Evolution Of Primates

The second grade of primates evolved about 53 million years ago, in Eocene epoch. There are five tarsier species that all live in the islands of Southeast Asia, where they inhabit from tropical forest to backyard gardens (Jurmain, et al, 2011). They are considered to be closely related to lemurs and lorises (prosimian family) for the several traits that they share with Grade I primates while having some anthropoid features as well. However, tarsiers have distinctive characteristics that isolate them from other primates. They are categorized as the smallest creatures among the primate species and they are well known for their enormous eyes which is as large as its brain. They are normally nocturnal insectivores but sometimes carnivorous. They catch insects by jumping at them and as they jump from tree to tree, they even hunt for birds while in motion.

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of prosimians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to the transforming environments interacting with natural selection, primates developed their own ways to move better (meaning changes in locomotion) with different types of bodies (meaning changes in body configuration).

From the trees to the grasses to the microbes to the animals, all life on earth is interconnected. Just as the trees are connected to the microbes in the dirt, the climate is connected to every living thing on this planet. The success of animals has always depended on the success of plants, known as the producers in the food supply chain. The changing climate has had a powerful effect upon evolution, including the evolution of primates. This essay explores the proliferation and the demise of primate species from the Paleocene Epoch to the Miocene Epoch by comparing and contrasting the physical and behavior differences between the primates of each period and how the ecological conditions of the period allowed for their selection.

The Strepsirrhini group are “more primitive than other primates such as monkeys and apes.” (3). Lemurs have olfactory communication, have stink and spur fights. Lorises are known for their “nocturnal behavior and are extremely slow in locomotion”. (3). Galago’s also called bush babies because their calls sound similar to an infant, they can jump about 8 feet from a sitting position and have very strong eyesight.

Historically, the set of common characteristics among primates have been documented as a consequence of adapting to arboreal living (living in trees). Even though others placental mammals (a very diverse group of close to 4,000 species ranging everything from rodents/bats to humans) were able to adapt to various environments; such as living on land (ground-dwelling) to living in oceans (marine environments), while the primates found their adaptive niche in the trees (the place in which they survival dependent upon such as in terms of proving refugee, their source of food, its habitat, etc.). In addition, the primates were not the only ones who were able to adapt to living in the trees, other mammals were capable of adapting to this way of living, however, the majority of them continued to dependent on the land for their primary source of food. On

NOVA scienceNOW : 41 - First Primates is a video that mainly talks about Primates who are ancient ancestors of human beings. Primates came out on the Earth 55million years ago when dinosaurs extinct due to collision between an immense comet and the Earth. Plesiadapiform, which is a possibly the first ancestor of primates and human beings, firstly evolved with a mouse-size organism during 10 million years. It existed during the 10 million year with diverse evidences that can show its validity of first ancester of primates. Nails of plesiadapiforms is a critical evidence that they are early ancestors of primates. Secondary proof is a tube-like structure which is found in the middle ear. It happens to be a tube for a huge vessel that goes to the

Kavanagh, M. & Morris, D. (1983). Complete guide to monkeys, apes and other primates. London: Viking Press.

Primates have the most diverse locomotor habits compared to any other mammals. Primate locomotion can be classified on behavioral grounds into four major types: vertical clinging and leaping, quadrupedalism, brachiation, and bipedalism. The differences between the four major categories lie principally in the degree to which the forelimbs and hind limbs are used to climb, swing, jump, and run in the environment that is lived in. Most non-human primates are quadrupedal, meaning that they use all four limbs in their locomotion. However, these variations between form such as being either arboreal or terrestrial come to exist because of the behavioral, anatomical, and ecological aspects of the primate species. Many primates today are arboreal, including large primates like chimpanzees and orangutans, and spend large proportions of their time off the ground and in the

The discovery of Ardipithecus Ramidus (Ardi) changed our whole insight of how humans evolved. The theory that we evolved from ape like species was disproven. Because of Ardi’s has close resemblance of qualities of both a chimpanzee and a human, she is thought to be the “missing link” between our last common ancestor and the Australopithecines. Ardi’s had a pelvis structure, which was evident that she was bipedal on the ground while she could also climb trees, using her long fingers and opposable big toe for grasping, however the flexibility that apes use to grab and scale tree trunks and vines she lacked. The way the hand, wrist and shoulder bones demonstration shown that she wasn't a knuckle walker and did not spend much time hanging or swinging

When walking along branches, the gibbons will keep their long arms above their head for balance. Gibbons are often used in the studies of human evolution in walking (National Geographic, 2013).

Anaplo et al. conducted a study on the body structures of vervets and blue monkeys by comparing the two primate species’ brachial, crural, and intermembral indices (2005). The brachial index is the ratio of the radius to humerus length, the crural index is defined as the tibia/femur ratio, and the intermembral index is the ratio of the brachial index to crural index (Anapol et al., 2005). This study referred to previous research that concluded that an inverse relationship exists between guenon’s intermembral index and the percentage of a species’ locomotion occupied by leaping (Anapol et al., 2005). In this particular study, it was discovered that when a quadruped that does not leap is compared to one that does, the leaping quadruped has a lower intermembral index (Anapol). These studies suggest that limb indices are indicative of locomotive

FAMILY: Hominidae:Gorillas have muscular and strong bodies and well developed forearms. They also have a large braincase and their teeth consist of upper and lower molars, broad incisors, and canines.

The attributes of the hands and forelimbs indicates that Ardipithecus need some of the locomotor abilities that is usually seen in modern apes. Gorillas, chimps, and bonobos all carry their weight on their knuckles when they walk, so most researchers assumed that this trait characterized the last common ancestor of the great apes and humans and was lost in the human lineage afterwards.

Resembling the physical progression of early hominids was the improvement of cultural technical knowledge that permitted them to end up noticeably progressively fruitful at obtaining food and outlasting preys. The proof for this progression in culture can be seen particularly in three developments, the invention and utilization of tools, and new survival patterns. Certain groups of chimpanzee are referred to utilize stone and wood as mallets to pop open nuts and as rough inadequate weapons in chasing small animals, including monkeys. In any case, they occasionally shape their tools deliberately to increase effectiveness. The most modern chimpanzee tools are small, slim tree limbs from which leaves are removed. It is also used as an instrument

Wolf’s Guenons, Old World monkeys, are found at south of Africa’s Congo River. Their habitat is forests, woodlands, near rivers and streams. They have a unique way of jumping from tree to tree: they aim at the center of dense clump of foliage and leap. When they land, they scramble through the branches and find a large, steady limb, and then hurl themselves at the next clump of foliage from there. Like many other guenons, their smaller body size allows them to forage farther out on small branches and escape leopards and chimpanzees by fleeing to the outer