Life in the trees -Climbling is just the start, the challenge is to survive- What is Arboreal ? Arboreal is defined as something having the evolutionary characteristics of animals which allow them to live or maneuver through trees. Arboreal animals are creatures who spend the majority of their lives in trees. This animals most of the time live on trees and they spend their maximum time on trees. What are arboreal habitats ? An arboreal habitat is a home for organisms that live in trees. A habitat is a place where a living thing can obtain everything it needs to survive. This includes: Food Water Shelter Protection from predators A place to find a mate, reproduce and rear its young. A tree habitat is exactly what it says - A tree that provide these things to an organism. Arboreal habitats can vary from the cecropia trees in tropical rain forests to the white spruce of the arctic. Arboreal habitats includes, Treetops Branches Tree caves Tree stems Tree vines Why arboreal life and advantages of arboreal life ? As with flight and gliding behavior, arboreality may act to lower extrinsic mortality rates and increase longevity by providing a relatively protected environment with reduced exposure to predation, disease, and environmental hazards. Arboreality imposes unique cognitive demands on animals because of the physical structure of the environment trees and their branches form a discrete and discontinuous surface on which animals can move, and the risk of falling means that animals need to choose safe supports that can bear their weight in order to travel safely. In addition, food may be patchily and unpredictably distributed in three-dimensional space, so the cognitive demands of finding and processing food and of creating safe and comfortable places. Evolution of arboreal life With the evolution, at some point mainly primates or their ancestors moved into trees and adapted to an arboreal environment. Two theories regarding the evolution of some primate characteristics such as grasping or prehensile hands, forward-oriented eyes and depth perception are arboreal and visual predation theories that have been developed with the evolution. What are the adaptations for arboreal life ? Arboreal animals have adapted themselves in such a manner that these animals can now easily live on such heights. 1. Gravitational balance Arboreal animals have a low center of gravity. This increases their balance stability and minimizes the chance to fall from the trees. These animals have short legs, which also help in lowering their center of gravity. 2. Membranes for gliding Many arboreal animals use a special technique while moving between the gap of trees and branches. This technique is based on parachuting or gliding action. Arboreal animals that can glide have stretchable membranes between their legs called patagia. When these animals want to move from one branch to another, they will jump and expand the membranes between their legs. The membrane will stretch, thus, increasing the surface area without adding any additional weight. The movement will be based on the airlift provided under the stretchable membrane. So, instead of steeply falling down, the animal will glide. It is similar to the one used in extreme sports. Flying squirrels, flying frogs, flying geckos, flying snakes, and flying mice take advantage of this membrane. These animals, though, are not technically flying but gliding via a patagium. When it jumps this membrane provides significant surface area for airlift underneath. The flying mouse uses its tail to steer as it glides from one branch to another. 3. Body structure The arboreal animals have adapted in such a way that their body parts help them swing from one tree to another and one branch to another by using their strong arms. This adaptation is extremely necessary for arboreal animals to survive and live easily on trees especially on the forest canopy. Long Arms: The particular feature that helps primates move is their long arms which help them cross the gaps between branches. Wrist: The wrist of these animals can freely rotate to accommodate the turning motion of their hands while jumping, grabbing, and swinging. Prehensile Tails: Prehensile tail animals can use their tails to grab something or support them while climbing trees. Monkeys are the best example of animals that have prehensile tails. Other animals that have prehensile tails are tree pangolins, harvest mice, and spider monkeys. These animals have specially adapted tails that help them climb, swing and move on trees. Feet with strong grip: The animals living on the tree have high chances of falling and get injured. To mitigate such a lethal risk, they have adapted to have feet that have a strong grip equivalent to their hands or more. The feet of such animals can grab the branches tightly. The joints in their ankle are also very flexible which helps them maneuver easily. Squirrel’s ankle joints are so flexible that they can turn backward or forward. The fingertips of arboreal animals don’t have hairs which help maintain good friction between their hands and branches. If there are hairs on their fingers there are chances of slipping. Some other adaptations include: Primates that move and live on trees have specialized body structure such as shorter spines, long curved fingers, short fingernails instead of claws, long forelimbs, and shorter thumbs. Some animals have adhesive feet that work best on smooth surfaces. The adhesion works on the principle of suction. Small size is another feature that is advantageous for arboreal animals. Small size increases stability, lower center of mass, and lower the weight both for swinging and gliding animals. The other species that live on trees such as snakes and snails use limbless climbing techniques. For example, snakes use concertina locomotion and lateral undulation. Who are arboreal animals ? Arboreal animals are those animals that spend most of their life on trees. They feed, travel, play, and sleep on trees. They prefer to grow their young ones on the trees, which is a difficult task because the newborns are always prone to fall on the ground from height. However, they have adapted themselves in such a manner that these animals can now easily live on such heights. Examples of such animals include chameleons, lizards, green tree pythons, tree snails, koalas, squirrels, cats, monkeys, parrots, sloths, and a variety of insects. Leopards and goats are also considered arboreal because of their excellent ability to climb the trees. Leopards can carry their kills to the top of trees to avoid other predators and scavengers. There are about 2500 different arboreal species living in tropical, equatorial, and subtropical areas of the world. A few examples of arboreal animals are as follows: 1. Orangutan and Monkeys Orangutan: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Chordata Class:Mammalia Order:Primates Suborder:HaplorhiniInfra order:Simiiformes Family:Hominidae Subfamily:Ponginae Genus:Pongo Starting with the orangutan, they are uniquely arboreal living their lives on a forest canopy. They occasionally come down but most of the time they are sitting quietly on the treetops, eating or observing. The orangutan has legs but they are usually counted as hands because the legs and feet are equally capable in terms of movement and grabbing. 2. Tree snail Tree snail is a common name that is applied to various kinds of tropical air-breathing land snails, pulmonate gastropod mollusks that have shells, and that live in trees, in other words, are exclusively arboreal in habitat. Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Mollusca Class:Gastropoda 3. Sloths Known as one of the slowest moving animals in the world, sloths inhabit the rain forests of Central and South America. Represented by five species from two different families, sloths use their large claws to cling upside down from tree branches. Sloths are so well adapted to this upside-down lifestyle that their hair grows in such a way that it points towards the ground when they are inverted scientists suspect that this is an adaptation that allows the sloths to shed rainwater more easily. The sloths' claws grip branches so well that hunters don't often target the species even once the animals are shot, they often continue to hang from the tree, even after their death. Too slow to catch prey, sloths are herbivores that primarily consume leaves and fruit. Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Chordata Class:Mammalia Superorder:Xenarthra Order:Pilosa Suborder:Folivora 4. Snakes Numerous snake species inhabit the trees of the rain forest, many of which spend their nights hanging from branches in hopes of capturing prey. Green tree pythons (Morelia viridis) and the behaviorally similar emerald tree boas (Corallus canninus) provide excellent examples of this behavior, though eyelash vipers (Bothriechis schlegelii), carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) and Amazon tree boas (Corallus hortulanus) exhibit the behavior as well. Hoping for a rodent or other animal to pass beneath them, these snakes use their venom or constricting ability to subdue prey once grasped. The prey is then eaten while the snake hangs from his perch. Snakes that hang in this manner usually have very strong, prehensile tails. Ex: Ehatulla Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae Genus: Ahaetulla Species: A. nasuta Binomial name : Ahaetulla nasuta 5. Birds While a number of bird species may temporarily cling upside down from a tree branch to tend to their nest or snatch a tasty morsel, most spend their time right side up. Exceptions to this include the beautiful blue bird of paradise (Paradisaea rudolphi), which inhabits the forests of New Guinea. Males of the species engage in elaborate courtship displays, which feature the birds hanging upside down during various parts of the performance. Additionally, nuthatches (Sitta) inhabiting the rain forest are able to creep and hop down the trunks and branches of trees while facing the ground -- a rare ability among birds. 6. Tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. They belong to, Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Chordata Class:Amphibia Order:Anura Superfamily:Hyloidea Family:Hylidae 7. Chameleon Lizards Arboreal alligator lizards are best for intermediate to advanced keepers because of their specific captive-care requirements. They are, however, hardy if maintained correctly. Chameleon is a type of lizard. There are around 160 species of chameleons. Chameleons are known for their ability to change the colour of their skin. Chameleon's tongue is propelled by incredible speed: it takes 0.07 seconds for tongue to reach the victim, it eat locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, mantis and stick insects. Kingdom;Animalia Phylum;Chordata Class;Reptilia 8. Squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they are able to glide from one tree to another with the aid of a patagium, a furred parachute-like skin membrane that stretches from wrist to ankle. Their long tails also provide stability as they glide.Anatomically they are very similar to other squirrels with a number of adaptations to suit their lifestyle; their limb bones are longer and their hand bones, foot bones, and distal vertebrae are shorter. Flying squirrels are able to steer and exert control over their glide path with their limbs and tail. Kingdom: Phylum: Class: Order: Suborder: Family: Animalia Chordata Mammalia Rodentia Sciuromorpha Sciuridae What are the challenges of an arboreal life ? Living on trees presents many challenges for arboreal animals. These challenges include finding food, playing, or protecting themselves while atop a tree. A single misstep could end up in injuries. Gathering and storing food on a tree is also a big challenge for such animals. Also, during extreme weather, taking shelter with the young can be difficult. Other challenges include moving on inclined branches, moving on narrow branches, dealing with obstructions, crossing gaps, and balancing. Conclusion Arboreal simply means "dwelling in trees," and some creatures have evolved to spend their lives in trees to overcome some of the problems they confront while living in a terrestrial or aquatic environment. Arboreal adaptations have given them with safety and made life easier for them as they face challenges and acquire advantages.
