Photo of the Day #47: Gibbon Skull

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Like many of the other photographs I've posted over the last week, this one also comes from the Primate Hall of the AMNH, this skeleton belonging to a gibbon (Family Hylobatidae). Gibbons are often called the "lesser apes" (they are not included in the Family Hominidae, which includes orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, humans, and extinct relatives), but they are among the most charming of all primates, at least in my opinion. What you might notice in the skull, however, is the size of the canines, a feature that might be unexpected in a monogamous animal. Enlarged canines are actually present in both males and females, however, as both males and females try to run other members of the same sex out of a territory occupied by a socially monogamous pair (although extra-pair copulations do occur).

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