Hominoida
Hominoida Subtypes + Location
- lesser apes, greater apes
- Apes, humans
- Africa + East Asia
Gibbons + Siamangs
- lesser apes
- monogamous, thus sexual dimorphism
- arboreal
- have small, closely knit family/social bonds
Sugar
- sugar stores fat and gives energy
- When we relied on fruit for sugar this was ok, as the scarcity prevented addiction
- today there is an abundance of sugar, and most people eat too much for it to be healthy
Characteristics (teeth, locomotion + impacts on body)
- y-5 molars
- Brachiation (swinging from branch to branch using hands), this elongated arms + stiffened back + made changes to other bones, no tails (which are useful for balance when running on all fours), flexible wrists
Orangutans
- Southeas Asia, in rainforests + tropical areas
- highly sexually dimorphic, males can be 2x size of females if they are "flanged" (orangutans have male bimaturism, meaning they can delay maturation), "unflanged" males look like females
- polygamous
- furgivorous (fruit) will eat other stuff if necessary
- spend most of time in trees
- solitary animals
- females take full responsibility for childcare
Behavior
- some female and male dispersal at sexual maturity, this group takes more time to grow + reproduce
Gorillas
- Central Africa
- males 2x size of females, backs turn gray when about 13 years old
- "knuckle-walking," a type of quadrupedalism
- eat lots of plants (adult males eat to 40 lbs/day)
- live in troops of 5-30, led by a male
- travel around as to not deplete food source
- females join another troop when of age
Chimpanzees
- West + Central Africa, tropical rain forests and other forests
- "knuckle-walkers"
- no hair on faces, hands, feet, rest of body has black hair
- furgivorous, but will sometimes hunt
- groups of 6-10 that make up larger "fission-fusion communities"
- females will join other groups when of age, give birth for first time age 12-15
Bonobos
- South of Congo River in Africa
- a little smaller than chimps
- hair part in the middle of their head
- furgivorous diets
- often walk upright
- "fission-fusion communities," with females in charge
- females still leave to find new communities
- babies rely on moms for first few years of their lives
- less aggressive than chimps, resolve group tension through sexual behavior rather than fighting