Primate Observation Essay

There is a lot I learned studying the primates. Primates are very fascinating and I think there is a lot more to learn about them. Primates have many different characteristics and because of this they are classified in different groups of species. I did my observation on prosimians, monkeys, and apes as well. The observation was conducted at the Sacramento Zoo of nine primate species. Out of the nine there are three primates that caught my attention and it’s the Ring Tail Lemur, White Faced Saki, and the Chimpanzee. All the observation took place almost in the afternoon during their feeding time and they were not that active but were still able to observe their behavior.
During my visit to the Sacramento Zoo, the first thing that caught my attention was
They can reach up to 3 to 4 ½ feet in height and they weigh between 100 and 150 pounds. As I observed the chimpanzees’ behavior I noticed that they stay in one area, the groups have more male than female. The male and female chimpanzee look very similar; however, they are sexually dimorphic. The male chimpanzee looked just slightly bigger than the female. Their bodies are thickset with long arms and short legs with no tail. The long arms grip firmly the trees when they are swinging. Their bodies are covered with long black hair except for the ears, face, fingers and toes. Some have whiskers on their chin. They also have flat face, small nose and forward facing eyes. Chimpanzees are quadruped, they move on all fours. When walking, I can see they use their knuckles for support due to the fact they have shorter legs and longer arms. They also have opposable toes with good strength of griping. Chimps are capable of bipedal locomotion. They spend same time in the ground compared to the time they spend in the trees. From observing the chimpanzee for just about 20 minutes I learned so much about them. They are very similar to humans in the ways they