Climbing vertical substrates constitutes an important aspect of arboreal locomotion and many mammals efficiently engage in such behavior despite having different morphologies. Yet, behavioral strategies and locomotor mechanics during vertical ascent or descent are still poorly understood and rarely studied in association with autopodial grasping abilities. Moreover, it is still unclear whether vertical climbing may have played an important role in the evolution of locomotor mechanics in primates (i.e. hindlimb dominance), and in the origin of their specific manual and pedal grasping abilities (i.e. divergent pollex/hallux and nails). We investigated limb mechanics (gait, speed) and autopodial grasping postures during ascent and descent on vertical and oblique supports of various diameters (large, medium, small) in 11 primate species (6 strepsirrhines and 5 platyrrhines) and 11 non-primate arboreal species (1 scandentian, 3 rodents, 3 carnivorans and 4 marsupials). Our preliminary results show that primates more often exhibit rump-first descent strategies on vertical substrates, while the other studied mammals preferentially exhibit head-first descents. Also, primates have higher speed during ascents than during descents, unlike other species. Moreover, we found that the use of the pollex and hallux is crucial for ascending small vertical substrates, and interestingly, grasping strategies are more complex during vertical descent, with more particularities across species.