PRIMATES

Jan 10, 2011 12:05 PM

a primate is a member of the ORDER PRIMATES.  (prime is latin for first rank).

the group that includes  prosimians (lemurs, tariers etc)  and simians (monkeys AND APES).

Note simians includes the APES like us.

most primates live in tropical or subtropical regions.

Smallest is the Mouse Lemur (1 oz or 30 grams)  to the Mountain Gorilla 200 kg.

Fossils says the ancestors of primates may have existed in the late Cretaceous

around 65 million years ago. Oldest known primate was Plesiadapsis about 55M yrs ago.

NOTE:  PRIMATES go back to the KT boundary!

Simians are divided into two groups:

the platyrrhines (flat nose) or new world monkeys (squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys etc)

and narrow nosed monkeys and apes  :  OLD WORLD MONKEYS and APES (including us)

this group is the CATARRHINES (narrow nosed monkeys and apes).

Considered <a title="Generalist and specialist species" href="/wiki/Generalist_and_specialist_species">generalist</a> mammals, primates exhibit a wide range of characteristics. Some primates (including some great apes and baboons) do not live primarily in trees, but all species possess adaptations for climbing trees. Locomotion techniques used include leaping from tree to tree, walking on two or four limbs, knuckle-walking, and swinging between branches of trees (known as <a title="Brachiation" href="/wiki/Brachiation">brachiation</a>). Primates are characterized by their large brains, relative to other mammals, as well as an increased reliance on <a title="Stereopsis" href="/wiki/Stereopsis">stereoscopic</a> vision at the expense of smell, the dominant sensory system in most mammals. These features are most significant in monkeys and apes, and noticeably less so in lorises and lemurs. <a title="Trichromacy" href="/wiki/Trichromacy">Three-color vision</a> has developed in some primates. Most also have <a title="Thumb" href="/wiki/Thumb">opposable thumbs</a> and some have <a title="Prehensility" href="/wiki/Prehensility">prehensile</a> tails. Many species are <a title="Sexual dimorphism" href="/wiki/Sexual_dimorphism">sexually dimorphic</a>, which means males and females have different physical traits, including body mass, canine tooth size, and coloration. Primates have slower rates of development than other similarly sized mammals, and reach maturity later but have longer lifespans. Some species live in solitude, others live in male–female pairs, and others live in groups of up to hundreds of members

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Nov 22, 2012 10:42 AM

PRIMATE EVOLUTION

PRIMATES

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