What makes primates different from other mammals?
•
Fingers and toes that are long and flexible
•
Shoulder and hip joints allow wide range of limb
motion jump, run, scamper
•
Eyes directed forward
Primate Characteristics
•
Opposable Thumb
•
Thumb is mobile and
separate from the fingers.
•
Used for grasping and
precise manipulations
•
Senses
•
Binocular
•
Diurnal = day active
•
Nocturnal = night active
Characteristics continued…
•
Complex brain and
behaviors
•
Large devoted to
memory and
coordination
•
Problem-solving and
develop social behaviors
•
Reproductive rate
•
1 baby at a time,
Primate Diversity
Earliest primates
•
small arboreal (tree-dwelling) mammals
•
before 65 million years ago
Most living primates are arboreal
•
primate features shaped by the demands of living
in trees (through natural selection)
•
humans never lived in trees
•
human body retains many of the traits that evolved
in our arboreal ancestors.
Figure 19.9-1
Coquerel’s sifaka, a lemur
PRIMATE DIVERSITY
Distinguishing primate features
Primates include lorises, lemurs, tarsiers, and anthropoids
(monkeys and apes)
Short snout; eyes set close together on front of face Limber shoulder and hip joints
Five highly mobile digits on hands and feet
© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 19.9-4
PRIMATE DIVERSITY
Anthropoids
Include monkeys and apes Have a fully opposable thumb that functions in grasping
Have forelimbs about equal in length to their hind limbs Have tails; some have a long, prehensile (grasping) tail, others lack a prehensile tail
Most have relatively long arms and short legs Lack a tail
Monkeys
Apes
Gorilla (a type of ape) and offspring
Figure 19.9-7
PRIMATE DIVERSITY
Anthropoids
Include Old World (Africa and Asia) and New World (the Americas) monkeys
Monkeys
Golden lion tamarin
Old World and New World monkeys have been evolving separately for over 30 million years.
Old World monkeys Many arboreal, but some ground
dwelling Nostrils open downward
Lack prehensile tail Lion-tailed macaque
Many have a long, prehensile (grasping) tail Nostrils open to side; far apart All arboreal
© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 19.9-10
PRIMATE DIVERSITY
Anthropoids,
continued
Include gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans
Apes
Compared to other primates, they have larger brains relative to body size; thus, their behavior is more flexible.
Orangutan
Gorilla and offspring
phylogenetic tree
shows
all primates are divided into three groups:
1.
Prosimians - lemurs, lorises, and pottos,
2.
Tarsiers, and
3.
Anthropoids, including monkeys and apes.
Anthropoids began diverging from other primates about
50 million years ago.
© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 19.10a-0
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Humans
Chimpanzees Gorillas
Orangutans Gibbons
Old World monkeys New World monkeys Tarsiers
Lemurs, lorises, and pottos
Ancestral primate
Millions of years ago
The human story begins
with our primate heritage
•
Old World monkeys and apes, which include
gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees (and
bonobos), and humans, diverged about 20–25
million years ago.
•
Molecular evidence indicates that chimpanzees
and gorillas are more closely related to humans
