Publications by authors named "N W Dunham"
Article Synopsis
- - This study examines the diets of zoo-housed colobus monkeys and langurs in AZA institutions, highlighting the dietary diversity and nutritional content across 34 surveyed zoos.
- - A total of 95 food items and 229 types of browse were recorded, with leafy greens being the only item consistently offered, while other food categories showed significant variability.
- - The research reveals that while there are no major dietary differences between the two species, there is considerable inconsistency in how browse is provided and valued among the institutions, suggesting a need for future studies on the impact of diet on animal health and welfare.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the jumping abilities of three types of callitrichine monkeys, linking their performance to skeletal structure and evolutionary adaptations.
- Results indicate a correlation between jumping performance, anatomical features, and different jumping strategies among the species, showing how body structure influences their leaping methods.
- The findings highlight potential ways to better interpret jumping capabilities in the fossil record, suggesting anatomical and behavioral traits are key to understanding evolutionary fitness.
Transaminases are choice biocatalysts for the synthesis of chiral primary amines, including amino acids bearing contiguous stereocenters. In this study, we employ lysine as a "smart" amine donor in transaminase-catalyzed dynamic kinetic resolution reactions to access β-branched noncanonical arylalanines. Our mechanistic investigation demonstrates that, upon transamination, the lysine-derived ketone byproduct readily cyclizes to a six-membered imine, driving the equilibrium in the desired direction and thus alleviating the need to load superstoichiometric quantities of the amine donor or deploy a multienzyme cascade.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpatiotemporal walking gait kinematics of semi-arboreal red pandas (Ailurus fulgens).
J Exp Zool A Ecol Integr Physiol
October 2023
Semi-arboreal mammals must routinely cope with the differing biomechanical challenges of terrestrial versus arboreal locomotion; however, it is not clear to what extent semi-arboreal mammals adjust footfall patterns when moving on different substrates. We opportunistically filmed quadrupedal locomotion (n = 132 walking strides) of semi-arboreal red pandas (Ailurus fulgens; n = 3) housed at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and examined the effects of substrate type on spatiotemporal gait kinematic variables using linear mixed models. We further investigated the effects of substrate diameter and orientation on arboreal gait kinematics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMorphological traits suggesting powerful jumping abilities are characteristic of early crown primate fossils. Because tree squirrels lack certain 'primatelike' grasping features but frequently travel on the narrow terminal branches of trees, they make a viable extant model for an early stage of primate evolution. Here, we explore biomechanical determinants of jumping performance in the arboreal Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis, n = 3) as a greater understanding of the biomechanical strategies that squirrels use to modulate jumping performance could inform theories of selection for increased jumping ability during early primate evolution.
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