White-faced capuchin monkeys come down from the trees on Panama's Coiba Island

(Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) An arboreal lifestyle is thought to be central to primate origins, and most extant primate species still live in the trees. Nonetheless, terrestrial locomotion is a widespread adaptation that has arisen repeatedly within the primate lineage. The absence of terrestriality among the New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) is thus notable and raises questions about the ecological pressures that constrain the expansion of platyrrhines into terrestrial niches.
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news