The effects of substratum inclination on locomotor patterns in primates.

To explore the change from the horizontal quadrupedal walking to the vertical climbing in primates, I designed an experiment on an inclined substratum. The subjects were an adult male Japanese macaque and a 2-year-old female white-handed gibbon. The animals moved on a substratum made of bamboo pipe (8 cm diameter). The inclination of the substratum was changed from 15 degrees to 65 degrees in 5-degree increments for the Japanese macaque and from 20 degrees to 70 degrees with 10-degree increments for the white-handed gibbon. I placed surface electrodes and telemetry transmitters on the subjects to record the activity of the long head of the triceps brachii and the long head of the biceps brachii muscles. The Japanese macaque utilized horizontal quadrupedal walking until the incline was 15 degrees. Vertical climbing began at an inclination of 55 degrees. The intermediate locomotor mode was observed between 20 degrees and 50 degrees. The white-handed gibbon changed the locomotor mode from horizontal quadrupedal walking to vertical climbing at 40 degrees. I believe that the difference observed in locomotor mode between these two species was mainly due to differences in the intermembral index. The white-handed gibbon had a large intermembral index, which meant she had longer forelimbs and could therefore change locomotor mode at a lower inclination of the substratum.