The influence of life history and diet on the distribution of catarrhine primates during the Pleistocene in eastern Asia

Environmental changes during the Pleistocene in eastern Asia had profound i mpacts on the distributions of mammalian groups. Critical for many mammals were the southward latitudinal shifts of the tropical and subtropical veget ational zones, and decreases in the areas of these zones. Examination of th e responses of members of a single clade, the Catarrhini, indicates that th e main catarrhine genera of eastern Asia responded individually to the envi ronmental changes in the Pleistocene. These responses were influenced by th e life history parameters and diets of the genera involved. Those animals ( macaques, langurs) with shorter gestation times, shorter weaning periods, s horter interbirth intervals, higher intrinsic rates of increase of populati on, and abilities to survive on a wider variety of vegetation in seasonal h abitats were less adversely affected than those (gibbons, orang-utans and t he giant extinct hominoid, Gigantopithecus) with more protracted reproducti ve schedules, lower intrinsic rates of population increase and preferences for the higher quality foods (especially ripe fruits) of less seasonal envi ronments. Hominids, while displaying "hyper-ape" life history parameters, i ncreasingly overcame the constraints of these parameters through extrasomat ic means not available to other catarrhines. This ability made possible the ir colonization, by the Late Pleistocene, of highly seasonal habitats such as tundra, which were off-limits to non-culture-bearing catarrhines. (C) 20 00 Academic Press.