Interpreting the locomotor behavior of ancestral primates relies primarily upon the ability to predict adaptive function from fossil bones. Such predictions follow from morphological comparisons of skeletons of extant primates for which behavior in the wild is reasonably well documented. The objective of this proposal is to isolate variables in muscular architecture, and their correlates in the bony skeleton, that can distinguish arboreal from terrestrial quadrupeds (in this particular case, two very closely related primate species of guenon monkeys, C. aethiops and C. ascanius). This will provide clearer insights into the locomotor adaptations of fossil primates.
