PRIMATES AND PRIMATE BEHAVIOR

Chapter 6/7

Predisposition

The capacity or inclination to do something.

An organism’s capacity for behavioral or anatomical modification is related to the presence of preexisting traits.

Chimp bites woman’s face off!

…

Jane Goodall’s take on the situation

(The Daily Show - 11/12/09)

The Last Great Ape

Bonobos

Primates

To identify the components that have shaped the evolution of human species, we can begin by comparing ourselves to the approximately 230 species of nonhuman primates (lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes.)

Living primates are not “better” than their evolutionary predecessors or other living species. Each possesses unique qualities that make it better suited to a particular habitat and lifestyle.

The Primate Order

Check out the chart on page129 in your book

Primate Habitats

Most live in tropical or semitropical areas of the new and old worlds.

Most are arboreal, living in forest or woodland habitats. No nonhuman primate is adapted to a fully terrestrial

environment; all spend some time in the trees.

Survey of Living Primates

All primates (Primates Order) Lemurs and Lorises (Lemuriformes Infraorder) Tarsiers (Tarsiiformes Infraorder) Monkeys, Apes, and Humans (Anthropoidea

Infraorder) New World Monkeys (Platyrrhini Parvorder) Old World Monkeys, humans, apes (Catarrhini

Parvorder)

Lemurs and Lorises

The most primitive of the primates. Characteristics:

Reliance on olfaction Laterally placed eyes Shorter gestation and maturation Dental specialization called the "dental

comb”

Rhinarium

The moist, fleshy pad at the end of the nose seen in most mammals.

The rhinarium enhances an animal’s ability to smell.

Lemurs

Found on the island of Madagascar and other islands off the coast of Africa.

Extinct elsewhere in the world. Characteristics:

Larger lemurs are diurnal and eat vegetable foods: fruit, leaves, buds, and bark.

Smaller lemurs are nocturnal and insectivorous (insect -feeding).

Lemur Dental Comb

Formed by forward- projecting incisors and canines.

Lorises

Found in tropical forests and woodlands of India, Sri Lanka, southeast Asia, and Africa.

Characteristics: Use a climbing quadrupedalism. Some are insectivorous; others

supplement their diet with fruit, leaves, gums, and slugs.

Females frequently form associations for foraging or in sharing the same sleeping nest.

Tarsiers

Small nocturnal primates found on the islands of southeast Asia.

Eat insects and small vertebrates which they catch by leaping from branches.

Basic social pattern appears to be a family unit consisting of a mated pair and their offspring.

Monkeys

Represent about 85% of all primate species. Divided into two groups separated by

geography and several million years of evolutionary history: New World monkeys

70 species almost exclusively arboreal. Found in southern Mexico and Central and South

America. Old World monkeys

Habitats range from tropical forests to semiarid desert to snow-covered areas in Japan and china.

Characteristics: Most quadrupedal and arboreal