Neonatal weight in gibbons (Hylobates spp.)

Abstract

Neonatal and birth weights of gibbons have mostly been reported for single individuals, and larger samples (n = 2-8) have apparently been published for only two species of gibbons (Hylobates lar and H . syndactylus). In addition, a critical examination of the few published neonatal weights of gibbons shows that several of them should not be used. Neonatal weights are here defined as weights taken on infants up to seven days old, whereas birth weights include only those taken on the day of birth. This paper presents neonatal weights for six representative species of gibbons (H. lar, H . leucogenys, H. moloch, H . muelleri, H . pileatus, H . syndactylus) and some of their hybrids. Most of our data stem from surviving animals that were subsequently hand-reared and include 80 infants, thus making the previously available dataset 5 times larger. Our neonatal weights fall roughly into three different classes: neonates of the lar group (about 390 g, n = 271, the concolor group (about 510 g, n = 71, and the siamang (about 540 g, n = 46). This grouping corresponds not only to taxonomic units within the hylobatids, but also to grouping of gibbons by adult body weight. No weight difference between males and females is evident in our sample, and hybrids of the lar group do not appear to differ in weight from pure species. True birth weights (i.e., weights recorded on the day of birth) are available for only a few individuals. These weights are, on average, 7% higher than neonatal weights, but the difference is not statistically significant. Additional samples of neonatal weights suggest that infants that die on the day of birth weigh, on average, 17% less, twins weigh 29% less, and infants born by Cesarean section weigh 19% more than our reference sample of neonates. 0 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Evolution of the Sweetness Receptor in Primates. I. Why Does Alitame Taste Sweet in all Prosimians and Simians, and Aspartame only in Old World Simians?

“…For this reason, in the present study we used only a simplified classification at the superfamily level. For additional information regarding the taxonomic status of the species mentioned in this paper see, for example, Napier and Napier (1972), Corbet and Hill (1980), Mittermeier et al (1992), Rylands et al (1993), Snowdon (1993), Groves (1993) and Geissmann (1994).…”

The effects of lactation and infant care on adult energy budgets in wild siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus)

“…T t is the proportion of adult time spent carrying the infant during travel at time t. The mass of infants of each age was estimated using a body mass at birth of 540 gm (Geissmann and Orgeldinger, 1995) and a growth rate of 4.9 gm/day (Leigh and Shea, 1995). A previous study of infant-carrying in baboons suggested that the costs of infant-carrying may be more sensitive to the distance traveled than the time spent traveling (Altmann and Samuels, 1992).…”

Female reproductive parameters in the Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch)

“…Because of their dense rainforest habitat, gibbons are difficult to study in the wild, and so only a limited amount of research has been done [Dallmann and Geissmann, 2001;Geissmann and Nijman, 2006;Nijman, 2004]. Data on the reproductive biology of the species are largely nonexistent [Kappeler, 1984;Geissmann and Orgeldinger, 1995;Geissmann, 1991], and many important lifehistory factors, such as age at sexual maturity, interbirth interval, and ovarian cycle lengths, have only been estimated [Geissmann, 1991].…”