Primates

Anthropology

Primatology

Mammalian Characteristics • • • • • 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 Lemurs Lorises Tarsiers – premonkeys • • • Anthropoids New world monkeys (Platyrrhines) Old world monkeys (Catarrhines) Lesser apes (Gibbons & Siamangs) Great apes (Orangutans, gorillas, & Chimpanzees Humans

Prosimian Traits

• • Mobile ears • Longer snouts • Single offspring (twins are common in some species) • Quadrupedal • Vertical clinging & leaping • Arboreal • Nocturnal

Kingdom: Phylum: Class: Order: Suborder: Animalia Chordata Mammalia Primates

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 Bushbaby Tarsiers – Carnivorous, named from elongated

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

• • • • • “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)

genera: Callithrix Marmosets Name means a grotesque figure or ugly little boy

Tamarins

Cebids

• • • Larger than marmosets Single offspring Ominvores Capuchin monkey Howler monkeys

Cebids

• • • New world monkeys 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

• Arboreal

Colobine Monkeys

• 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”

• • • Orangutans Gorillas Chimpanzees

Pongids

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