English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

Since humans have to manually trim their nails, I have wondered whether other primates have to do something similar. I can't imagine day to day activities like brachiation, climbing, and manipulation of objects could produce enough wear on the nails to keep the growth in check.

I've scanned through encyclopedias, primate information web-sites, and a bunch of books, and I just can't seem to find an answer. Unless they have a slower growth rate for their nails than we do, they've got to be doing something, right?

2007-06-27 11:29:53 · 5 answers · asked by Jason L 1 in Science & Mathematics Biology

5 answers

Some are very meticulous about their nails and some are not. Those that are not typically just let them break. Those that are, tend to bite them carefully or I've even seen them using rough rocks to file them.

I work in an ape sanctuary that houses chimpanzees and orangutans. One of the things we do to interact with them, sometimes is to sit down with nail files and file their nails. Some of the orangutans have problems with their feet due to years of being worked in entertainment and having their very unhuman sized feet shoved into human sized shoes resulting in arthritis and some deformities that make it hard for them to straighten their feet. Because of this, their toenails grow far too long and can actually hurt their feet as they walk, so we sometimes have to pry open their feet and use very heavy duty nail clippers to trim them.

2007-06-27 16:14:25 · answer #1 · answered by jade_calliope 3 · 2 0

I'm going to guess that they chew or bite them off if they get too long. I know people who do this as well. :-)

I was going to try to make a joke like "they go to the local beauty salon", but that's just goofy. I mean, primates don't have money for that kind of stuff!

2007-06-27 11:36:49 · answer #2 · answered by dbucciar 4 · 0 0

You may be looking for some complexity where there isn't any. They probably do the same as I do when I forget to trim my nails. They just break off and look really awful.

2007-06-27 13:46:49 · answer #3 · answered by Joan H 6 · 0 0

I presumed that they would bite them off, but what about baby chimps, do they know instinctively to bite their nails. Do mother chimps take care of their baby chimps nails. I can remember my mother trimming my nails as a small child. . . . .

2015-11-12 18:59:02 · answer #4 · answered by CHARLES S 1 · 0 0

they bite them. I hope this Q was a joke.

2007-06-27 11:50:29 · answer #5 · answered by bana_q_wax 2 · 0 2

fedest.com, questions and answers