10/10/17 Lecture 10: Introduction to Primates
Types of Mammals
• Monotremes: egg-laying mammals
• Marsupials: pouched mammals
• Eutherian (placental) mammals: mammals with a placenta, fetus develops in the uterus
Eutherian (placental) mammals
Carnivores (bears, dogs, cats)
Perissodactyl (horses, rhinos)
Artiodactyl (cows, pigs, hippos, camels, deer)
Proboscid (elephants)
Rodent (rats, squirrels, beavers)
Chyroptera (bats)
Insectivore (shrews, moles)
Primates (lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, humans)
WHY STUDY PRIMATES?
We share many aspects of our morphology, physiology and development with other primates
Homology: Traits similar because of common ancestry
• Wild chimpanzees
– make tools
– hunt animals
– live in male-bonded groups
– Captive chimpanzees can acquire basic human language skills
Analogy: Similar traits through convergent evolution
Baboons live in similar environments to early hominids, can illustrate potential food sources, selective
pressures acting on primates living in African woodlands and grasslands
Primate characteristics
Grasping hands and feet
thumb, big toe opposable
Fingers, toes with nails, not claws
Sense of smell reduced
Visual sense well-developed
Small litters, gestation & juvenile periods long
Unspecialized molars
Large brains
Primate Adult Dentition
Incisors--flat--used for nipping
Canines--slashing, shearing (in humans similar to incisors)
Premolars--puncturing, some grinding
Molars—Grinding
Humans have same dental formula as OW monkeys, apes
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Types of Mammals
• Monotremes: egg-laying mammals
• Marsupials: pouched mammals
• Eutherian (placental) mammals: mammals with a placenta, fetus develops in the uterus
Eutherian (placental) mammals
Carnivores (bears, dogs, cats)
Perissodactyl (horses, rhinos)
Artiodactyl (cows, pigs, hippos, camels, deer)
Proboscid (elephants)
Rodent (rats, squirrels, beavers)
Chyroptera (bats)
Insectivore (shrews, moles)
Primates (lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, humans)
WHY STUDY PRIMATES?
We share many aspects of our morphology, physiology and development with other primates
Homology: Traits similar because of common ancestry
• Wild chimpanzees
– make tools
– hunt animals
– live in male-bonded groups
– Captive chimpanzees can acquire basic human language skills
Analogy: Similar traits through convergent evolution
Baboons live in similar environments to early hominids, can illustrate potential food sources, selective
pressures acting on primates living in African woodlands and grasslands
Primate characteristics
Grasping hands and feet
thumb, big toe opposable
Fingers, toes with nails, not claws
Sense of smell reduced
Visual sense well-developed
Small litters, gestation & juvenile periods long
Unspecialized molars
Large brains
Primate Adult Dentition
Incisors--flat--used for nipping
Canines--slashing, shearing (in humans similar to incisors)
Premolars--puncturing, some grinding
Molars—Grinding
Humans have same dental formula as OW monkeys, apes
1
