2024/05/12 by Gene R. Estrada, Andrew J. Marshall · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Psychology · #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Primate Behavior and Ecology #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/evan.22032
openalex publication_date 2024/05/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Terrestriality is relatively rare in the predominantly arboreal primate order. How frequently, and when, terrestriality appears in primate evolution, and the factors that influence this behavior, are not well understood. To investigate this, we compiled data describing terrestriality in 515 extant nonhuman primate taxa. We describe the geographic and phylogenetic distribution of terrestriality, including an ancestral state reconstruction estimating the frequency and timing of evolutionary transitions to terrestriality. We review hypotheses concerning the evolution of primate terrestriality and test these using data we collected pertaining to characteristics including body mass and diet, and ecological factors including forest structure, food availability, weather, and predation pressure. Using Bayesian analyses, we find body mass and normalized difference vegetation index are the most reliable predictors of terrestriality. When considering subsets of taxa, we find ecological factors such as forest height and rainfall, and not body mass, are the most reliable predictors of terrestriality for platyrrhines and lemurs.