Vertical clinging and 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.

[1] Vertical clinging and leaping primates have evolved a specialized anatomy to compensate for the physical implications of this form of locomotion.

[1] Vertical clinging and leaping primates may also use their tails to grip adjacent branches in order to stabilize their positional modes.

Locomotion and movement are the main contributing factors to primate's body shape and structure, thus the anatomy of vertical climbers and leapers is highly specialized to enable them to move effectively within their arboreal habitat.

In fact, tarsiers have been observed climb to lower heights in order to leap from and land on larger diameter branches.

In these cases, a trajectory other than 45 degrees would be more beneficial to give more height or more range (see photo), so vertical clinging and leaping animals adjust their launch angles accordingly to compensate for this.

Lacking any common quadrupedal features, the postcranial bones and fossils of the Eocene prosimians most closely resemble the specializations of vertical clingers and leapers.

Ida was found with a broken wrist, and it is believed that due to this, she could not leap or cling to the higher tree branches, and therefore had to stay lower to the ground where she came into contact with the toxic gasses and died.