根据一项研究，黄猩猩使用独特的运动模式从而在树梢的小的、不稳定的枝条上获取食物，该研究可能对于这种濒危物种的栖息地保护以及重新引入该物种有一定意义。
Susannah Thorpe及其同事研究了野生的苏门答腊黄猩猩，结果发现这种猿有能力在对这样大型的动物支撑能力很弱的枝条上运动。这种动物通过使用一种竖直和水平的身体姿势的组合从而在树梢上运动，上下穿过树枝。黄猩猩有能力安全地到达细小柔软的树枝，在那里找到食物，这让它们能够在树与树之间运动，而不需要爬下来。它们通过缓慢、非模式的运动以及用手脚握住多条树枝增加它们的稳定性。这组科学家发现，在29%的时间里，黄猩猩一次握住4条以上的树枝从而在树与树之间运动。这种运动模式与观察到的其他树栖灵长类动物的运动不同，而且与大型猿如何应对树枝柔性的预测相矛盾。
这组科学家提出，这些结果可能帮助科学家确定黄猩猩栖息地的要求，这些要求可能影响到保护和重新引入黄猩猩的项目。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.0811537106
Orangutans employ unique strategies to control branch flexibility
Susannah K. S. Thorpea,1, Roger Holderb and Robin H. Cromptonc
aSchool of Biosciences and
bDepartment of Primary Care and General Practise, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom; and
cDepartment of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool L69 3GE, United Kingdom
Orangutans are the largest habitually arboreal mammal. For them, as for all arboreal mammals, access to the abundant fruits and narrowest gaps found among the thin peripheral branches of tree crowns poses considerable safety risks and energetic demands. Most arboreal primates use flexed-limb postures to minimize problems caused by branch compliance and instability. Here, we show that Sumatran orangutans employ unique locomotor strategies to control compliance and allow access to the terminal branch niche for feeding and gap crossing. We calculated a “stiffness score,” which is a measure of the flexibility of the supports on which orangutans moved. We found that certain locomotor behaviors clearly are associated with the most compliant supports; these behaviors appear to lack regular limb sequences, which serves to avoid the risk of resonance in branch sway caused by high-frequency, patterned gait. Balance and increased stability are achieved through long contact times between multiple limbs and supports and a combination of pronograde (horizontal) and orthograde (vertical) body postures, used both above branches and in suspension underneath them. Overall, adult females seem to be the most conservative in their travel, selecting more solid and secure supports than males and adolescents. These results have implications for understanding locomotor diversity in fossil and extant apes and for orangutan conservation and reintroduction programs.
