A Consideration of Leaping Locomotion as a means of Predator Avoidance in Prosimian Primates
R. H. CROMPTON, W. I. SELLERS
Originally in Primate Anti-Predator Strategies (ed. K. A. I. Nekaris & S. L. Gursky), pp. 127-145. New York: Springer 2007. DOWNLOAD PDF
Prosimian primates are unique among vertebrates for their leaping abilities, some small species being able to leap over four metres level, or attain height gain of over two metres; some larger species 8-10 metres level.
Field and laboratory data suggest however that these capabilities are rarely recruited, and that most level leaps are little more than a quarter of these distances. In the laboratory, the energetically optimal take-off angles are rarely used by most prosimians, and at least some unspecialized forms seem to be able to match the leaping capabilities of the most specialized leapers. Theoretical considerations and field data suggest that what long leaps offer in particular is unpredictability. While no single factor, acting alone, is likely to account for the widespread adoption and adaptive diversity of the leaping specialization, we suggest that as in other animals, leaping was adopted originally and primarily as a predator-avoidance mechanism, enabling prosimians to make sudden, unexpected and repeated changes of direction under threat of predation.
