Uakari Tibia

I. Methodology- The lab over Inferring behavior from teeth and bones helps the students in analyzing the various types of bone structures that are prevalent in various types of primates. Such as in the beginning of the lab we were given three different casts of different primate species that were in a wooden box that contained a cast of the skull and mandible for all three species also specimen’s A & B had a tibia, fibula, radius, and an ulna that went along with their cast of their skulls. While performing the lab, the students had to identify the dental formula for each of the three species and determine the primate group the species belong to. Such as if the dental formula matched up with a Ateloidea superfamily which represents all the new world monkeys the dental formula would be a 2.1.3.3 for both the mandible and the maxilla of the primate skull. After determining the dental formula, the student had to measure the tibia & fibula and the radius & ulna of both specimen’s A & B to determine their type of locomotion that they used to get around.

II.
Station 2 Specimen A: I hypothesize that Specimen A which is a red bald Uakari is arboreal quadruped. This is because the red bald Uakari has a more or less equal fore-to-hind limb ratio as such the forelimb measures at 11cm for the ulna and 11.4cm for the radius and the hind limbs measure at 13.3cm for the fibula and 13.7cm for the tibia. This indicates that the red bald Uakari uses both fore-to-hind limbs as a primary form of locomotion to get from tree to tree. In addition, the red bald Uakari has a triangle shape back foot with a pushed back big toe that is close to the heel making it easier to grasp tree limbs and branches. Also, the conclusion can be supported by the shape of the cast of the skull matches the shape of the red bald uakari and the ridge on the occipital can indicate an area for attachments of muscles to keep the skull facing forward primarily because the Uakari is an arboreal