First Draft
This web report was prepared by C. Kent in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Anthro 1, Spring 1999, Cabrillo College.
| The smallest monkey found in Africa or Asia is the talapoin, which lives in dense tropical rainforest in West Africa. Much of the forest area in which this tiny three-pound primate lives is swamp or laced with streams and rivers, and the talapoins (Cercopithecus talapoin or Miopithecus talapoin) have taken advantage of the aquatic opportunities their environment has to offer by becoming accomplished swimmers. Talapoins have been seen diving off low-hanging branches to play and to hunt for food in the water (in this respect they resemble closely the famous Japanese Snow Monkeys, Macaca fuscata, who also play and hunt for food, such as crabs, in streams). Swimming is also used to escape from predators. If threatened, talapoins will dive into the water and swim to safety. Swimming is a fairly unique characteristic of talapoins. Not many monkeys swim regularly. Other aspects of talapoin behavior, however, are not so unique, in fact in many ways they are very similar to the squirrel monkey of South America. It is fascinating to see how similar these two species are considering they live on different continents and haven't shared a common ancestor for perhaps 40 to 45 million years |
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The environments in which they live, their diets, and even the part of the trees they choose to travel in are similar. Like the squirrel monkey, talapoins are extremely gregarious and live in very large troops containing many adult males, females, infants and juvenils. Also like the squirrel monkey, most of the social interaction within the talapoin troop occurs between animals of the same ange and sex and females tend to be the more dominant social force. The two species follow a similar annual breeding pattern. Infants are born once a year. By the time they are one year old they are independent of their mothers and have joined the troop's juvenile subgroup where they grow and develop into adulthood. The talapoin monkey appears to have evolved into its present small size, which approximates that of the squirrel monkey, from a somewhat larger animal. This has enabled it to inhabit a similar environment to the squirrel monkey and all in all these two species may be thought of as American and African counterparts of one another.
The type of similarity we see between these two distantly related primates is an aspect of the process of evolution we call convergence or convergent evolution. Convergence can occur when distantly related species adapt to the same type of environment. The demands the environment places on the animals results in adaptations (physical and behavior characteristics) which are similar in appearance. Convergence is the reason why the porpoise, which is a mammal, has the outer body appearance of a fish. The steamlined body helps the porpoise swim like a fish, an important aspect of its ability to live in the water.
Bibliography - Printed Sources
Burton, F. 1995. The Multimedia Guide to the Non-human Primates.
Prentice- Hall Canada Inc.
Fleagle, J. G. 1988. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Academic Press.
Rowe, N. 1996. The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates. Pogonias
Press: East Hampton, New York.
Rowell, T.E. 1973. Social Organization of Wild Talapoin Monkeys. American
Journal of Physical Anthropology, Vol. 38, 593-598.
Bibliography - Electronic Sources
Talapoin Monkey <http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/factsheets/miopithecus_talapoin.html>. This site has an incredible amount of information on the Talapoin.
Image taken from the Audiovisual Archive Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center at http://night.primate.wisc.edu/pin/images/cercopithecus.html
For another picture of a talapoin click here
For images of many other primates, including apes, African and Asian monkeys, American monkeys, and Prosimians, visit the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center Primate Image Collection website at http://night.primate.wisc.edu/pin/images/
Mr. Kent has kindly consented to allow my critique of this first draft of his to appear here as an aid to other's who are preparing similar web projects. First of all, I want to thank Mr. Kent, both for his first attempt at making a web page as well as allowing my critique to appear before such a wide audience.
CONTENT - WRITTEN
Mr. Kent prepared a well written, concise description of the Talapoin, especially as this was a first draft. I especially liked his links to other primate species.
CONTENT - VISUAL
The one visual accompanying this first draft is quite good - and Mr. Kent followed my instructions and gave credit for the image, both immediately adjacent to the image, as well as in his Sources list. Since this was Mr. Kent's first draft, I accepted the single image. However, the assignment called for a MINIMUM of three images, and I so noted that on the critique I returned to Mr. Kent.
COMPOSITION
Nicely presented. Uncluttered.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATIONS
Since this was Mr. Kent's first draft, I accepted the citations as they were presented. However, the assignment called for a MINIMUM of six PRINTED bibliographic references (books, periodicals) and six ELECTRONIC references, as well as noting a particular bibliographic format by which to present sources cited. I so noted that on the critique I returned to Mr. Kent.
