Zoo Activity at The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens - Essay Example

Zoo Activity at The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens A behavior profile is an evaluation technique that allows two or more animal species to be compared in a zoo environment. In this regard, the paper will discuss the physical characteristics and types of behaviors, as well as frequency of behaviors of three types of primates: the white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar), gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and Bolivian gray titi monkey (Callicebus donacophilus) that I saw at the 133-acre Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, California. 1. Gorilla - Gorilla gorilla They are regarded as the largest of all living primates. They have been found to confine largely to the forested regions of central Africa. Two varieties: highland and lowland. They show marked SEXUAL DIMORPHISM. Males weigh up to 400 pounds and females at 200 pounds. Weight makes them semi-QUADRUPEDAL knuckle walkers and majorly terrestrial. Family groups comprise of one or more large silverback males, a few females and sub-adult offspring. They are gentle and shy vegetarians. However, when provoked males will attack to defend their group (Groves, Wilson, and Reeder, 123-129). The majority of gorillas in zoos are western gorilla Gorilla gorilla. The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens had a gorilla with brownish-gray pelage color with reddish highlights. The male weighed around 140 kilograms while the female weighed around 75 kilograms. Its locomotion was quadrupedally, with a special kind of quadrupedal gait called knuckle-walking (Fleagle, 148). The gorilla has a polygynous mating system and unimale social system. Both the female and male gorillas emigrated from the NATAL GROUPS (Larsen 124). Immature gorillas spent much of their time playing, resting and GROOMING each other showing true ALTRUISM for about 20 minutes, although they tended to groom direct siblings. The silver-back male made roars to show stress or threat making the group to hide. The other vocal communication signals that I observed for 6 minutes include, question bark, cry, hoot series, chuckle and belch vocalizations that was made when they were stationary to show contentment. This was after eating foliage and fruits for 4 minutes. I was very frightened by the vocalizations. Another behavioural CUSP is that during mating most of them change their facial expressions. Unfortunately, I did not see them mate. I was very disgusted by the miss. 2. White-handed gibbon - Hylobates lar White-handed gibbons are DIURNAL, natural aerial acrobats and are fairly awkward on the ground. They have long fingers and limbs, special thumbs and strong arms are SPECIALISED to the ARBOREAL life in their forest home. Stewart and Harcourt (16-19) shared the view that as the white-handed gibbons swing from limb to limb, they usually hook their fingers lightly over the branches. When they meet a break in the trees, they have the capability to leap to the next tree up to 25-30 feet away. Their INTELLIGENCE in locomotion makes them quick and efficient when moving from feeding to escaping from predators. About its MORPHOLOGY, for 5 minutes I recorded that the white-handed gibbon lacks a tail and has a throat sac located beneath the chin. The average body mass for an adult is around 5.7 kilograms, and for the female it is around 5.3 kilograms. Its color ranges from dark brown to beige. When we entered the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, we found the white-handed gibbon sleeping. However, our jubilant entry and the gibbon’s high sense of smell and hearing made it to wake up. Suddenly, its growling sound made us to jump up in fright. I also observed that its movement was QUADRUPEDAL. Gibbons show true BRACHIATION with their specialized elongated hands, curved fingers, extremely long arms and relatively short legs (Brandon-Jones, 112-115). The primate exhibited SENSORY MODALITIES which enable good interaction instinct with others through social grooming where they remove dead skin and parasites from the hair of another. They groomed each other for 10 minutes. With regard to vocalization of the white-handed gibbon, it was through DUETTING. The Lar gibbons have seven basic vocalization note types, including “hoo,” “wa,” “leaning wa,” “sharp wow,” "oo,” “waoo,” and “other” (Gron). The vocalization helps in maintaining the pair bond between the breeding pair. After 2 minutes, I did not hear any sound. Besides, the primate was not eating since they were resting for about 12 minutes, even though their foraging is mainly fruits, insects, buds, and leaves. Their mating system incorporated extra-pair copulations, POLYANDROUS groupings, and partner changes. For 1 minute, I observed no facial expression from the primate. However, when one of the visitors tried to disturb it, it opened its mouth indicating an agonistic threat (Gron). We moved back impulsively. The ADAPTIVE NICHE for white-handed gibbon is trees. They spent 2 minutes moving among the tree branches. When it comes to sleeping, we were told gibbons sleep alone or with a few others huddled together in a fork between branches, upright resting on tough pads located on their rare ends. 3. Bolivian titi monkey-Callicebus donacophilus It is a species of the new world monkey of the species CERCOPITHECIDAE. Their trait is the broadly flaring nose with nostrils facing outwards commonly referred to as PLATYRRHINE. It is found mostly in the tropical forests of central and eastern Bolivia in the upper basins of the Mamore River and the Rio Grande and Brazil. They live in small territorial groups and are usually thought to form monogamous pair-bonds (Kinzey, 217). For the Bolivian titi monkey, their locomotion usually varies from arboreal to terrestrial QUADRUPEDALISM to acrobatic leaping to semi-BRACHIATION. At the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, there were two of them: a male and female. PRIMATOLOGISTS assert that both sexes of the Bolivian grey titi monkeys have thick and long fur, which make them look bigger and fluffy. As their name suggests, their fur is often grey. They feed on insects, fruits and leaves. They also have distinct markings on their ears. The titi monkeys are FRUVIGOROUS since in the zoo they were feeding on fruits and leaves. Bolivian grey titi monkeys usually rest during the middle of the day. The monkeys rested for about 20 minutes. They are DIURNAL since they feed during the day; in the morning and in the afternoon, and inactive at night. In the afternoon they were fed for 5 minutes. They had powerful PREHENSILE tails for suspension while eating. When sleeping, monkeys huddle together and twine tails (Groves, 25-27). Their locomotion varied from arboreal to terrestrial quadrupedalism to acrobatic leaping in the zoo for about 3 minutes. With regard to VOCALIZATION of the Bolivian titi monkey, in 7 minutes I recorded that it varied from a bird-like chirping to an echoing long call. I was very happy with the way it made the sounds. The primate is very interactive with others, especially during feeding and social grooming. This is why it had varied facial expressions. It has been found to interact well with humans compared to other species. We played with it but we were not allowed to give it any food. They are also characterized by using manipulative FORAGING on top of trees and on the ground for fallen fruits and leaves (Kinzey, 28-219-220). Generally, it was wonderful and ecstatic visiting the zoo since I physically saw animals that I only see on television. Comparison and contrasts The major evolutionary trends that have distinguished primates, such as the white-handed gibbon, gorilla and bolivian grey titi monkey and their generalised form came due to their adaptation to ARBOREAL life (Larsen 56). Although the other placental mammals had a tendency to live in grasslands, marine and other environments, the adaptive niche for the white-handed gibbon, gorilla and Bolivian grey titi monkey was trees. However, all the primates have their locomotion varied from arboreal to terrestrial quadrupedalism. According to the ARBOREAL HYPOTHESIS, this provided numerous challenges and opportunities, such as depth perception and binocular vision, climbing by utilizing prehensile hands and feet instead of claws, varied diet resulted in OMNIVOROUS adaptation and a longer life span, increased their intelligence and more elaborate social system which they are required to cope with. All the three primates opened their mouth to show agitation. The other similarity is that all the three primates are foragers. The Gorilla is the largest, followed by the white-handed gibbon, while the gray titi monkey is the smallest. While the white-handed gibbon and the gorilla spent most of their time grooming, the Bolivian gray titi monkey spent most of its time playing and foraging. The other difference is that all the primates had different vocalizations. Of all the three primate species, the Bolivian gray titi monkeys were the most interactive. Works Cited Brandon-Jones, D. “Asian primate classification,” International Journal of Primatol. 2.4(2004): 97–164. Fleagle, J. Primate Adaption and Evolution, New York: Academic Press. pp. 145–147.1998. Groves, C. P. Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. Mammal Species of the World, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2005. Print. Gron, Kurt. Primate Factsheets: Lar gibbon (Hylobates lar) Behavior, . Web 2010. Accessed 2015 March 4. Larsen, Clark Spencer. Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. , 2014. Print. Kinzey, W. G. "Synopsis of the new world primates: Callicebus". In Kinzey, W. G. New world primates: ecology, evolution, and behavior. New York: Aldine De Gruyter. pp. 213–221. 2007. Print. Stewart, K.J. and Harcourt, A.H. Gorillas: Variation in Female Relationships. In Primate Societies. B.B. Smuts, D.L. Cheney, R.M. Seyfart, R.W. Wrangham, and T.T. Struhsaker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.1999. Print. Read More