Effects of support size and orientation on symmetric gaits in free-ranging tamarins of Amazonian Peru: implications for the functional significance of primate gait sequence patterns.

The adoption of a specific gait sequence pattern during symmetrical locomotion has been proposed to have been a key advantage for the exploitation of the fine branch niche in early primates. Diverse aspects of primate locomotion have been extensively studied in technically equipped laboratory settings, but evolutionary conclusions derived from these investigations have rarely been verified in wild primates. Bridging the gap from the lab to the field, we conducted an actual performance determination of symmetrical gaits in two free-ranging tamarin species (Saguinus mystax and Saguinus fuscicollis) of Amazonian Peru by analyzing high-speed video recordings of naturally occurring locomotor bouts. Tamarins arguably represent viable models for aspects of early primate locomotion. We tested three specific hypotheses derived from laboratory studies to test for the influence of support size and orientation and to gain further insight into the functional significance of primate gait sequence patterns: (1) The tamarins utilize symmetrical gaits at a higher rate on small supports than on larger ones. (2) During symmetrical locomotion on small supports, diagonal sequences are utilized at a higher rate than on larger supports. (3) On inclines, diagonal sequences are predominantly used and on declines, lateral sequences are predominantly used. Our results corroborated hypotheses 1 and 3. We found no clear support for hypothesis 2. In conclusion, our results add to the notion that primate gait plasticity, rather than uniform adoption of diagonal sequence gaits, enabled early primates to accommodate different support types and effectively exploit the small branch niche. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.