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Kangaroo-Monkeys are a mammalian species from the Euarchontoglires super-order. Some basic characteristics of my kangaroo-monkeys include:

  1. Are excellent bipedal jumpers (they jump from the ground);
  2. Are obligate carnivores like tarsiers (they are 50% pursuit predators, 35% scavengers, and 15% ambush predators) (they eat other mammals, birds, snakes, arthropods, earthworms, and gastropods);
  3. Have an average life expectancy of 2.5 decades (25 years), and they age four times faster than humans (a 3 years old kangaroo-monkey is comparable to a 12 years old human);
  4. Compared to humans, they have an higher risk of heart disease, but a lower risk of cancer;
  5. Are solitary but social (or as solitary as orangutans if you want);
  6. Adult males range from 0.91 meters to 1.42 meters (or 3 feet to 4 feet 8 inches if you want), and are 10 % smaller than adult females;
  7. Have gorilla-level intelligence;
  8. Have the same hair colour range as fancy rats;
  9. Have beaver-level strength;
  10. Have an excellent sense of eyesight, and hearing, and a sense of smell comparable to chimpanzees, but a relatively poor sense of taste (they cannot taste sweet and spiciness, they can taste salt, umami, fat, sour, and bitter).

Given these characteristics, what species could they have evolved from, and what evolutionary pressures would lead to them?

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    $\begingroup$ They sound like lemurs to me youtu.be/fHCQ5-1n07M?t=45 $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 20:40
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    $\begingroup$ Are kangaroo-monkeys a primate version of a tree kangaroo? $\endgroup$
    – user81881
    Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 20:54
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    $\begingroup$ "Proportionately as strong as beavers" may be a big ask; the bigger an animal gets, the lower its proportionate strength has to be. $\endgroup$
    – jdunlop
    Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 22:04
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    $\begingroup$ spiciness is not a taste, also why would a climber be a scavenger? carcasses are rarely found in trees. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 22:10
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    $\begingroup$ @StarfishPrime - are you maligning Canada's greatest superhero, Captain Beaver? $\endgroup$
    – jdunlop
    Commented Feb 20, 2021 at 0:31

1 Answer 1

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For the most part, this seems reasonable. I question how well a critter with kangaroo-like feet could climb trees, though; Tree Kangaroos have much smaller feet than their land-dwelling cousins.

I don't know of any large apes that can jump high from the ground, and gorillas in particular do most of their travel by walking on the ground. I feel like a large ape-like creature that can jump high from the ground is fairly unlikely.

Of course, it's difficult to be super precise, because you did not specify whether the animals jump from the ground or from trees, whether they climb trees, how they hunt, what they hunt, e.t.c.. I'd need more details to give a more complete answer.

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    $\begingroup$ They jump from the ground. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 21:31
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    $\begingroup$ They are mostly pursuit predators, occasionally scavengers, and exceptionally ambush predators. They eat other mammals, snakes, birds, arthropods, earthworms, and gastropods. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 21:38
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    $\begingroup$ So, update; I've just realized that I may have been talking a little bit of nonsense. Leopards are large predators that spend a lot of time in trees and are very good at jumping. model some parts of your kangaroo-monkey after a leopard (specifically, the hind legs) and you've got a pretty viable animal. $\endgroup$
    – Globin347
    Commented Feb 21, 2021 at 5:38
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    $\begingroup$ Leopards are okay jumpers, able to jump ~3m vertically or ~6m horizontally... which seems impressive until you compare them to puma concolor, which can double both those distances. $\endgroup$
    – Matthew
    Commented Oct 6, 2021 at 15:21

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