Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Catarrhine Locomotion

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

Synonyms

Cercopithecine; Cercopithecoid; Colobine; Hominoid

Definitions

Bipedal:

Locomoting using only hind limbs for support and propulsion.

Brachiation:

Below branch, hand-over-hand suspensory locomotion, where body weight is supported by the forelimbs. This is also sometimes known as “arm-swinging.”

Bridging:

Crossing a gap in the canopy where contact with one support is maintained while contact is made with another.

Climbing:

Progression up a vertical or near-vertical support

Digitigrade:

A locomotor posture where the mass of the forelimb is supported by the digits and metacarpal heads of the hand. The palm does not contract the substrate.

Knuckle-walking:

A form of quadrupedal locomotion where the mass of the forelimb is supported by the second to fifth middle phalanges of the hand.

Leaping:

Propulsion, primarily by the hind limbs, as a means of crossing gaps in the canopy.

Palmigrade:

A locomotor posture where the palm and fingers of the hand contact the substrate, which is...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Begun, D. R. (2007). How to identify (as opposed to define) a homoplasy: Examples from fossil and living great apes. Journal of Human Evolution, 52, 559–572.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byron, C. D., & Covert, H. H. (2004). Unexpected locomotor behavior: Brachiation by an old world monkey (Pygathrix nemaeus) in Vietnam. Journal of Zoology (London), 263, 101–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doran, D. M. (1993). Comparative locomotor behavior of chimpanzees and bonobos: The influence of morphology on locomotion. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 91, 83–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doran, D. M. (1996). Comparative positional behavior of the African apes. In W. C. McGrew, L. F. Marchant, & T. Nishida (Eds.), Great ape societies (pp. 213–224). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G. (1978). Locomotion, posture, and habitat utilization in two sympatric Malaysian leaf-monkeys (Presbytis obscura and Presbytis melalophos). In G. G. Montgomery (Ed.), The ecology of arboreal folivores (pp. 243–251). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G. (2013). Primate adaptation and evolution (3rd ed.). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gebo, D. L., & Chapman, C. A. (1995). Positional behavior in five sympatric old world monkeys. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 97, 49–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, K. R. L. (1966). Behaviour and ecology of the wild Patas monkey, Erythrocebus Patas, in Uganda. Journal of Zoology, 148(1), 15–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1966.tb02942.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, K. D. (1991). Posititional behavior in the Hominoidea. International Journal of Primatology, 12, 95–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, K. D. (1992). Positional behavior of Pan troglodytes in the Mahale Mountains and Gombe stream National Parks, Tanzania. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 87, 83–105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, R. C., Long, Y. C., Zhong, T., & Xiao, L. (1998). Social organization and range use in the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus bieti. International Journal of Primatology, 19(1), 13–51. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1020302809584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacLatchy, L. (2004). The oldest ape. Evolutionary Anthropology, 13, 90–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGraw, W. S. (1998a). Comparative locomotion and habitat use of six monkeys in the tai Forest, Ivory Coast. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 105, 493–510.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGraw, W. S. (1998b). Posture and support use of old world monkeys (Cercopithecidae): The influence of foraging strategies, activity patterns, and the spatial distribution of preferred food items. American Journal of Primatology, 46, 299–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGraw, W. S. (2002). Diversity of guenon positional behavior. In M. E. Glenn & M. Cords (Eds.), The guenons: Diversity and adaptation in African monkeys (pp. 113–131). New York: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakatsukasa, M. (1996). Locomotor differentiation and different skeletal morphologies in mangabeys (Lophocebus and Cercocebus). Folia Primatologica, 66, 15–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Napier, J. R., & Napier, P. H. (1967). A handbook of living primates. London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Remis, M. (1995). Effects of body size and social context on the arboreal activities of lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 97, 413–433.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ripley, S. (1967). The leaping of langurs: A problem in the study of locomotor adaptation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 26(2), 149–170. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330260206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodman, P. S. (1991). Structural differentiation of microhabitats of sympatric Macaca fascicularis and M. nemestrina in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. International Journal of Primatology, 12(4), 357–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02547617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rollinson, J., & Martin, R. D. (1981). Comparative aspects of primate locomotion, with special reference to arboreal cercopithecines. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 48, 377–427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. D. (1979). Positional behavior of natural populations: Some quantitative results of a field study of Colobus guereza and Cercopithecus aethiops. In M. E. Morbeck, H. Preuschoft, & N. Gomberg (Eds.), Environment, behavior and morphology: Dynamic interactions in primates (pp. 75–93). New York: Gustav Fisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. J., & Jungers, W. L. (1997). Body mass in comparative primatology. Journal of Human Evolution, 32, 523–559.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Su, D. F., & Jablonski, N. G. (2009). Locomotor behavior and skeletal morphology of the odd-nosed monkeys. Folia Primatologica, 80, 189–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugardjito, J. (1982). Locomotor behavior of the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) at Ketambe, Gunung Leuser National Park. Malayan Nature Journal, 35, 57–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swedell, L. (2011). African Papionins. In C. J. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K. C. MacKinnon, S. K. Bearder, & R. M. Stumpf (Eds.), Primates in perspective (2nd ed., pp. 241–277). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuttle, R. H. (1969). Knuckle-walking and the problem of human origins. Science, 166, 953–961.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, C. V. (2007). Postcranial and locomotor adaptations of hominoids. In W. Henke & I. Tattersall (Eds.), Handbook of paleoanthropology, Primate evolution and human origins (Vol. II, pp. 1011–1030). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, C. V. (2015). Postcranial and locomotor adaptations of hominoids. In W. Henke & I. Tattersall (Eds.), Handbook of paleoanthropology (pp. 1363–1386). Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Workman, C., & Schmitt, D. (2012). Positional behavior of Delacour's langurs (Trachypithecus delacouri) in northern Vietnam. International Journal of Primatology, 33(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-011-9547-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, B. Q. (1993). Patterns of spatial dispersion, locomotion and foraging behaviour in three groups of the Yunnan snub-nosed langur (Rhinopithecus bieti). Folia Primatologica, 60(1–2), 63–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, W. W., Garber, P. A., Bezanson, M., Qi, X. G., & Li, B. G. (2015). Age- and sex-based patterns of positional behavior and substrate utilization in the golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana). American Journal of Primatology, 77(1), 98–108. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22314.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Georgia Campus- Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Suwanee, GA, USA

    Michael S. Selby

Authors
  1. Michael S. Selby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael S. Selby .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University , Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Averett University, Danville, VA, USA

    David Hanbury

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Selby, M.S. (2018). Catarrhine Locomotion. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_472-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_472-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation