Primates

Lemurs (Prosimians/Strepsirhini)-

Some lemurs live among the treetops on Madagascar, which is an island of the coast of Africa.  Others can reside in the dryer areas on this island. The trees of this rainforest are where these lemurs like to call home due to their strong hands and fingers that make climbing through the trees a breeze. The Lemur’s diet is mostly a vegetarian diet. They generally eat leaves, fruits and barriers but when the lemur cannot find foods that satisfy their herbivore diet they will occasionally eat very small mammals and insects. The Lemurs diet is highly influenced by its environment, residing in the forest surrounded by trees the lemur is constantly around foliage. It is also a smaller mammal that is constantly hunted by humans forcing it to be placed low on the food chain.

Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini)- 

Spider Monkeys like to reside in tropical climates. Places such as the evergreen forest in central and South Africa. Spider Monkeys make their homes in the upper canopies of trees. In this location spider monkeys can hunt without the competition of other mammals.  Spider Monkeys diet mostly consists of fruits and leaves, sometimes insects. As with lemurs, residing in the upper canopies of trees, the types of foods closest in range and away from other forms of competition are foliage, berries and insects found within the plants and the trees.

Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae)-

Baboons tend to reside in Africa or Arabia, preferably on the savanna and other semi-arid habitats, although a few reside in tropical forests. On the Savanna baboons eat mostly grass, some leaves, seeds, various fruits and roots. Baboons will also occasionally eat insects and even go as far as to dig into the ground to eat roots deep within the earth when supplies are low. Baboons are even known to eat small rodents; lizards and some adult males can even eat larger prey. Baboons are larger and so cannot make it up into the trees, which is why they make their home on the Savanna. With their larger size, they have the ability to open up their diet to the animal’s allows grazing on the grasslands. In this way their environment influences their diet, because they must live on the ground they have more access to a wider array of foods.

Gibbon (Lesserape/Hylobatidae)-


These primates call the tropical forests of southeastern Asia their home. This includes islands in the area as well as on the mainland. The Gibbons find the like residing in the trees and rarely make it to the ground. The main diets for the Gibbon are ripe fruits, such as figs. They can also eat leaves, flowers, buds, bird eggs and insects. Again because Gibbons reside in the trees, their environment influences them to eat what is closely at hand such as plants, fruits and insects that reside in and grown on the trees.

Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae)-

Chimpanzees live in the African rain forests, woodlands, and grasslands and can be found throughout many different countries in western and central Africa in climates ranging from tropical, humid rainforests to the dryer and more arid regions of the savanna and open woodlands. However Chimpanzees are mainly found in rain forests and wet savannas. The Chimpanzees diet consists of mainly fruit, whose type varies in accordance with the season in which they are most ripe. When food is scarce, they eat trees seeds, flowers and bark. They also eat a variety of insects, termites being the most nutritional.  Their environment influences their diet mainly on the seasons, when fruit is most ripe to when it is 

available.

Overall, the environment didn’t have too much of a great influence on the diet of these primates. In a sense it did, because those primates that mostly reside in the trees will eat more foliage, while those primates that have more access to the ground will expand to more meat. However the range is not that large. Mostly the environments influence is when the fruit and plants are in season to grow, and what foods are available when the fruits and plants are not in season.