Week Seven Notes: The Stepsirhines: Lemurs and Lorises Prosimians(Same thing as Stepsirhines): Lemurs, Lorises, Tarsiers: Most primitive of the primates Exhibit the fewest derived traits (as a group) of all primates Ancestral Characteristics (ie. Inherited from mammals) • Rely more on olfaction • Moist noise and long snout • Eyes slightly more lateral Classification of Prosimians: Lemurs, Lorises, and Tarsiers Order- primates Suborder: Strepsirhines (used to be Prosimians)…
While examining the primate I would look at their dental formulas. By looking at these characteristics it can help differentiate the New World Monkeys from the old world monkeys and apes. For example, if the primate were to have a 2.1.3.3 dental formula they would be considered a New World Monkey. After observing them and seeing if they are tree-dwellers I can also come to the conclusion that he or she is a New World Monkey. While looking at the nose we can also determine if they are Old World Monkeys, New World Monkeys, or apes. If their nose faces down they would fall under the category of apes and Old World Monkeys. However, after being examined and looking at their traits I would come to the conclusion that the primate is a New World…
The sciencemag.com article “Anti-Alzheimer’s Gene may have Led to the Rise of Grandparents” by Kelli Whitlock Burton talks about the how the protective variant of the CD33 gene may explain why humans have grandmothers that help with child rearing. The article explains the “grandmother hypothesis” that says humans live such long and healthy lives even after they are no longer able to reproduce because they help with child rearing. The CD33 gene plays a big role in Alzheimer’s disease and scientists Ajit Varki and Pascal Gagneux discovered that there are two variants of it: a protective allele and a damaging one.…
Bruce Bowers article, “Fossils hint at India’s crucial role in primate evolution” published in September of 2016, gives the theory of how certain bones excavated from a coal mine in India resemble the first primates from as early as 65 million years ago (). This article states how these bones approximately reveal how a common ancestor would look like and act. Researchers believe that since having the qualities of both superfamilies, Adapoidea and Omomyoidea they left behind a large quantity of different skeletal traits. With the idea that the evolution of primates and their relatives occurred on an isolated island of idea then spread, that gives them the time to evolve and have the specific bone structure and abilities that key them into being…
The aim of this essay is to investigate the two major theories trying to explain why do primates have large brains. Even since the seminar study of Jerison in 1973 it has been acknowledged that primate brains are unusually large for their body size. There are three main groups of theories giving more or less persuasive explanations of the evolution of large brains and high cognitive skills in primates. The first group is a group of social theories, postulating that primate cognition is a result of complex social interactions between individuals, and in this essay this group will be represented by the Social Brain Hypothesis proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar. The second group encompasses the ecological theories that are based on a premise that primate intelligence originated from complex interactions with the environment. A “delegate” from this group in my discussion will be the Visual Specialisation Hypothesis introduced by Robert Barton (1998), who argues that primate encephalisation is connected to frugivorous diet and the need of advanced visual abilities. Finally, the Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis, which is a general name to multiple related views, proposes that large-brained primates possess “general intelligence” due to their great behavioural flexibility. This final theory will be included in the comparison just to offer an alternative view to the two mainly discussed theories above.…
Fraud. Deception. Infidelity. Theft. When these words are spoken, or read, the first thought is of human traits. Not once would someone think of animals as being capable of such actions, but people forget that humans are animals, and that the human animal evolved from a creature that had common ancestry with the great apes. Is it surprising then that these seemingly humanistic traits are found in primates? James Shreeve discusses the findings of hundreds of primatologists, which support the notion of Machiavellian intelligence in primates. He studied Machiavellian Intelligence in baboons, chimps, lemurs and lorises, and concluded that social primates exhibit this intelligence and those that live in small groups or in solitude do not.…
People believe that we are at the top of all animals and we are, for now, but other primates are not so far behind. Jane Goodall has witnessed chimpanzees making and using tools, hunting, planning and intelligence, spontaneous dance-like display,…
They flourished because of a high birth rate and the lack of effective birth control.…
Many processes have taken place to shape humans from the Australopithecus Afarensis to the modern day human also known as the Homo Sapien. As a result, the two defining traits that occurred by taxonomy are the effects of brain size and bipedalism. Humans, like other primates are considered as Order Primates in the Hominidae family and therefore are a prime example of taxonomy when the two diverged into different species. During taxonomy when humans diverged from their ancestors 6 to 7 million years ago, the result is the differences such as walking upright, brain size and overall skeletal structure are prominent due to the divergence of humans and other primates. Although primates and humans both share many anatomical, behavioral and socialization traits the differences are drastic and are all a result of selective pressures.…
Since humans and other primates share a variety of characteristics, other primates provide important observations about early humans. Homologies between hominids and other primates enhance to behavior because the physiological and cognitive formations that manage to control human demeanor are likely related to those of other primates than to members of other taxonomic groups. The reality of this broad collection of homologous traits, the commodity of the average evolutionary history of the primates, means that nonhuman primates give beneficial examples for understanding the evolutionary ancestry of hominid morphology and for resolving the basis of human nature.…
Ant interesting fact to premiere with in regards with this issue is the fact that a similar study was done with carnivores (p.1). It is this comparisons between these two groups that emphasizes the importance of this study because it shows an intrinsic difference between the evolution of primates and carnivores in terms of manipulation complexity. It was found that one of the reasons behind the differences in the two studies was the primate adaptation for a grasping forelimb…
The author wants us to agree that we have “more in common with our primate cousins than we do with any other animal”. He can only do this by showing us a lot of visuals that dynamically compare us two. We are shown many species of both monkeys and apes, and even that of a few…
The book A Primate’s Memoir by Robert M. Sapolsky takes the reader into the everyday life of a baboon. What Sapolsky was able to do was give insight in the everyday life of a baboon and we as the readers cannot help but compare and contrast the similarities and differences we have in common with these animals. Whether it is mating, fighting, competing, friendship or even mating we can all find similarities and differences. The book is filled with different stories taking and explaining the different personalities of each baboon in the tribe. By reading the book we as the readers are able to distinguish how closely similar or different we are to the baboons described by Sapolsky. With all of the different personality each baboon has, every single reader can surely relate to a baboon living in the tribe, due to the variations that is possessed within the tribe. Just like humans, the different personality each baboon has plays an important factor in their hierarchy as well as their mating success. Although not everyone agrees that humans and baboons are very much the same due to the difference in language and appearance, it is amazing how similar the two parties think and go about our everyday lives.…
Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.…
Learned behavior has become more advantages in the primate group because of several factors. First, learned behavior allows them for better access to food, such as the skill of cracking a nut with the use of two rocks. Alongside with that it also gives them social skills that are not instinctively, rather learned by the parent. With the social skills learned they can thus live in a group in which they are socially accepted and they have the benefits of protection and food. Alongside with that they also have the advantage of learning parenting skills which would increase the fitness of their offspring such as it did with…