Author/Student: Paige Daniele
For my un-essay project, I created a series of drawings detailing the various anatomical adaptations of brachiation that primates possess. Brachiation is a form of arboreal locomotion in which primates use their arms to swing from tree to tree. Along with the drawings, there are small blurbs of writing explaining each of the characteristics. In the center of those drawings is a painted canvas illustrating a Lar gibbon (Hylobates lar) hanging from branches in a tree displaying its brachiating characteristics. The aspects of primatology that were explored in this project were the different characteristics brachiating primates have such as long slim arms, flexible shoulder joints, shorter spines, long curved fingers, reduced thumbs, strong legs, and opposable big toes. Brachiation is only fully used by siamangs and gibbons and as the only true brachiators, these primates possess specialized traits that allow them to move through the trees at rapid speeds.