Trust Me, It's not a Monkey

For my first Sophomore STEAM class, Population, we learned all about animals and different sets and subsets which is a mathematical representation of a group of numbers. We read the book “In the Shadow of Man” by Jane Goodall. I really liked this book and thought it was very interesting to learn about how chimpanzees play and interact with each other and humans. For this project, we were asked to pick an animal of our choosing. I chose a white-cheeked gibbon because I love primates, and I have a gibbon friend at the Lincoln Park Zoo. We went to the zoo on an FE. We started off by observing the chimps and then we broke off to observe our own animals. I saw my gibbon friend Caruso and observed him swinging around as well as his mate and offspring. At the end, they all snuggled up together and slept. I really enjoyed this project because I love animals and the science of them.

CM “Caruso” (2017)

This is my white-cheeked gibbon friend Caruso.

The white-cheeked gibbon or Nomascus leucogenys is one of the smallest apes. They are not monkeys, even though they do swing and hang from trees. They do not have a tail, which means they are apes. White-cheeked gibbons live in the high canopies of trees in the south-eastern Asian rainforest in countries such as Vietnam, Laos, southeastern China, and eastern Cambodia. White-cheeked gibbons are critically endangered in the wild. They typically spend their days in the tree-tops in their home range. They live in small family groups with an adult pair and their young offspring. Common behavior includes adults grooming and young playing. White-cheeked gibbons mostly eat ripe fruits and leaves. They usually feed in the upper and middle parts of the canopy.

Scientists use the taxonomic system to order animals.This helps scientists organize animals by the broadest terms, to the species. The order is:

Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

The taxonomic order of a White-Cheeked Gibbon is:

Taxonomic Level	Classification of white-cheeked gibbon	Description of classification
Kingdom	Animalia	Multicellular, Heterotrophic
Phylum	Chordata	Spinal cord
Class	Mammalia	Hair, Live birth, Produces milk
Order	Primates	Have 5 digits, Opposable thumbs, Lives in trees
Family	Hylobatidae	Long curved digits on hands and feet, Long, strong arms, Move mostly by two armed brachiation.
Genus	Nomascus	18-25 inches tall, 15-20 pounds.
Species	Leucogenys	All black except for cheeks, Females blonde, Babies born blonde and turn black while males stay black and females turn blonde again at sexual maturity. (5-7 years old)

This is the art piece I made of the White-Cheeked Gibbon:

 CM “White-Cheeked Gibbon" (2017)

This is my reference picture:

Greg Goebel, “Ybgib_3b” Flickr, Web, 2008, 19 Sep. 2017

CM “Triple Venn-Diagram” (2017)

I compared my white-cheeked gibbon with two other animals researched by my classmates. JMP researched the African penguin or Spheniscus demersus and OL researched the snowy owl or Bubo scandiacus.  You can view their blogs about their animals here for JMP and here for OL. I had never really thought about the comparisons between these three animals. White-cheeked gibbons are primates, apes, herbivores, live in trees, and live in southeast Asia. Snowy owls are birds, live in Canada, eat small mammals, and have strong beaks. African penguins are birds, live in Africa, eat fish, are black and white, can swim, and can’t fly. I thought it was interesting comparing these animals. They have a lot more in common than you may think. I made a triple Venn-Diagram to show the comparison between the three.

e140100, “White-cheeked gibbon.” Flickr, Web, 2014, 20 Sep. 2017. 

Dgrgic, “Snowy Owl.” Flickr, Web, 2015, 20 Sep. 2017

Insu Nuzzi, “African Penguin Sitting on Eggs.” Flickr, Web, 2014, 20 Sep. 2017

Below are some mathematical statements describing white-cheeked gibbons.

White-cheeked gibbon = G Primates = P Monkeys = M Carnivorous = C African = A

G 𝞊 {P}

Gibbons are an element in the set of primates.

g ∉ C

White-cheeked gibbon is not a set of carnivores.

g ⋂ M = Ө

The intersection of white-cheeked gibbons and monkeys is an empty set.

G U M = {All monkeys + white-cheeked gibbons}

The union of white-cheeked gibbons and monkeys are white-cheeked gibbons and all monkeys.

g 𝞊 P ⋂ A'

The intersection of primates and not African contains white-cheeked gibbons.

I really enjoyed this project. I love animals and I love researching them. I especially love drawing animals and identifying their traits. I thought I did well on this project. I was a little behind at first but I caught up. The most challenging part for me was not the actual work, but the formatting and getting it onto my blog. I spent a while just trying to get everything in place. I am really enjoying this class and I look forward to doing two more projects similar to this.

Citations

“Family Hylobatidae.” Family Hylobatidae, csmbio.csm.jmu.edu/biology/wunderre/primate_primer/family_hylobatidae.htm.

“Nomascus Leucogenys .” Nomascus Leucogenys (Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon, White-Cheeked Gibbon), Red List, 2017, www.iucnredlist.org/details/39895/0.

Orzech, Kathyrn. “Investigation.” Primate Features, University of Arizona, 2005, tolweb.org/treehouses/?treehouse_id=3029.

“White-Cheeked Gibbon.” Smithsonian's National Zoo, Smithsonian, 4 May 2017, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/white-cheeked-gibbon.

“White-Cheeked Gibbon.” White-Cheeked Gibbon | Lincoln Park Zoo, Associations of Zoos & Aquariums, www.lpzoo.org/animal/white-cheeked-gibbon