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A Consideration of Leaping Locomotion as a Means of Predator Avoidance in Prosimian Primates

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Primate Anti-Predator Strategies

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

Abstract

Predator pressure is normally very difficult to assess, and most reports tend to be anecdotal. However, it has been estimated that an annual predation rate of 25% may apply to Microcebus populations (Goodman et al., 1993). Such a rate, albeit for a particularly small prosimian, implies strong selective pressure in favor of adaptations that reduce predation, and it seems reasonable to assess adaptations with predation in mind. Predator avoidance by vigilance is usually seen as an attribute of social foragers (see, e.g., Terborgh & Janson, 1986), to which category many of the Lemuridae, and arguably some Indriidae and Lepilemuridae, belong. However, the small body size and nocturnality of those prosimians described as “solitary foragers” are often regarded as facilitating alternative predator avoidance strategy, crypsis (e.g., Clutton-Brock & Harvey, 1977; Stanford, 2002).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liverpool, Sherrington Buildings, Ashton Street, L69 3GE, England UK

    Robin Huw Crompton

  2. Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, England UK

    William Irvin Sellers

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  1. Robin Huw Crompton
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  2. William Irvin Sellers
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Sharon L. Gursky

  2. School of Social Sciences and Law, Department of Anthropology, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0PB, UK

    K. A. I. Nekaris

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Crompton, R.H., Sellers, W.I. (2007). A Consideration of Leaping Locomotion as a Means of Predator Avoidance in Prosimian Primates. In: Gursky, S.L., Nekaris, K.A.I. (eds) Primate Anti-Predator Strategies. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34810-0_6

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