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To Climb or Not to Climb?

Caption: Video clip of three species of nonhuman primates during climbing of a rope treadmill: Loris tardigradus, Saimiri boliviensis, and Cheirogaleus medius. The animals are nocturnal, and the video was taken at night. The superimposed, upper left-hand graph represents the amount of oxygen consumption during climbing for that particular individual. These oxygen consumption data were used to calculate the energetic cost of climbing. The results showed that small primates are able to climb without additional costs over that of horizontal locomotion. The animals were housed at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, N.C., and the Center for Neotropical Research and Resources in Mobile, Ala. This video relates to an article that appeared in the May 16, 2008, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Jandy Hanna and colleagues at Duke University in Durham, N.C. was titled "The Energetic Cost of Climbing in Primates."

Credit: Video courtesy of Jandy Hanna

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