Zoo Report

Zoo Report

There is a lot I learned studying the primates. Primates are very fasincating and I

think there is a lot more to learn about them. There are many different primates in the

world and for many of them not much is known. Primates have many different

characteristics and because of this they are classified in different groups of spieces.

I did my observations on prosimians, new world monekys, old world monkeys, and

apes as well as some research to learn more about them.

I went to Lincoln Park zoo to do some observation on the Apes and the one

I chose was the common chimpanzee. When I found the habitat for the common

chimpanzee it looked very well suited for them. The habitat inside had features of what

resembled somewhat like a savannah; however, the habitat that was built for the outdoors

resembled that of a forest. When observing the common chimpanzee I was looking at

weather or not the spine is stiff. Their spines are pretty stiff because they did not look

as if they had much movement in their back when they were moving around. What I

began to observe next about them is if they had ischial callosities. The male chimpanzee's

had ischial callosities while most of the females were in estrus. Once taking noticed that the

female chimpanzees were in estrus I began to pay more attention to them. From observing

the females I took notice to something I had not reliazed before. What I noticed was that

the male chimpanzees in the habitat were just following the females in estrus around like

puppy dogs. The female chimpanzees in estrus just continued to go about there day while

the male chimpanzees tried to impress them. There was still much more for me to observe

so I stayed at the chimpanzee habitat longer. In the habitat from what I saw there seemed

to be more females than there were males. I took notice to some of the young as well.

There were just a couple of young chimpanzees in the habitat. They seemed to be very

playful toward eachother and when they got tierd they just clinged to their mothers back.

Something that also caught my attention was that when the young were playing together one

walked bipedal for short periods of time because it had something in its hand at the time.

The male and female chimpanzee look very similar; however, they are sexually dimorphed.

The male chimpanzee looked just slightly bigger than the female. While I was observing

them no dominance was being shown among that group at the time. The common

chimpanzee locomotion patterns are quadrapedal. Most of them were walking on there

knuckles and the soles of their feet. They are terrestrial; although, I saw one of the young

climb a branch so they also might be somewhat arboreal as well. Most or all I should say

were terrestrial. The common chimpanzee has no tail but they do have opposable thumbs

on both their hands and feet. The common chimpanzees diet is known to be omnivorious,

but in the habitat there was only leaves and food that was compacted and I am not really

sure what that consisted of. While there I was looking for any social grooming, but none

was found. The common chimpanzee's genus is Pan and its species is P. troglodytes.

Studying the common chimpanzee was very fascinating. These creatures are full of surprises

and you never know what you will expect from them next. From observing them for just

about an hour or more I learned so much about them. They seem to be very similar to

humans in the ways they act. From all my observations of this species I have a better

understanding of the common chimp.

Once I finished up with the common chimpanzee I decided to observe an Old

World monkey and I went to go check out the Black and White Colobus monkey.

The first time I went to Lincoln Park zoo the Colobus monkeys were just sitting high

up in the trees digesting the food they had just got done eating. The Colobus monkey

resembles a much bigger version of a shunk. What I decided to notice upon about the

colobus monkey is the shape of their nose. Though I did observe them from a distance

they seemed to have a narrower nose with their nostrils facing downward. The Colobus

monkey also has a very long tail that becomes very fluffy at the end. The tail at the

time did not act like a fifth limb so I was not able to determine weather or not it was

used; however, from what I have learned that if you don't use it you lose it I have a

feeling it is used. The tail also seemed to be just as long and maybe even longer than