1. The Living Primates
Chapter 7

2. The Order of Primates
230 species grouped into two suborders of nonhuman primates
Strepsirrhini – wet-nosed primates
Includes all non-tarsier prosimians
Lemurs, galagos and lorises
Haplorhini – dry nosed primates
Includes tarsiers and simians
Tarsiers, monkeys and apes
Living primates are not “better” than their predecessors
Each possesses qualities that make it more adapted to a particular environment

3. Hands and Feet Grasping Primates have five digit feet and hands
Tactile pads and nails
Flexible hands and feet arboreal origins
Humans and many other primates have opposable thumbs
Thumb can touch other fingers
May originate from insect eating
Feet
Most primates have grasping feet
Shift to bipedal locomotion
Walking on two feet eliminates useful foot grasping

4. Smell, Touch, and Sight Smell to Sight Nose to Hand
Shift from reliance on smell to reliance on sight
Stereoscopic vision – overlapping sight giving to depth perception
Monkey, Apes and Humans
Prosimians also generally lack color vision
Night vision
Nose to Hand
In primates, the main “touch” organ is the hand

5. Stereoscopic (Binocular) Vision

6. Primate Brain and Skull
Brain Complexity
More brain tissue used for thought and memory than most other mammals
High brain size to body size ratio
Parental Investment
Most primates give birth to single offspring
Primates require and receive more attention as infants
More opportunities for learning
The skull of a male baboon compared with that of a red wolf
Note the forward-facing eyes above the snout in the baboon, and the lateral position of the eyes of the wolf

7. General Primate Behavior
Primates show a great deal of behavioral flexibility and the ability to learn from experience
Longer period of dependency of offspring
Great amount of parental investment
Social groups and permanent association of adult males
Mostly diurnal – primarily active during the day
Most are arboreal - no nonhuman primate is fully terrestrial
All spend some time in the trees
Gathering
Sleeping

8. Growth and Development
The primates are characterized by the prolongation of gestation, during which the fetus grows rapidly
Primates are also characterized by a long childhood period and a prolonged life span

9. The Living Primates The Primate order Divided into 2 suborders
The Prosimii (prosimians)
The Anthropoidea (anthropoids)
The suborder Prosimii is divided into 2 infraorders
The Lemuriformes (lemurs, lorises)
The Tarsiiformes (tarsiers)
The suborder Anthropoidea is divided into 2 infraorders
The Platyrrhini (New World monkeys)
The Catarrhini (Old World monkeys, apes, humans)

10. Prosimians The most primitive of the primates. Characteristics:
Reliance on olfaction
Laterally placed eyes
Shorter gestation and maturation
Dental specialization called the "dental comb”
Rhinarium
Moist, fleshy pad at the end of the nose
Enhances ability to smell
Survived competition in some regions due to nocturnal living
Less competition with anthropoids
Lemur isolation

11. The Lemuriformes Larger lemurs are diurnal and eat vegetable foods
Smaller lemurs are nocturnal and insectivorous
All prosimians possess second toes that end in grooming claws
Lemuriformes live on the island of Madagascar (lemur, indri, aye-aye) and on the mainland of Africa and Asia (loris, potto, galago)

12. Lemur Dental Comb
Formed by forward- projecting incisors and canines

13. The Tarsiiformes Characteristics: Range: Small stature
Nocturnal, with large eyes
Insectivorous
Clinging and leaping
Social pattern of a mated pair and their offspring
Tarsiers possess grooming claws, but lack a dental comb
Range:
Tarsiers are found in Southeast Asia
Islands of southeast Asia

14. Primate Distribution

15. Anthropoids Monkeys, Apes and Humans Common traits:
Larger brain and body size
Reduced reliance on the sense of smell
Greater degree of color vision
Bony plate at the back of the eye socket
Different female reproductive anatomy
Longer gestation and maturation periods

16. Monkeys
85% of all primate species
New World monkeys
Old World monkeys

17. Infraorder Platyrrhini
New World Monkeys
Monkeys of southern Mexico, Central American, and South America
70 species
Almost exclusively arboreal
Tend to be smaller than Old World Monkeys
Many have prehensile tails
Thumb is grasping, but not opposable
The platyrrhine nose
One nocturnal species
Owl Monkey
Two families
Callitrichidae (marmosets, tamarins) and Cebidae (spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys)

18. Common Marmoset - Callithrix jacchus
Geoffery’s Spider Monkey - Ateles geoffroyi
Venezuelan Red Howler - Alouatta seniculus

19. Infraorder Catarrhini
Old World Monkeys, Apes, and Humans
Characterized by:
The catarrhine nose
Two premolars per quadrant of the mouth
A well-developed thumb that in most cases is opposable
This infraorder is divided into two superfamilies
Cercopithecoidea is composed of the Old World monkeys
Hominoidea includes the apes and humans

20. Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
The Old World Monkeys
Habitats range from tropical forests to semiarid desert to snow-covered areas in Japan and China
Mostly quadrupedal and arboreal
Divided into subfamilies:
Cercopithecines
Baboons, macaques, and guenons
Omnivorous
Some are terrestrial
Cheek pouches
Ischial callosities
Mostly in Africa
Colobines
African colobus monkeys and Asian langurs
Herbivorous leaf eaters

21. Mandrill - Mandrillus sphinx
Japanese Macaque - Macaca fuscata
De Brazza's monkey - Cercopithecus neglectus

22. Superfamily Hominoidea
Hominoids
Characteristics distinguishing hominoids from monkeys:
Larger body size
Absence of a tail
Shortened trunk
More complex behavior
More complex brain
Increased period of infant development
The family Hylobatidae (Lesser Apes)
Gibbon and siamang
The family Hominidae (Great Apes)
Orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo and humans

23. Gibbons and Siamangs Found in the tropical areas of SE Asia Diet
Fruits, leaves, flowers, and insects
Society
Monogamous pair and offspring
Males and females delineate their territories with whoops and “songs”

24. Orangutans and Gorillas
Belong to the subfamily Ponginae
Borneo and Sumatra
40,000 Borneans (P. pygmaeus)
7,000 Sumatrans (P. abelii)
Gorillas
Belong to the subfamily Gorillinae
One large silverback male, a few adult females, and their young offspring
Confined to forested areas of western and eastern equatorial Africa
Western Gorilla (G. gorilla)
Western lowland (G. g. gorilla)
Cross River (G. g. diehli)
Eastern Gorilla (G. beringei)
Mountain (G. b. beringei)
Eastern lowland (G. b. graueri)

25. Subfamily Homininae Tribe Panini Tribe Hominini
Chimpanzees (P. troglodytes) and bonobos (P. paniscus)
Found in Equatorial Africa
Chimpanzees
Large communities of as many as 50 individuals
Eat a variety of plant and animal foods
Bonobos
Male-female bonds constitute the societal core
Only a few thousand, found South of the Congo (Zaire) River
Sexuality
Includes frequent copulations
Uses: Greetings, forming social bonds, exchange, and conflict resolution
Only non-human animal to engage in tongue kissing, face-to-face, and oral sex
Tribe Hominini
Humans

26. Chimpanzee - Pan troglodytes
Bonobo – Pan paniscus