Comparative Primate Blog Post: Dentition Patterns

Environment

Lemurs are indigenous to Madacascar, off the southeast coast of Africa. Madacascar is 1650 km long and is divided into two parts by a mountain chain that runs north to south. Each side of the mountain chain has a different climate, topography and vegetation. The southeastern portion of the island ranges from sea level to 8530 ft. and is full of various forests and rain forests. The southwestern part of the island gets very little rainfall and is primarily desert. Winter typically lasts from May to September and summer from December to March.

Spider monkeys reside in tropical rainforests typically located in Central and South America (some even being found to live as far north as Mexico). They reside in tree tops or “upper canopy” of trees and very rarely come down to ground level.

Baboons live in Africa or Arabia. They prefer savanna and other semi-arid habitats. Some baboons can be found in moist evergreen forests but the majority of baboons can be found living in open woodlands, grasslands and rocky hill country ranging from sea level to 2600 meters.

Gibbons prefer to live in tropical and subtropical rainforests. They can be found from northeast India to Indonesia and north to southern China. Gibbons are another of the tree dwelling primates, living only in the moist wetlands of southeast Asia.

Because Chimpanzee’s are easily adaptable they can be found throughout Africa. Their natural habitat is the rainforest, however, they also dwell in the savannas, woodlands, and bamboo forests.

Dentition Patterns

Lemurs have unusually rapid dental development and have a tooth pattern of 2-1-3-3. The toothcomb of a lemur normally consists of six teeth (four incisors and two canines). By the time Lemurs are weaned, they have acquired their full permanent teeth. They have thin tooth enamel compared to other primates which may cause premature tooth decay and loss.

Spider Monkeys have large incisors and small molars with low rounded cusps. They also have a tooth pattern of 2-1-3-3.

Baboons have heavy, powerful jaws with sharp canine teeth. Their tooth pattern is 2-1-2-3. Their canines can grow as long as two inches and are often used by the male of the species for intimidation.

Gibbons have teeth similar to great apes with rounded cusps and large canines in the upper and lower jaw. They have a tooth pattern of 2-1-2-3.

 

Chimpanzee’s have a 2-1-2-3 tooth pattern and are characterized by having large canines.

All five of these primates use their teeth for being able to bite into and chew their diets of fruit, grass, bark, and in some cases, small insects. In the case of baboons, gibbons and chimpanzees, their teeth are also used for intimidation against others of their kind. Being as all of the above mentioned primates are tree dwelling at least half the time (up to and including exclusively) it would only stand to reason that that the dentition of these animals would need to be capable of being able to ingest anything found in the trees in which they reside.