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 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