a. Lemurs and inhabit Madagascar which consist of two completely different climate zones, eastern rain forest and western deserts. They are also arboreal meaning they live in trees and are either found at the rain forest canopy or the forest mid-level. however, ring tailed lemurs also venture to the ground and spends most of their time there.
b. Lemurs have heterodont dentition pattern meaning they have multiple tooth morphological (molars, canines, incisors, etc.) and have a dentition pattern of 2.1.3.3 or a pattern 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars. their teeth has a tooth-comb structure.
c. due to living atop trees lemurs diet consist of things like fruits, seeds, plants, and sap. their tooth-comb teeth allows for easier acquisition of such foods as their teeth makes it easier to pluck seeds and cut through bark to attain sap.
d.
2. Spider Monkeys
a. Spider monkeys inhabit rain forest from central america to south america. Like Lemurs they are also arboreal and live atop trees.
b. Similar to a lemur spider monkeys's dental formula is 2.1.3.3 so they have a pattern of 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars.
c. A spider monkey's teeth aid it in attaining fruit and nuts, which make up most of its diet, by allowing it to pluck fruit from trees and bite and chew harder nuts.
d.
3. Baboon
a. unlike the lemur and spider monkey baboons are land dwelling and primarily live in open Savannah and woodlands but like the lemur are native to Africa.
b. Baboons possess powerful jaws as well as sharp canines and unlike the lemur and spider monkey have a dentition pattern of 2.1.2.3 or a pattern of 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars, and 3 molars
c. given that the baboon has a very diverse diet within its habitat ranging from mostly grass, to fruits and nuts, insects and fish (making them omnivores) it can be said that their teeth can be seen as an adaptation as their canines would allow them to tear through fish and insects while its premolars and molars would aid in chewing its foods.
d.
4. Gibbon
a. unlike the three primates listed above Gibbons are native to Asia, particularly south to southeast Asia. however, like lemurs and spider monkeys they inhabit rain forest both tropical and sub-tropic.
b. Gibbons share an identical dentition pattern to baboons being 2.1.2.3 or a pattern of 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars, and 3 molars
c. like baboons the gibbons is omnivorous dentition patterns allow it to eat a wide variety of foods such as fruit, seeds, tree bark, insects, spiders, and bird eggs so it can be assumed that their dentition patterns are an adaptation to allow it to consume various foods leading it to be able to adapt and survive if there is a change in its diet like if a food source like insects suddenly went extinct it would be able to live off of the other foods in its diet
d.
5. Chimpanzee
a. Chimpanzees inhabit rain forests and wet savannah areas within Africa. they mainly feed and sleep atop trees but overall spend about an equal amount of time on ground as they do in trees.
b. Like Baboons and Gibbons, chimpanzees also have a dentition pattern of 2.1.2.3 (2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars, and 3 molars).
c. A chimpanzee's dentition patterns allow it to be able to eat a variety of foods such as fruit, which is the main part of its diet, seeds, berries, and other smaller animals, including other primates making it omnivorous. thus they are able to adapt to a change to its diet due to being able to eat various foods.
d.
Aside from the lemur's tooth comb and the baboon's canines, are there enough differences in the dental formulas between all these primates to reflect their different environments? If you were to start with their dental formulas and work backward, would you predict that their diets would vary at all? With the only difference being the missing bicuspid in apes and old world monkeys, I wouldn't predict much of a difference in their diet at all, but that is assuming the only differences are in the dental formula.
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about dentition, there is a tendency to focus on the obvious traits of dental formulas and assume that the teeth are just... teeth. But just because both lemurs and chimpanzees have three molars in each dental quadrant doesn't mean that those molars are identical in structure and function. Lemur molars tend to have high sharp cusps that are good for piercing the carapaces of the insects they eat. Chimpanzees have flatter molars (a lot like ours) that are good for grinding plant material, a significant portion of their diet. So while it is certainly valid to compare dental formulas across these five primates, there is more than just numbers of teeth to compare. Exploring not just tooth number but also tooth morphology would have helped you make stronger connections with the environment.
One point on the baboon canines: Do you think they are only the product of diet? Or could they also be shaped by other factors, such as defense against predation, deterring competition for mates and sexual selection?
Great images (love the movie reference!).
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Great Post! Its very interesting to learn about animals teeth, but what really caught my attention was the lemurs teeth. The pattern seems kind of odd and very different from the rest. They seem to all eat the same kinds of food and i wonder why the lemurs teeth pattern is completely different? I might look into that soon! but anyway, cool information on the dentition patterns!
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