. Since the 16th century, the term "New World" has been used to describe the Western Hemisphere, often referred to as the Americas. Since the 18th century, it has come to represent the United States, which was initially colonial British America until it established independence following the American Revolutionary War. The second sense is now primary in English: ... However, the term is open to uncertainties: ..." The term arose in the early 16th ...
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Hominoid
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a Family (biology), superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found globally). Apes are more closely related to Old World monkeys (family Cercopithecidae) than to the New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) with both Old World monkeys and apes placed in the clade Catarrhini. Apes do not have tails due to a mutation of the T-box transcription factor T, TBXT gene. In traditional and non-scientific use, the term ''ape'' can include tailless primates taxonomically considered Cercopithecidae (such as the Barbary ape and Celebes crested macaque, black ape), and is thus not equivalent to the scientific taxon Hominoidea. There are two Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant branches of the superfamily Hominoidea: the gibbons, or lesser apes; and the hominids, or great apes. * The family Hylobatidae, t ...
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Okapi2
The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe and zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. However, non-invasive genetic identification has suggested that a population has occurred south-west of the Congo River as well. It is the only species in the genus ''Okapia''. Although the okapi has striped markings reminiscent of zebras, it is most closely related to the giraffe. The okapi and the giraffe are the only living members of the family Giraffidae. The okapi stands about tall at the shoulder and has a typical body length around . Its weight ranges from . It has a long neck, and large, flexible ears. Its coat is a chocolate to reddish brown, much in contrast with the white horizontal stripes and rings on the legs, and white ankles. Male okapis have short, distinct horn-like protuberances on their heads called ossicones, less than in length. Females p ...
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