Orangutans use compliant branches to lower the energetic cost of locomotion
Open accessAbstract
Within the forest canopy, the shortest gaps between tree crowns lie between slender terminal branches. While the compliance of these supports has previously been shown to increase the energetic cost of gap crossing in arboreal animals (e.g. Alexander 1991 Z. Morphol. Anthropol.78, 315–320; Demes et al. 1995 Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.96, 419–429), field observations suggest that some primates may be able to use support compliance to increase the energetic efficiency of locomotion. Here, we calculate the energetic cost of alternative methods of gap crossing in orangutans (Pongo abelii). Tree sway (in which orangutans oscillate a compliant tree trunk with increasing magnitude to bridge a gap) was found to be less than half as costly as jumping, and an order of magnitude less costly than descending the tree, walking to the vine and climbing it. Observations of wild orangutans suggest that they actually use support compliance in many aspects of their locomotor behaviour. This study seems to be the first to show that elastic compliance in arboreal supports can be used to reduce the energetic cost of gap crossing.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Observations in the wild support the hypothesis that ecological food constraints have had widespread repercussions on the physiology, behavior, and life history of orangutans.
“Observations in the wild support the hypothesis that ecological food constraints have had widespread repercussions on the physiology, behavior, and life history of orangutans.”
From Metabolic adaptation for low energy throughput in orangutans. (2010) · cites this paper as [29]
In addition to their low rates of growth and reproduction, orangutans live solitary lifestyles, avoiding the increased foraging costs incurred in large groups, and use locomotor strategies that minimize the cost of travel through the canopy.
“In addition to their low rates of growth and reproduction (8), orangutans live solitary lifestyles, avoiding the increased foraging costs incurred in large groups (8, 28), and use locomotor strategies that minimize the cost of travel through the canopy (29).”
From Metabolic adaptation for low energy throughput in orangutans. (2010) · cites this paper as [29]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Orangutan positional behavior and the nature of arboreal locomotion in Hominoidea
Thorpe, S. K. S., & Crompton, R. H. (2006) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.20422 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Self-citationPositional behavior of female bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)
Cant, J. G. H. (1987) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.1350120104 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Thorpe, S. K. S., & Crompton, R. H. (2004) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.20151 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Self-citationKinetics of leaping primates: Influence of substrate orientation and compliance
Demes, B., Jungers, W. L., Gross, T. S., et al. (1995) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330960407 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Elastic mechanisms in primate locomotion
Alexander, R. M. (1991) · Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie · doi:10.1127/zma/78/1991/315 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Self-citationBrief communication: Weights of wild orang utans
Markham, R. J., & Groves, C. P. (1990) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330810102 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Alexander R.McN. 2nd edn. Blackwell; Oxford, UK: 1983. Animal mechanics. [Google Scholar]
- Cant J.G.H. Positional behaviour of arboreal primates and habitat compliance. In: Thierry B, Anderson T.R, Roeder J.J, Herrenschmidt N, editors. Current primatology. vol. 1. Ecology and evolution. Universite Louis Pasteu; Strasbourg, France: 1994. pp. 187–193. [Google Scholar]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Metabolic adaptation for low energy throughput in orangutans.
Pontzer, H., Raichlen, D. A., Shumaker, R. W., Ocobock, C., & Wich, S. A. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1001031107 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
- Authors
- Thorpe, S. K. S., Crompton, R. H., & Alexander, R. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Thorpe, S.K.S
- Venue
- Biology Letters
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2007-04-17
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 253-256
- ISSN
- 1744-9561 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-957X
- PMC
- PMC2464692
- OpenAlex
- W2127054932
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 7.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biology Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Robotic Locomotion and Control
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- orangutans, Pongo abelii, elastic compliance, gap crossing, arboreal locomotion, jumping, climbing, primate locomotion
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Elasticity, Energy Metabolism, Locomotion, Models, Biological, Pongo pygmaeus, Trees, Video Recording, Plant Stems
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
