Hydrocharis chevalieri, Rynchospora corymbosa etc.
Marc Verhaegen
http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2008/08/are_you_hiding_125000_western.php
> Thanks, DD. Does anybody know what plants they're eating there? --Marc
Not me, but just guessing, water lily, water hyacinth, some type of
African duckweed perhaps... oh, here's the gold:
http://www.africanconservation.org/dcforum/DCForumID10/41.html
"Gorillas come to Mbeli Bai to feed on the large-leafed,
protein-packed, aquatic plant Hydrocharis chevalieri that grows in the
floating mat of vegetation. Hauling themselves on two legs through
the thick mud, the gorillas wade waist-deep through small streams and
rivulets crisscrossing the bai. Some infants clamber onto their
mothers' shoulders; others, hanging on below their parents' bellies,
risk a dunking in the sludge. Groups may spend two to four hours
dredging up handfuls of the plant, vigorously washing off excess mud
before carefully selecting choice parts to munch from the tangle of
roots, stems, and leaves. All the while, they sink deeper into the
mud until **only their chests and heads are visible**".
[Very good
selection for air sacs here, and vertical floating, even when seated,
the head is upright while the hands are above and in the water --DD]
More here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=african+floating+water+plants&ie=utf-8&oe=utf
-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
:-) Thanks a lot, DD.
You're completely right.
Note "hauling themselves on two legs" cf.bipedal apiths.
Ggogle "Hydrocharis chevalieri" & you soon find gorillas, eg:
"The bai is a preferred feeding site for western lowland gorillas, who eat
the aquatic herbs such as Hydrocharis chevalieri and Rynchospora corymbosa"
etc.
Google "Rhynchospora corymbosa" (Scirpus corymbosus) & you find
"Dieta del capibara Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris" etc.
I guess Lucy had very short loops of Henle, like beavers, mopuntain beavers,
capibaras, coypus etc.
But perhaps the savanna people still prefer to explain the glossy appearance
of her molar enamel by crushing kudu bones, rather than by "vigorously
washing off excess mud before carefully selecting choice parts to munch from
the tangle of roots, stems, and leaves" of frogbit, sedge or cyper plants...
--Marc Verhaegen
nickname
> > > Western lowland gorillas nest in swamps:
>
>
> > Thanks, DD. Does anybody know what plants they're eating there? --Marc
>
> Not me, but just guessing, water lily, water hyacinth, some type of
> African duckweed perhaps... oh, here's the gold:
>
> http://www.africanconservation.org/dcforum/DCForumID10/41.html
>
> "Gorillas come to Mbeli Bai to feed on the large-leafed,
> protein-packed, aquatic plant Hydrocharis chevalieri that grows in the
> floating mat of vegetation. Hauling themselves on two legs through
> the thick mud, the gorillas wade waist-deep through small streams and
> rivulets crisscrossing the bai. Some infants clamber onto their
> mothers' shoulders; others, hanging on below their parents' bellies,
> risk a dunking in the sludge. Groups may spend two to four hours
> dredging up handfuls of the plant, vigorously washing off excess mud
> before carefully selecting choice parts to munch from the tangle of
> roots, stems, and leaves. All the while, they sink deeper into the
> mud until **only their chests and heads are visible**".
>
> [Very good
> selection for air sacs here, and vertical floating, even when seated,
> the head is upright while the hands are above and in the water --DD]
>
> -8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
>
> :-) Thanks a lot, DD.
> You're completely right.
>
> Note "hauling themselves on two legs" cf.bipedal apiths.
>
> Ggogle "Hydrocharis chevalieri" & you soon find gorillas, eg:
> "The bai is a preferred feeding site for western lowland gorillas, who eat
> the aquatic herbs such as Hydrocharis chevalieri and Rynchospora corymbosa"
> etc.
>
> Google "Rhynchospora corymbosa" (Scirpus corymbosus) & you find
> "Dieta del capibara Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris" etc.
>
> I guess Lucy had very short loops of Henle, like beavers, mopuntain beavers,
> capibaras, coypus etc.
>
> But perhaps the savanna people still prefer to explain the glossy appearance
> of her molar enamel by crushing kudu bones, rather than by "vigorously
> washing off excess mud before carefully selecting choice parts to munch from
> the tangle of roots, stems, and leaves" of frogbit, sedge or cyper plants...
>
> --Marc Verhaegen
I should note that mountain beavers will climb trees to reach the
thinner bark where the juicy cambium (growing fresh green wood) is
most easily obtained, orangs and gorillas also do this during months
when succulent herbs and fruits are harder to find, stripping the bark
and scraping/chewing the inner pulp.
DD
Marc Verhaegen
>>>> Western lowland gorillas nest in swamps:
http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2008/08/are_you_hiding_125000_west...
>>> Thanks, DD. Does anybody know what plants they're eating there? --Marc
>> Not me, but just guessing, water lily, water hyacinth, some type of
>> African duckweed perhaps... oh, here's the gold:
>> http://www.africanconservation.org/dcforum/DCForumID10/41.html
>> "Gorillas come to Mbeli Bai to feed on the large-leafed,
>> protein-packed, aquatic plant Hydrocharis chevalieri that grows in the
>> floating mat of vegetation. Hauling themselves on two legs through
>> the thick mud, the gorillas wade waist-deep through small streams and
>> rivulets crisscrossing the bai. Some infants clamber onto their
>> mothers' shoulders; others, hanging on below their parents' bellies,
>> risk a dunking in the sludge. Groups may spend two to four hours
>> dredging up handfuls of the plant, vigorously washing off excess mud
>> before carefully selecting choice parts to munch from the tangle of
>> roots, stems, and leaves. All the while, they sink deeper into the
>> mud until **only their chests and heads are visible**".
>> [Very good
>> selection for air sacs here, and vertical floating, even when seated,
>> the head is upright while the hands are above and in the water --DD]
>> More
>> here:http://www.google.com/search?q=african+floating+water+plants&ie=utf-8...
>> -8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Yes, apparently the gorillas often float, just head & hands above the water:
if not, they would frequently go head underwater. I don't think they
deflated their airsacs there as some SFs here want to believe... :-D
>> :-) Thanks a lot, DD.
>> You're completely right.
>> Note "hauling themselves on two legs" cf.bipedal apiths.
>> Ggogle "Hydrocharis chevalieri" & you soon find gorillas, eg:
>> "The bai is a preferred feeding site for western lowland gorillas, who eat
>> the aquatic herbs such as Hydrocharis chevalieri and Rynchospora corymbosa"
>> etc.
>> Google "Rhynchospora corymbosa" (Scirpus corymbosus) & you find
>> "Dieta del capibara Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris" etc.
>> I guess Lucy had very short loops of Henle, like beavers, mopuntain beavers,
>> capibaras, coypus etc.
>> But perhaps the savanna people still prefer to explain the glossy appearance
>> of her molar enamel by crushing kudu bones, rather than by "vigorously
>> washing off excess mud before carefully selecting choice parts to munch from
>> the tangle of roots, stems, and leaves" of frogbit, sedge or cyper plants...
>> --Marc Verhaegen
> I should note that mountain beavers will climb trees to reach the
> thinner bark where the juicy cambium (growing fresh green wood) is
> most easily obtained, orangs and gorillas also do this during months
> when succulent herbs and fruits are harder to find, stripping the bark
> and scraping/chewing the inner pulp. DD
Yes, apiths had curved phalanges to clim trees (hang from branches), they
had polished enamel, both features as in mountain beavers: very likely their
kinds of foods overlap: plenty of fresh water (no loops of Henle in mountain
beavers, Lucy found amid crab claws), succulent plants (polishing the
enamel), partial tree-climbing = aquarboreal (waterside & arboreal foods).
East- & South-African apiths can be seen swamp (wetland or swamp forest)
versions of today's forest-dwelling gorillas & chimps resp.: more bipedal
(wading in shallow water), less knuckle-walking (only weakly developed in
Lucy), polished enamel (by swamp plants, google "Puech microwear" or so),
large airsacs (keep gorillas afloat in swamps, google "air sac Dikika" or
so), small front teeth & very braod backteech with hyperthick enamel (diet
incl.hard-shelled invertebrates HSIs? google "durophage Shabel HSI" or so),
more open milieu & wetlands (even lagoon, google "Chesowanja boisei" or so).
They climbed less, waded more (bipedal), ate more hard-shelled foods
(esp.HSIs?) etc. Or perhaps somebody wants to explain the hyperthick enamel
& vertical posture by crunching kudu bones under the hot sun...
--Marc