Primates are organisms closely related to human because they share the same classification from the Domain system up to the Order system which is the Oder Primata under the Class Mammalia. Among others in the said Order are apes, prosimians, monkeys, tarsiers, lorises and lemurs. They share a common evolutionary descent that made them similar in many aspects such as morphology and physiology, social inclinations and behavioral patterns which make scientists puzzle about the origin of humans. An example of which is the Theory of Evolution by Darwin.
Primates defined by Mivart in 1873 as ““Unguiculate (possessing nails), claviculate (with collar bone/clavicle), placental mammals, with orbits encircled by bone; three kinds of teeth, at least at one time of life; brain always with a posterior lobe and calcarine fissure; the innermost digit of at least one pair of extremities opposable; hallux with a flat nail or none; a well developed caecum; penis pendulous; testes scrotal; always two pectoral mammae”.Before differentiating the different types of primates, let’s have an overview of their similarities or why they are group into one Order. Primates are said to thrive at trees and later learned themselves to adapt in the land which is a reason why there are some monkeys such as apes that have no tail. This is a character that they inherited from their ancestors. Among others was elasticity in some body parts such as the arms, legs, toes, accurate eyes through a straight forward vision that enables them to have a wide range of perceiving distances, and of course enlarged brains and presence of skull comparing it to other lower organisms.
Their habitat is restricted in tropical regions of the world where there is sufficient temperature and amount of water for them to live in although some are found in other places aside from the tropics. Generally, primates are tree dwellers but some, such as humans and baboons are adapted to open cities and rural areas ( Burnie, 2008). The classification schemes for primates are diverse in the sense that many attempted to isolate different groups. Although one thing is clear, they belong to Order Primata and that many of them exist up to this day.
Molecular bases can actually determine a grouping for it but it is yet to be performed.Among the strengths of primates are their hearing and gripping capability although they are not fast runners. Humans, as well as apes have a precise grip due to their adapted fingers used in food procurement ( O’neil, 2007). Taxonomically, Primates are group into five families, each have different distinctions although some attempted to have their own classification.
Further, I will present different groupings of primates latter in this paper. Family Hylobatidae is composed of gibbons and siamangs that are naturally found in the Southeast Asian nations.Physiologically, tails are absent but throat sac is present that serves as resonators. Behaviorally, they are monogamous, and they have territoriality by using vocalization. On the other hand, Family Pongidae, otherwise known as great apes consists of apes and orangutans native to Sumatra, Borneo, and in the African forests. Physiologically, they are omnivores, one that eat both meat and plants but mostly herbivores.
Behaviorally, inhabit the land to the trees and learned to live in groups in which males prevail and lead the flock (The Big Zoo, 2008).Family Lemuriade on the other hand is composed of species inherent in Madagascar with a mean weight ranging from 2 to 10 pounds. Physiologically, their sizes can be as little as a squirrel to as large as cats. The fourth family is the Family Callitrichidae which is inherent tribe dwellers in South America especially in the tropical regions like Amazon in Brazil. Physiologically, they are seen as colorful monkeys with distinct mustaches and possessing claws for gripping ability as well as long tail for swinging ability.
The fifth and foremost is the Family Cercopithecidae otherwise known as the old world monkeys consisting of baboons, macaques and colobus monkeys with weights ranging to 1. 2 to 110 pounds (The Big Zoo, 2008). Another classification presents different grouping of Primates. Prosimians and Simians are said to be the ancestors of modern primates as their existence traces back to late Cretaceous.
The physiological features of this group include the wet noses, dog-like faces, orbital bar and epitheliochorial placenta. Behaviorally they are nocturnal (active during night time) in nature (Sellers, 2008).Prosimians, otherwise known as primitive primates have good sense of smell and auditory function. They usually occur in small to medium sizes and are found in Madagascar, Comoros, and Africa and in Southeast Asia.
Further they are group in suborder Prosimii (Burnie, 2008). To differentiate, Prosimians outsized the Simians as they are human-like in size while the Simians are as small as shrews (Anissimov, 2008). Behaviorally, their feeding habits include hunting of insects but most of them eat variety of foods such as lizards, fruits and some plant saps.Their communication is thru the detection of certain pheromones whenever they find themselves to be apart. Also to mark their territoriality, they are able to utilize their waste liquids in the body such as urine and sweat (Burnie, 2008). The second group is the Transiiformes.
This group is also considered to be ancestral among the anthropoids as they appeared in the Eocene. Their distinctive physiological characteristics include ectotympanic tube, extremely large eyes and haemochorial placenta. Commonly this group is composed mainly of tarsiers (Sellers, 2008).Their behavioral characteristic towards food procurement is usually carnivorous.
Four species of the said group are able to eat insects, lizards, bats and snakes. Even though they have a relatively small body, they can capture their prey by using their long tails. Their offspring’s are usually born alive and have a relatively long gestation period (Burnie, 2008) The third group is the New World Monkeys. The name was derived to which they are found geographically. The South America is considered as the New World while those found in Asia and Africa is termed as Old World.
Their physical features include the large brain compared to the Prosimians, inadequate development of fingers and toes but well developed tails, some are short to absent. The nostrils are either facing outward or downward. This group includes the apes, baboons, guenos, colobus, and langurs (Sellers, 2008). Their mode of feeding is usually diverse ranging from herbivores such as apes where they are known to eat plats especially bananas while the colobus monkeys are leaf eaters to carnivores such as baboons wherein their preys are usually antelopes.
Their mode of reproduction is simple, they consist of monogamous pairs wherein the control is usually in males but can also fight with other males to gain a mate. In terms of communication, apes use variety of facial expressions while the colobus types are usually through mumbles (Burnie, 2008). The next group is termed as Hominoids consisting of the gibbons and they can easily be noticed by their habits of swinging from one tree to another. Physiologically, they have large brains, distinctively posses some girdles in the arms and shoulders adapted for swinging purposes and posses no tails.They are composed of two living families, hominidae and hylobatidae (Sellers, 2008).
Gibbons are known for their howling sounds. They are sometimes called howling monkey or howlers due to this characteristic. As a matter of fact, their howling capability also imposes their territoriality and uses it as a form of mating. At a distance of 3 km, the howls of these monkeys can be heard.
On the other hand, their reproduction is monogamy and their feeding method is herbivory (Burnie, 2008). Another group is the Hominid group which is made up of the great apes, the orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees.They have equally large brain as the hominoids but mostly are land dwellers (Sellers, 2008). Most species in the group is herbivorous. Their reproductive behavior is diverse. Some have spawning season such as the pygmy chimpanzees.
Male Orangutans have a choice of females and can be promiscuous. Gorillas, on the other hand lives along with many female gorillas. Female chimpanzees are known for their promiscuity as they mate different males and spend their whole life mating with other male chimpanzees (Burnie, 2008). The last group and probably the most advanced group are the Hominins as they make up the true human population (Sellers, 2008).Nonetheless, descriptions of human behavior and physiology shall not be discussed thoroughly because it is implicit that we know what we have in our anatomical bases and our behavioral characteristics that exclude us from lower organisms.
Since humans are at the topmost portion of the taxonomical plan therefore they are more advanced in anatomy, physiology, behavioral and cognitive. Cognitive in the sense that humans have contains a well developed brain that enables him to exploit important resources around him and utilize them in a manner that it will benefit him greatly.The well developed nervous system of human enables him to perceive his special skills such as tool making and probably developed retention of memory identification of useful tools important to his living such as development of proper hygiene, grooming, socializing, and establishing troops (Burnie, 2008). Other classifications of primates grouped them into three namely the Prosimians, monkeys (old world and new world) and the apes (lesser apes, great apes and humans).Another classification imposes them into two suborders, Prosimii and Anthropoidea based on traditional classification. But with the advent of biochemical analysis, the two suborders are rearranged into Stepsirrhini, wet nosed-lemurs and lorises, and the Haplorrhini, dry nosed-tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans.
This is based on the DNA sequence analysis (Primate 101, 1998). There are many classifications of primates today, but no matter how primates are grouped they still belong to Order Primata.
