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Interpretations of extinct vertebrate anatomy, behavior, and life history are built upon comparative anatomy data from neontological collections. Ideally, these interpretations are informed by metadata collected while the organism was alive such as diet, mass throughout life, social relationships, and reproductive history. Unfortunately, these data are not available for many specimens as natural history collections have focused on wild-caught individuals for which mass at collection, sex, and collection locality are typically the only associated data. In contrast, extensive life-history data are collected from organisms in sustained human care, but transferring these data from zoos to natural history collections is not standardized or prioritized. The Duke Lemur Center (DLC) has been designing a database that allows researchers access to morphological and life-history data derived from animals that were part of the living research colony. The DLC is home to over 200 lemurs representing 16 different species. The colony has access to open air, multi-acre habitats. For over 50 years the AZA-accredited DLC has been a platform for non-invasive research on strepsirrhine primates and the DLC Museum is the repository for DLC specimens and fossils related to the evolution of primates. The colony’s breeding records, veterinary care, husbandry data, locomotor behaviors, and diets are recorded by researchers and staff. However, these data are disaggregated, making it difficult to explore. The DLC Data Team started by generating microCT scans of the osteology and frozen cadaver collection to make morphological data available on MorphoSource. Preserved specimens were rehoused and inventoried. Now we are using DLC-developed REDCap database management tools to network scans with life-history records, building a database that researchers can use to explore questions such as individual variation in tooth wear, osteological signatures of different pathologies, and individual biomechanical performance. The REDCap database is also used to store fossil metadata like field notes and specimen preparation records. Our goal is to make these database tools available to other living colonies and natural history collections, so life-history data can be shared and standardized across institutions. This effort – in collaboration with the ZooMu network – will ultimately make life histories accessible to researchers – including paleontologists exploring the fossil record. 

ABSTRACT Jumping is a crucial behavior in fitness-critical activities including locomotion, resource acquisition, courtship displays and predator avoidance. In primates, paleontological evidence suggests selection for enhanced jumping ability during their early evolution. However, our interpretation of the fossil record remains limited, as no studies have explicitly linked levels of jumping performance with interspecific skeletal variation. We used force platform analyses to generate biomechanical data on maximal jumping performance in three genera of callitrichine monkeys falling along a continuum of jumping propensity: Callimico (relatively high propensity jumper), Saguinus (intermediate jumping propensity) and Callithrix (relatively low propensity jumper). Individuals performed vertical jumps to perches of increasing height within a custom-built tower. We coupled performance data with high-resolution micro-CT data quantifying bony features thought to reflect jumping ability. Levels of maximal performance between species – e.g. maximal take-off velocity of the center of mass (CoM) – parallel established gradients of jumping propensity. Both biomechanical analysis of jumping performance determinants (e.g. CoM displacement, maximal force production and peak mechanical power during push-off) and multivariate analyses of bony hindlimb morphology highlight different mechanical strategies among taxa. For instance, Callimico, which has relatively long hindlimbs, followed a strategy of fully extending of the limbs to maximize CoM displacement – rather than force production – during push-off. In contrast, relatively shorter-limbed Callithrix depended mostly on relatively high push-off forces. Overall, these results suggest that leaping performance is at least partially associated with correlated anatomical and behavioral adaptations, suggesting the possibility of improving inferences about performance in the fossil record.