The goal of primatology, the study of primates, is to understand how different primates have adapted anatomically and behaviorally to their environment. The results of such studies may help us to understand the behavior and evolution of the human primate.

All living primates, including humans, evolved from earlier primates that are now extinct. In conjunction with fossil evidence, anatomical and behavioral comparisons of living primates may help us reconstruct what early primates were like.

All primates belong to the class Mammalia, and they share all the common features of mammals. Except for humans, the bodies of primates are covered with dense hair or fur, which provides insulation. Mammals are warm-blooded – their body temperature is more or less constantly warm and usually higher than that of the air around them.

All primates belong to the class Mammalia, and they share all the common features of mammals. Almost all mammals give birth to live young that develop to considerable size within the mother. The young have a relatively long period of dependence on adults after birth – this period is also a time for learning. Play is a learning technique common to mammal young.

The primates have a number of physical and social traits that set them apart from other mammals.

Not one of the primates’ physical features is unique to primates; animals from other orders share one or more of the characteristics. But the complex of all these physical traits is unique to primates.

Many skeletal features of the primates reflect an arboreal (tree-living) existence. All primates hind limbs are structured principally to provide support, but the “feet” in most primates can also grasp things. Some primates – orangutans, for instance – can suspend themselves from their hind limbs. The forelimbs are especially flexible, built to withstand both pushing and pulling forces.

Each of the hind limbs and forelimbs has one bone in the upper portion and two bones in the lower portion. This feature has changed little since the time of the earliest primate ancestors. It has remained in modern primates (although many other mammals have lost it) because the double bones gives great mobility for rotating arms and legs.

Another characteristics structure of primates is the clavicle, or collarbone. The clavicle also give primates great freedom of movement, allowing them to move the shoulders both up and down and back and forth. Without a cleaver we could not throw a spear or a ball.

Primates are omnivorous – they eat all kinds of food, including insects and small animals, as well as fruits, seeds, leaves, and roots. The teeth of primates reflect this omnivorous diet. The chewing teeth – the molars and premolars – are unspecialized, particularly in comparison with those of other groups of animals, such as the grazers.

Primate hands are extremely flexible. All primates have prehensile- grasping – hands, which can be wrapped around an object. Primates have five digits on both hands and feet, and their nails, with few exceptions, are broad and flat, not clawlike. This structure allows them to grip objects. The hairless, sensitive pads on their fingers, toes, heels, and palms also help them to grim. Most primates have opposable thumbs.

Vision is very important to primate life. Primates have a relatively large portion of the brain devoted to vision rather than smell. Primates are characterized by stereoscopic, or depth, vision. Their eyes are directly forward rather than sideways. A trait that allows them to focus on an object. Most primates have color vision.

Large brain related to body size. Perhaps because their survival depends on an enormous amount of learning. In general, animals with large brains seem to mature more slowly and to live longer than animals with small brains.

(prosimian primates – resemble early forms such as lemurs, & tarsiers.) “Primates have grasping hands, acute vision, and large brains.”

“ Primate parents provide extended periods of intense care for their young, and many primate species live in complex social groups.”

Prosimii lemurs, galagos, and lorises Tarsiiformes tarsiers Anthropoidea (anthropoids) monkeys, apes, and humans