Can Gibbons Take the Heat?

For our second unit of our fall term class called Population, we took a long time in the unit. We decided to take a long time and dive deep into our investigation of unit 2. We learned about standard deviation, permutations and combinations, statistics, box and whisker plots, DNA and genes, and evolution. For our FE, we went to the Field Museum. We went to the evolution and dinosaur exhibit, as well as the animals. We tried to find our own animals in the displays. I was successful in finding the white-cheeked gibbons. I enjoyed this unit. I wasn’t the biggest fan of all the math but I liked the things we learned in this unit. For this action project, we were asked to use our animal that we used from AP1 and see what would happen if we put it in a different environment. I continued with the white-cheeked gibbon. We found at least 10 representatives of our animals in photo form, and chose which 3 we thought would survive in our environment. We also found the data in our samples, as well as investigating their relatives and ancestors.

clazic. Laos Rainforest. 2015. Photograph. Vang Veing, Laos. Pixabay. 10, Oct 2017. Web

White-cheeked gibbons or Nomascus leucogenys live in the tropical rain forests of southeast Asia. The countries they usually habitat include Vietnam, Laos, and southern China. This is only a small part of the southeast Asian rain forest. The rain forest is the oldest in the world and ranges 1,112,000 square miles. The temperature usually ranges from 70 to 90 degrees with very high humidity. The rainy season usually takes place between October and February. These rain forests get about 79 inches of rain annually. The plants and animals that inhabit these rain forests are adapted to deal with the hot humid conditions, as well as months of sometimes constant rain.

In my scenario, the temperatures increase 4 degrees annually. This could mean a lot of things for the land. The rainy season may shorten and droughts may occur. This means the trees that the gibbons live in and eat from my die. This also means the hot humid seasons will be longer and hotter. This may be too hot for the gibbons who have hair and can tolerate some heat, but may not be able to tolerate the rising temperatures.


I think there are downfalls and opportunities for the gibbons in this scenario. The gibbons could possibly survive in this environment. Gibbons are made to withstand the hot humid climate of southeast Asia. This will be a more gradual change as the temperature is rising over the course of years. Some gibbons might starve because of drought caused by an increase in temperatures. Some gibbons might migrate to new lands and thrive and re-populate.

These are some traits that white-cheeked gibbons possess that allow them to live in their habitat

• Brachiation-This is a feature that many primates have that allows them to swing in trees.
• Herbivore-The Gibbons only eat fruits leaves and seeds.
• The weight-Their light weight allows them to live in trees and swing from all sorts of branches.
• Families.- Gibbons family structure allows them to live only with their families.

These are some immediate effects that the change would have on the population.

• Animals with fur could overheat more easily 
• Plants that animals rely on for food will die because of the heat 
• The rainy season will shorten and plants will die from lack of water. 

Imagine we had a population of white-cheeked

Derek

Add cPoplin, Ryan E. White-cheeked Gibbon. 2007. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Deb

Add capSpangenberg, F. Southern white-cheeked gibbon. 2007. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Sam

Smith, Roger. White-cheeked gibbon (male) 2010. Photograph. Adelaide Zoological Gardens. South Australia. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Christina (center)

Kilby, Eric. Gibbon Family Portrait. 2017. Photograph. Stone Zoo. Stoneham Massachusetts. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Phillip

cuatrok77. WHITE CHEEKED GIBBON. 2014. Photograph. Monroe, Florida. Flcikr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Maggie

Mamoritai. White-Cheeked Gibbon (Female). 2009. Photograph. The Bronx Zoo. New York, New York. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Paul

Voight, Garret. White-Cheeked Gibbon. 2014. Photograph. Minnesota Zoo. Apple Valley Minnesota. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Stephen

Karen. White Cheeked Gibbon. 2008. Photograph. San Antonio Zoo. San Antonio Texas. Flcikr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Paula

Smith, Roger. Mother and daughter. 2012. Photograph. Adelaide Zoo. South Australia. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Owen

Trumbo, Anthony. White-cheeked Gibbon again 1. 2008. Photograph. Nashville Zoo. Nashville, Tennessee. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Richard

More, Josh. White-cheeked Gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys.) 2007. Photograph. Minnesota Zoo. Apple Valley. Minnesota. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Pablo

More, Josh. White-cheeked Gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys)_5. 2015. Photograph. Minnesota Zoo. Apple Valley Minnesota. Flickr. 10, Oct 2017. Web.

Here are my calculations of central tendencies. Central tendencies show all the numbers of the data set. Here, I am listing white-cheeked gibbon weight. White-cheeked gibbons usually weigh 15-20 pounds and are some of the smallest apes. the following number represents the weight of each gibbon in my sample.

a.) 15
b.) 17
c.) 19
d.) 21
e.) 20
f.) 22
g.) 19
h.) 16
i.) 21
j.) 18
k.) 17
l.) 21

Maximum - 22

Minimum - 15

Range - 22-15 = 7

Mode - Most occurring number - 21

Mean - 15 + 17 + 19 + 21 + 20 + 22 + 19 + 16 + 21 + 18 +17 +21 = 226 / 12 = 18.83

Median - 15, 16, 17, 17, 18 , 19, 19, 20, 21, 21, 21, 22 = 19, 19 Average = 19 + 19 / 2 = 19
                 x    x    x    x    x                 x    x    x    x    x

1QR - Median of the first half = 15, 16, 17,17, 18, 19 1QR = 17

3QR - Median of the second half = 19, 20, 21,l21, 21, 22 3QR = 21

IQR = Range of the 1QR and 3QR = 21 - 17 = 4

Box and Whisker Plot

CM. Box and Whisker Plot. (2017)

CM. Standard Deviation.(2017)

CM. Calculations.(2017)

Standard deviation is a tool used in statistics to show the variation in a set of data values.


The next equation shows how many possible ways I could have chosen my 3 gibbons.These equations are called permutations and combinations. A permutation is when the order of the choosing matters. A combination is when the order of the choices does not matter. The way I groupes the surviving gibbons is called a combination. It is a combination because I chose 3 random gibbons that I thought would survive. I didn't put them in order, otherwise, that would be a permutation.

CM. Combinations & Permutations. (2017)

Northern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys) are in the family of primates. The first primates were believed to have developed in North America around 55 million years ago. They formed into what would look like lemurs today. Apes evolved around 25 million years ago. Apes are smarter than monkeys and have bigger brains. Both monkey and some apes can use brachiation, which ables them to swing through trees. Lesser apes evolved out of apes. Hylobatidae is the technical name. This belongs to gibbons, which are all parts of Hylobatidae. Gibbons are different from apes because they have low sexual dimorphism. This means that males and females are closer in size. They also have longer arms for swinging in trees.

Living Relative: Siamang Gibbon

suneko. Symphalangus syndactylus, Chiba Zoo, Japan. 2007. Photograph. Chiba Zoo. Japan. Wikimedia Commons. 11, Oct 2017. Web.

CM. Siamang Gibbon Comparison. (2017)

Extinct Relative: Gigantopithecus

Kaekart. Gigantopithecus. 2016. Drawing. Wikimedia Commons. 11, Oct 2017. Web.

CM. Gigantopithecus Comparison. (2017)

In conclusion, I think the gibbons will survive. They may evolve to be smaller with less fur and may have a wider variety of diet possibly including small animals. Even if the gibbon's trees do die from a drought, they can still migrate to other areas that are less affected by the temperature change, and they will repopulate there.

I really enjoyed this project. I liked how it covered all the topics and different steps of our unit. I found this project somewhat challenging. It was difficult to format the whole blog post, and it was also difficult to make sure that all of the equations were right and looked clear for the reader. I am proud of how this project turned out. I really like this class and I look forward to the rest of the classes of sophomore year!

Works Cited:

"Gigantopithecus" Prehistoric Wildlife.com. n.p. n.d. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/g/gigantopithecus.html

Platt, John R. "Sunday Species Snapshot: White-Cheeked Gibbons." Scientific American.com. Scientific American. 3, Nov 2013. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/sunday-species-snapshot-white-cheeked-gibbon/

"Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus)" Arkive.org. Widescreen. 2017. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
http://www.arkive.org/siamang/symphalangus-syndactylus/

"Siamang" Smithsonian National Zoo.edu. Smithsonian. n.d. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/siamang

"Southeast Asian Rainforest." Blue Planet Biomes. n.p. n.d. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrst.htm

"The Evolution of Primates" Lumen Learning.com. n.p. n.d. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/biology2xmaster/chapter/the-evolution-of-primates/

"White-cheeked gibbon." Smithsonian National Zoo.edu. Smithsonian. n.d. Web. 16, Oct 2017.
  https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/white-cheeked-gibbon