The leaping of langurs: A problem in the study of locomotor adaptation

Abstract

Abstract Locomotor patterns are ranges of complex skills which must be learned and practiced — which both limit and facilitate other aspects of primate life. Since locomotor skills are differentially distributed in the normal living group at any one point in time, ideally such groups can be considered as units, internally structured with respect to patterns of movement. An exhaustive study of the total locomotor pattern of a primate population would include many details of ecology, social behavior and morphology, as well as postures, gaits and locomotor abilities. This paper presents, at least roughly, certain qualitative components of such a description for several troops of gray langurs (Presbytis entellus thersites) in Ceylon. Descriptions are given of the features of the home range commonly used by the gray langur, the kinds of postures and locomotor skills used there, as well as the sorts of social activities that occur in these places and postures. The importance of play in the acquisition of skill and confidence in movement is stressed. Material on toque macaques (Macaca sinica) and purple‐faced langurs (P. vetulus philbricki) is added when informative contrasts occur among the three varieties of primates using the same trees. Descriptions of this kind can form the basis for an assessment of the evolutionary importance of behaviors and related morphological features, particularly in the interpretation of the locomotor behavior and ecology of fossil specimens. Certain problems, which arise when a classification of locomotor types in primates is made without the benefit of such descriptions, are discussed.

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