Dentition

Comparative Primate Post - Dentition

Lemurs:

Lemurs live on the island of Madagascar along side the islands off the east coast of Africa in forests.  They are the smallest of the species, some are arboreal and others are terrestrial.  The lemur dental pattern is 2.1.3.3.  They have a total of 36 teeth, 2-insicors, 1-canine, 3-premolars, and 3-molars.The lemur also has a unique trait, the dental comb. The dental comb is used for grooming and feeding and is formed by forward projecting the incisors and canines. The way this trait showed its adaption to their environment is that they needed to adapt to the type of food they had available to them.  By using their incisors and canines to create the dental comb they are able to eat the fruit, bark, buds, and shoot available to them.

Dental Comb

Spider Monkey:

Spider monkeys live in rain forests in southern Mexico and central and southern America, mainly Brazil, and Bolivia.  They are arboreal.  Spider monkey’s have a similar dental pattern to the lemur, 2.1.3.3. They also have 36 teeth, 2-incisors, 1-canine, 3-premolars, and 3-molars. Spider monkey’s use their teeth for biting and chewing and have used this to adapt to their environment in order to get the most out of the available food in the surrounding area. 

Baboon:

Baboons live in a wide range of environments, from the desert in the Africa and southern Asia to the mountains of northern Japan. Baboons have a slightly different dental pattern than the lemur and spider monkey, 2.1.3.3.  They also have a total of 36 teeth but have 2-incisors, 1-canine, 2-premolars, and 3-molars. The baboons use their incisors to eat fruit and their molars to eat grass, worms, snails, and ants.  They do have massive canines (as shown below) that are not used to eat with but to fight off predators, either by show or inflecting pain.  The baboons adapted to their environment by using their teeth to protect themselves.

Gibbon:

Gibbons live in the trees of the forests of Southeast Asia. Gibbons have a dental pattern of 2.1.2.3.  They have a total of 32 teeth, 2-incisors, 1-canine, 2-premolars, and 3-molars. They use their canines, premolars, and molars to eat fruit. Gibbons also have long canines like the Baboon, which are also used for defense because neither the baboon nor the gibbons eat meat.  This is an example of their adaption to their environment because they use their teeth as a defense in the environment they live in. If they did not have this defense they would not have survived.

Chimpanzee:

Chimpanzees live in the savannas and rain forests of Africa.  They live in both the trees and on land.  The chimpanzee has a dental pattern 2.1.2.3.  They have a total of 32 teeth, 2-incisors, 1-canine, 2-premolars, and 3-molars, much like the gibbon.  Chimpanzees use their teeth for eating and defense.  Their canines are used to inflict injury and provide and solid defense.  Their other teeth are used to bit and chew the things they hunt and forage for, like fruit, plant, birds, small animals, and birds.  I believe this helped them to adapt to their environment much like the other primates.  In order to be safe and in order to eat they used their teeth as defense and tools to eat food.

















Summary:
After reviewing all the primate and their dentition patterns I believe that most of them are very similar.  Although they may be similar each primate used their dentition differently separating them from each other. For instance some primates used their teeth to each fruit and nut while others used their teeth to eat meat and insects. They all adapted and used their teeth to their advantage, whether it was to use it to eat or as a defense.  I do believe the environment had a lot to do with they way they adapted.  They all found ways to make sure they could survive with what they had.