Primates
Anthropology
Primatology
Mammalian Characteristics
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Fur covering body
Endothermy
Viviparous
Mammary glands
Omnivorous
-Specialized teeth
Primate
Characteristics
• Opposable thumbs
• Prehensile (Grasping) hands & feet
• Forward facing eyes (Stereoscopic vision determines
depth perception)
• Large cerebrums
• Clavicle (Allows arms to increase in mobility)
• Prehensile tail
• Rotating forearm
• Color vision
• Singular births (Quality, not quantity)
Primate Social Features
• Diurnal
• Long dependency period (Allows infants to
observe & learn)
• Play or imitation (Important for learning,
practicing skills)
Primate
Phylogeny
Primate Classification
Prosimians – premonkeys
• Lemurs
• Lorises
• Tarsiers
Anthropoids
New world monkeys (Platyrrhines)
Old world monkeys (Catarrhines)
• Lesser apes (Gibbons & Siamangs)
• Great apes (Orangutans, gorillas, & Chimpanzees
• Humans
Prosimian Traits
• Better sense of smell than vision (Use scent glands or urine
to mark territory)
• Mobile ears
• Longer snouts
• Single offspring (twins are common in some species)
• Quadrupedal
• Vertical clinging & leaping
• Arboreal
• Nocturnal
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Primates
Suborder:
Strepsirrhini
Prosimian Types
SUBORDER - Strepsirhines (Wet nosed)
All have a dental comb (Tightly clustered incisors & canine
teeth—used for grooming)
FOUND IN MADAGASCAR
• Lemurs (vegetarians, females dominate males for food)
• Indris
• Aye-ayes
FOUND IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
• Loris (Slow, hand over hand, quadrupedal movement)
• Bushbabies (Quick, active, kangaroo hop on the ground)
SUBORDER - Haplorhines (Dry nosed)
FOUND IN PHILIPPINES & INDONESIA
Tarsiers – Carnivorous, named from elongated
tarsal bones
Bushbaby
Madagascar
Southeast asia
Philippines
Prosimians
Lemurs
Indris
Aye-Ayes
Lorises
Walk slowly, hand over hand
Also vertical leapers
Bushbabies
Family : Galagonidae
Tarsiers
Anthropoids
Types
• Humans
• Apes
• Monkeys
Traits
• Rounded braincase
• Non-mobile outer ears
• Small flat faces without muzzles
• Highly developed placenta
• Dextrous hands
• Grouping
• Platyrrhines – New world monkeys (Central & South
Americas)
• Catarrhines – Old world monkeys (Africa, Asia, & Europe)
Platyrrhines
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“New world”
Have broad flat-bridged noses
Nostrils facing outward
Most have prehensile tail
Completely arboreal
Two groups
• Marmosets
• Tamarins
• Cebid monkeys
Marmosets & Tamarins
• Very small
• Have claws instead of nails
• Give birth to twins
• Some Monogamy, others Polyandry
• Omnivores (fruit, tree sap, insects)
• Fathers aid in parental care (carrying of young)
Marmosets
Name means a
grotesque figure or
ugly little boy
genera: Callithrix
Tamarins
Cebids
• Larger than marmosets
• Single offspring
• Ominvores
Howler monkeys
Capuchin monkey
Cebids
• New world monkeys
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• Preyed on by ocelots and jaguars
• Communicate by urinating on themselves
and rubbing a tree
• Thumbs that cannot grip against the
fingers
Catarrhines
• “Old world” = CERCOPITHECOIDS
• Some arboreal, some terrestrial, some
both
Colobine Monkeys
• Asian langurs
• African colobus
Langur Monkey
Colobus
Colobine Monkeys
• Arboreal
• Herbivorous – leaves & seeds
• Mothers allow other group members to
care for their infants shortly after birth
• Males not in group will kill infants
Cercopithecine
Monkeys
Exhibit sexual dimorphism
• Males larger than females
• Males have longer canine teeth
• Males are more aggressive
Mandrillus sphinx
• Depend more on fruit than colobine monkeys
• Have cheek pouches to carry/store food
• Have ischial callosities to make sitting in trees or
land for a long time more comfortable, and for
sexual displays
Mandrill
Baboons
Japanese & Rhesus
Macaques
Ischial Callosities (Callouses)
Hominoids
• Lesser apes – hylobates
• Great apes – pongids
• Humans – hominids
General Traits
• Large brains (Cerebral cortex)
• Long arms
• Short, broad trunks
• No tails
Hylobates – Lesser apes
Gibbons & Siamangs
• Omnivores (Fruit, leaves, & insects)
• Brachiators
• Monogamous
• No sexual dimorphism
Gibbons
Siamangs
• Name means “Dwells in trees”
Pongids
• Orangutans
• Gorillas
• Chimpanzees
Orangutans
• Found only in Sumatra & Borneo
• Name means people of the forest
• Sexually dimorphic (Males ~200 lbs larger with
cheek pads, throat pouches, and beards)
• Heaviest arboreal primates
• Eat mainly fruit
Live solitary lives
• Maybe due to lack of food
• Maybe easier to hide from human predators
• Maybe large size prevents natural predation, so no
need to live in groups
Gorilla
• Herbivorous
• Have unique nose prints
• Largest of the apes (Males up to 450 lbs and
females up to 250 lbs)
• Knuckle walking to distribute weight
• Dominant male called a silverback
• Average adult male eats 50 lbs of food per day
Chimpanzees
• From the genus Pan
• Arboreal & terrestrial (move best on the ground)
• Uses tools such as leaves for personal hygiene or drinking
water
• Have ability to learn sign language
• Eat lizards, birds and actively hunt larger animals (Colobus
monkeys & baboons)
• Knuckle-walk