Vertical clinging and leaping

Galago leaping

Vertical clinging and leaping (VCL) is a type of arboreal locomotion seen most commonly among the strepsirrhine primates and haplorrhine tarsiers. The animal begins at rest with its torso upright and elbows fixed, with both hands clinging to a vertical support, such as the side of a tree or bamboo stalk. To move from one support to another, it pushes off from one vertical support with its hindlimbs, landing on another vertical support after an extended period of free flight.[1] Vertical clinging and leaping primates have evolved a specialized anatomy to compensate for the physical implications of this form of locomotion.[2][3] These key morphological specializations have been identified in prosimian fossils from as early as the Eocene.[4][5][6]

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  5. ^ Napier, J.R.; Walker, A.C. (1967). "Vertical Clinging and Leaping – A Newly Recognized Category of Locomotor Behaviour of Primates". Folia Primatologica. 6 (3–4): 204–219. doi:10.1159/000155079. PMID 6070682.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference NG2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).