The Importance Of Primate Ecology

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Primate socio-ecology encompasses a great diversity. The ecological pressures demonstrate the complexities of the adaptive variation in species characteristics, mating systems, and social organizations. Primates have displayed unique traits that classify them into specific primate societies. It is significant to engage in a systematic approach in order to understand a primate’s habitat, mating system, group size, food preferences, etc. Dental morphology of primates is influenced by its habitat as it determines the types of foods they consume, but it also influences group size. Ecological pressures influence female access to food which impacts the female organization and social structure. The mating system is formed by this structure and also …show more content…

Fruit is a high-quality food resource since it is only available in certain seasons. Therefore, this species was apart of a small group size due to the small food patches available in the environment. With that in mind, this species was most likely territorial in defending its food from others due to the high level of within-group contest competition (Caillaud, 2018). Since food is crucial towards female primates, this species participated in a Resident-Nepotistic social structure in order to monopolize food resources. Furthermore, the species fossil shows a relatively large brain compared to the body size. A high-quality food resource such as fruit is necessary in order to have a large brain. As a result, this demonstrates that the species had a fortified protection upon their territory well enough to sustain a high-quality diet. The female and male species weighed roughly the same, around 14 kg. This indicates a low sexual dimorphism because there is very little difference in size. As a result, male primates did not have to fight for the females. There is no evidence that demonstrates males features in which they fought for females from other males.Therefore, these primates practiced monogamy as the mating system, meaning the sexual relationship only involved one male and one female (Caillaud, 2018). Moreover, the male and female species join together in order to share and defend their territory from

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