Rain forests and movement ecology of neotropical primates

Movement ecology of arboreal monkeys in Central America involves the action of diverse body postures to address challenges in rain forests, where scattered resources and complex habitat structure demand that a primate frequently employ extreme physical finesse to survive. What is not clearly understood about this area of study is the connection between primate body postures as responses to specific types of forest architecture and how forest structure may influence a monkey’s continued capacity for wide-ranging mobility over time. We studied tree canopy structure and branch connectivity associated with the movement ecology of black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata), Geoffroy’s tamarins (Saguinus geoffroyi), and white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in Panama and Costa Rica. Laboratory study of primate cadaver pelvises was done at UC Davis, Oregon Osteology Lab, and the Denver Museum. Rain forests appear to induce wide-ranging leg movements in wild neotropical monkeys that were not observed in the same species of monkeys inhabiting artificial environments. We also found that a wild primate employs frequent wide-ranging leg movement that result in widely dispersed contacts between the articulating surfaces within the hip, potentially maintaining cartilage and contributing to the longevity of that joint. Thus, a connection may exist between rain forests, the leg action of wild monkeys, and the continued capacity to move over time in this group of long-lived animals.