（圖片來源：David Haring/Duke University Lemur Center）
生物谷報(bào)道：美國科學(xué)家在16日的Science發(fā)表論文稱：靈長類在攀爬時(shí)與在行走時(shí),，身體大小與能耗相聯(lián)系的機(jī)制是不同的,，這可能表明了,，為什么早期的靈長類在涌入特別的生境時(shí)無需花費(fèi)攀爬所用的新的代謝成本,。
研究人員說,，靈長類垂直攀爬所用的能量并不會(huì)因?yàn)槠渖聿牡拇笮《鰷p,，相反,，其所用的能量似乎與其體重?zé)o關(guān),。另一方面,，實(shí)際上,，靈長類以直線行走所需的能量卻會(huì)隨著其體型的增加而降低，這意味著,，較大的靈長類停留在地面上是很有道理的,；而就代謝水平來說,，較小的靈長類究竟是行走還是攀爬都無足輕重。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)與所提出的最早的靈長類是小型靈長類這一理論是一致的,。（生物谷www.bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science,，Vol. 320. no. 5878, p. 898，Jandy B. Hanna,，Timothy M. Griffin
The Energetic Cost of Climbing in Primates
Jandy B. Hanna,1* Daniel Schmitt,1 Timothy M. Griffin2
Primates are exceptional among mammals for their climbing abilities and arboreal lifestyles. Here we show that small primates (less than 0.5 kilogram) consume the same amount of mass-specific energy (COTTOT) whether climbing or walking a given distance. COTTOT decreases with increasing body size for walking but does not change for climbing. This divergence of COTTOT is likely due to fundamental differences in the biomechanical determinants of the costs of climbing versus walking. These results have important implications for understanding the origins of primates, suggesting that small early primates may have been able to move into a novel arboreal niche without increasing metabolic costs.
