Strepsirrhini

Previous slide
Next slide

Lorisidae

The monkeys of one subgroup – the galagos – live only in Africa and run and jump. They have a funny way of marking their territory. They urinate on their hands and spread their scent on the trees as they climb.

The other group – the Lorisidae – lives in Africa and Asia. They are extremely slow tree climbers. Their slowness makes them invisible to motion detectors (like sloths).

Wet-nosed monkeys Strepsirrhini  

in: Our hairy relatives p. 170

Wet-nosed monkeys are the most primitive group of primates. These monkeys have many original characteristics such as nocturnal activity and reflective „cat’s eyes“. With their „cat’s eyes“, they can keep an eye out for treats and mates in the exciting tropical nightlife, even in dimly lit corners. The monkeys of the order wet-nosed monkeys have – unlike the other monkeys – wet noses. Hence their name.

There are two main groups of wet-nosed monkeys:

– Lemurs Lemuriformes
– Lorikeets Loriformes

Lemuriformes

Lemurs only exist in Madagascar. The great-great-great-grandparents of all lemurs were probably washed over from Africa in a tree.

Most lemur species are dominated by females. Most lemur species only mate during a short mating season. There are hardly any external differences between the sexes. There are therefore no run-away or handicap signals in the courtship arena, only good-gene selection (chapter on courtship arena p. 74).

The males of the katta (ring tailed lemurs) rub their bushy tails with a secretion from glands (on the forearm). They use this to conduct „stink fights“ against each other to determine the male rank order.