Dentition Patterns in Primates

a. In addition to the environment of the five primates listed, I also provided a brief description of their diet, which I will later use to help describe the trait of dentition patterns that I will be examining.

Lemurs (prosimians) are the island variety of primate whose primary residence is Madagascar, which is located off the East Coast of Africa. However, a small population of lemurs also resides in the nearby Comoros Islands. While most favor sources of food from trees and plants, some specific species of Lemur are also omnivorous and eat insects, eggs and lizards.

Spider monkeys (new world monkey) call the rainforests of Central America’s Mexico and South America’s Bolivia, Brazil and Motto Grasso home.  The rainforest provides an ideal environment for this tree loving monkey. Their food of choice is fruit but they are also known to dine on insects, eggs, and even tree bark.

Baboon (old world monkey) are mainland monkeys so to speak, as they reside on the main continent of Africa.  Unlike their tree dwelling counterparts, baboons are highly adaptable creatures and can live in a variety settings. As a result, their diets are also varied and include the main staple of grass and small quantities of meat such as antelope and fish.

Gibbons are considered endangered and inhabit the subtropical rain forests on the Far East end of the globe which includes the Southeast, South and East Asia.  Gibbons are arboreal and spend most of their time in the trees which provides a large source of their diet. While fruit is their food of choice they also are known to dine on twigs and bird eggs.

Chimpanzees are native to Africa including Guinea to Western Uganda and Tanzania.  They also inhabit the rainforests of these regions as well as the grassy lands of the Savannah.  They are omnivores and eat a variety of plants, but also snack on ants, termites, the occasional bird, or even a monkey or two!

b. The specified character trait for Lemurs, Spider Monkeys, Baboons, Gibbons and Chimpanzees are that they are all considered heterodonts.  A heterodont, simply means that they have different types of teeth in the tooth row (combination of incisors, canines and pre molars and molars).  This feature distinguishes them from other types of mammals such as horses who have rows of similar type of teeth, e.g., molars for chewing grass. 

c. The dentition patterns of the five primates are represented by their shared dietary pattern of being omnivorous animals.  The four types of teeth which all primates possess are as follows: incisors, canines, premolars and molars.  

d.  images of the shared trait.  Notice the shared similarities of incisors, canine teeth, molars and premolars in the different types of primates.  The pictures are as follows, Lemur, Spider Monkey examining another Spider monkey's teeth, Baboon, Gibbon and Chimpazee. Couldn't find an image of the Lemur's teeth, but thought this was a cute subsitute.

                    

As shown in the images above, the different teeth structure of each type of primate is slightly varied and can best be explained by the environment where they live.  For example, baboons and chimpazees which are more of the land dwelling type of primate have longer canines and incisors which have been adapted to allow them to also eat small mammals.  Without this type of teeth, they would not have the ability to tear the flesh of these mammals. The tree dwelling monkeys such as the Lemur, Gibbon and Spider monkeys bodies are adapted to tree life.  As a result of tree life their diets are also different  than the baboon and chimpazee.  While they also have incisors and canines which allow them tear into their food, their canines and incisors are smaller and are adapted to eating mostly plant type food, small insects and eggs.