Dietary Adaptations in Primates

Question 1

Cecum

Answer 1

Adaptation to digest high fiber foods, pouch located between the small and large intestine that contains bacteria and enzymes
Having one means that an animal needs it to digest a high fiber diet

Question 2

Folivorus Morphology

Answer 2

Emphasis on leaves, folivores have sharp cusps to chew up leaves and start the digestion

Question 3

Morphological: Emphasis on gum

Answer 3

Lemurs have stout teeth to allow gum-feeding, claw-like nails to hold trees when attempting to feed, have a large portion of the small intestine, eating and digesting slowly which is seen in the digestive track

Question 4

Morphological: Emphasis on fruit

Answer 4

Enlarged incisors to strip off fruits, don’t need a lot of adaptations in teeth, flat cusps
Big emphasis on small intestine to extract nutrients
Simple stomachs

Question 5

Morphological: Emphasis on insects

Answer 5

Sharp cusps of teeth to chew away hard outer covered shells of insects, short simple stomach with an enlarged cecum to pull out minerals from the outer shells

Question 6

Human Digestion

Answer 6

Salivary enzymes, stomach, small and large intestine
Compared to other ape species have: slightly smaller, simple stomachs, “fast” food passage, more volume in the small intestine and less volume in the large intestine, humans emphasize the small intestine

Question 7

Closest non-human primate for the human gut?

Answer 7

Capuchin is the closest with emphasis on small intestine and no cecum and high quality diet
Fruits, oil rich seeds, insects and vertebrae prey
Have a large brain to body size