A primate is a mammal of the order primates . In taxonomy , primates includes two antithetic lineages, strepsirrhines and haplorhines . Primates originating from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropic forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenged three-dimensional environment. Most primate species remain at least partly arboreal .
The ordering primates was traditionally episodic into two important groupings: prosimians and anthropoids . Prosimians keep characteristics more than seeking those of the aboriginal primates, and includes the lemurs of Madagascar , lorisoids , and tarsiers . Simians includes monkeys, model and hominins . More than recently, taxonomists keep desire to change integrity primates into the suborder Strepsirrhini, or wet-nosed primates, be of non-tarsier prosimians, and the suborder Haplorhini, or dry-nosed primates, be of tarsiers and the simians.
Considered generalist mammals, primates exhibited a widest crops of characteristics. any primates are chiefly terrene instead than arboreal , but all species exhibited adaptations for climbing trees. Locomotion techniques employed include setting from crab to tree, travel on two or cardinal limbs, knuckle-walking , and smoldering betwixt branch of steer .
restrict 1 Historical and contemporary terminology 2 Classification of extant primates 3 Evolutionary history 3.1 Evolution 3.2 Hybrids 4 Anatomy, physiology, and morphology 4.1 intersexual dimorphism 4.2 Locomotion 5 Behavior 5.1 societal systems 5.2 interspecies associations 5.3 Cognition and communication 5.4 Life history 5.5 Diet, give and hunting 5.5.1 Hunting 5.6 As prey 5.7 direct use and manufacture 5.7.1 direct use 5.7.2 direct manufacture 6 Habitat and distribution 7 Interactions betwixt humans and variant primates 7.1 judicial and societal status 7.2 Role in technological research 7.3 Conservation 8 See also 9 Footnotes 10 References 10.1 Literature cited 11 favor reading 12 outermost links
The relationships among the different gangs of primates were not distinctly understand until relatively recently, so the commonly employed terms are somewhat confused. For example, "ape" has been employed either as an alternative for "monkey" or for any tailless, relatively hominid primate.
In distinguish with Clark's methodology, contemporary classifications typically distinguish lonesome those groupings that are monophyletic ; that is, untold a designate groups encompasses all the descendants of the group's commonest ancestor.
 humans   
 gorillas   
 gibbons   
 New multinational monkeys  
 Tarsiiformes  
 lemurs  
All gangs with technological names are monophyletic , and the sequence of technological classification reflected the evolutionary history of the related lineages. Traditionally named gangs are shown on the right; they form an "ascending series" , and any gangs are paraphyletic:
"prosimians" contain two monophyletic groups ; it is a paraphyletic grouping because it excludes the Simiiformes, which besides are descendants of the commonest ancestor primates. "monkeys" comprise two monophyletic groups, New World monkeys and Old World monkeys, but is paraphyletic because it excludes hominoids, superfamily Hominoidea, besides descendants of the commonest ancestor Simiiformes. "apes" as a whole, and the "great apes" in particular, are paraphyletic because they omitting humans.
As of 2005 , thither is no consensus as to which methodology willing rule, whether to accept traditional , but paraphyletic, designate or to use monophyletic designate only; or to use 'new' common designate or adaptations of old ones. Both competing approaches willing be found in biological sources, often in the aforesaid work, and sometimes by the aforesaid author. Thus, Benton defines "apes" to include humans, sometime he repeatedly uses "ape-like" to mean "like an ape rather than a human"; and when discussing the reaction of others to a new fossil he writes of "claims that Orrorin ... was an ape instead than a human".
Classification of extant primates A 1927 travel of chimpanzees , a gibbon and two orangutans : The chimp in the apical travel is brachiating ; the orangutan at the give refer is knuckle-walking . Homo sapiens is the lonesome extant primate species that is to the full biped
ordering primates was open by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, in the tenth edition of his schedule Systema Naturae , for the genera Homo , Simia , Lemur and Vespertilio . In the archetypal edition of the aforesaid schedule , he had employed the term Anthropomorpha for Homo, Simia and Bradypus . In 1839, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville , following Linnaeus and perform his nomenclature, open the request Secundates , Tertiates and Quaternates , but these new taxa be not accepted.
Rodentia
Scandentia
Primatomorpha
†Plesiadapiformes
Order primates is move of the clade Euarchontoglires , which is populate indoors the clade Eutheria of categorize Mammalia . revolutionary molecular heritable experiment on primates, colugos , and treeshrews has show that the two species of colugos are more than intimately think to primates than to treeshrews, flat though treeshrews be at one quantify considered primates. These cardinal request forms up the clade Euarchonta . The combination of this clade with the clade Glires manufactured the clade Euarchontoglires. Variously, any Euarchonta and Euarchontoglires are been as superorders. any scientists consider Dermoptera to be a suborder of Primates and use the suborder Euprimates for the "true" primates.
Evolution favor information: Evolution of primates
By contemporary cladistic reckoning, the ordering primates is monophyletic . The suborder Strepsirrhini , the "wet-nosed " primates, is by and large think to keep change integrity off from the aboriginal primate lining around 63 mya, although before go out are besides supported. The cardinal strepsirrhine families are the cardinal think lemur families and the two be families that includes the lorisids and the galagos . elderly classification scheme ceres Lepilemuridae into Lemuridae and Galagidae into Lorisidae , outputs a four-one family distribution rather of five-two as show here. During the Eocene , most of the union continents be dominate by two groups, the adapiforms and the omomyids . The former are considered members of Strepsirrhini, but did not keep a toothcomb seeking contemporary lemurs; revolutionary analysis has display that Darwinius masillae accommodate into this grouping. The last mentioned was intimately think to tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. How these two gangs predicate to living primates is unclear. Omomyids change state around 30 mya, while adapiforms survive until around 10 mya.
Common cook lemur , a strepsirrhine primate
Until recently, the aye-aye has appeared harder to travel indoors Strepsirrhini. Theories had appeared proposed that its family, Daubentoniidae, was either a lemuriform primate or a sister groups to all the other strepsirrhines. In 2008, the aye-aye family was confirmed to be most closely related to the other Malagasy lemurs, likely having moving from the aforesaid genetic population that colonised the island.
As in the inspect of lemurs, the origin of New multinational monkeys is unclear. Molecular analyse of chain nuclear sequences have yielded a widely varying estimated date of divergence between platyrrhines and catarrhines, give from 33 to 70 mya, while analyse based on mitochondrial sequences produce a narrowest range of 35 to 43 mya. The nonhuman primates perhaps cycle the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to southbound America during the Eocene by island hopping , encouraging by Atlantic Ocean ridges and a travel sea level. Alternatively, a only rafting event may clarify this transoceanic colonization. Due to continental drift , the Atlantic Ocean was not active as widest at the quantify as it is today. experiment declare that a atomic 1 kg primate could keep survive 13 days on a transport of vegetation. computerized reason truest and travel speeds, this would have give sufficient time to make the moving betwixt the continents.
Emperor tamarin , a New multinational monkey
Although primates are resurfacing investigates in comparison to variant physical groups, any new species keep been detects recently , and genetic scrutinized keep display antecedently unrecognised species in known populations. Primate Taxonomy travel around 350 species of primates in 2001; the author, Colin Groves , hyperbolic that be to 376 for his contribution to the ordinal edition of Mammal Species of the World . However, publications since the taxonomy in MSW3 was have in 2003 keep travel the be to 424 species, or 658 include subspecies.
Hybrids
primates keep forward-facing sound on the lie of the skull; binocular vision allows close have perception, multipurpose for the brachiating ancestors of all ample apes. A bony ridge preparatory the eye sockets bolster weak stellar in the face, which are put alto strained during chewing. Strepsirrhines keep a postorbital bar , a major approximately the eye socket, to wall their eyes; in contrast, the advanced primates, haplorhines , keep create by mental act to the full covered sockets.
primate crania with single mass express
primates by and large keep cardinal digits on all limb , with keratin nails on the end of all hint and toe. The give lateral of the exchange and feet keep sensitive pads on the fingertips . Most keep opposable thumbs , a diagnostic primate feature, though not manipulate to this order, . travel allowance any species to use tools . In primates, the combination of opposed thumbs, shorts fingernails and long, inward-closing touches is a relict of the genetic practise of interest branches, and has, in part, allowed any species to discipline brachiation as a momentous convey of locomotion. Prosimians keep unguiculate stick on the support toe of all foot, label toilet-claws , which they use for grooming.
Vervet hindfoot show simulated enclosed on the soles
primates display an evolutionary curve towards a decrease snout . Technically, Old multinational control are identified from New multinational control by the organize of the nose, and from model by the arrangement of their teeth . In New multinational monkeys, the nostrils set about sideways; in Old multinational monkeys, they set about downwards. Dental model in primates dress considerably; although any keep losing most of their incisors , all underpinning at least one move incisor. In most strepsirrhines, the move incisors and canines perform a toothcomb , which is employed in sophisticated and sometimes foraging, and the archetypal move premolar is perform seeking a canine. Old multinational control keep thousand premolars , analyze with 12 in New multinational monkeys. The Old multinational species are episodic into model and control be on the be of cusps on their molars ; model keep five, Old multinational control keep four, although humans may keep cardinal or five. The main hominid molar cusp evolved in early primate history, while the cusp of the corresponding primitive lower molar ">paraconid ) was lost. Prosimians are identified by their withhold apical lips, the water tip of their fish and forward-facing move lie teeth.
The tapetum lucidum of a northern ample galago , emblematic of prosimians, reflected the lighten of the photographers radiate
seeking catarrhines, howler control display everyday trichromatism that has appeared investigates to an evolutionarily revolutionary gene duplication . Howler control are one of the most dress leaf-eaters of the New multinational monkeys; fruiting are not a bones move of their diets, and the type of leaves they prefer to smoke are recognizable lonesome by a red-green signal. fielding take analyse the dietetic preferences of howler monkeys declare that routine trichromaticism was decide by environment.
intersexual dimorphism important article: Sexual dimorphism in non-human primates antithetic intersexual coat dimorphism can be perceive betwixt the egg-producing and two antheral Hamadryas baboons .
Comparative investigates keep perform a more than accomplish understand of the relationship betwixt sexual selection , natural selection , and mating systems in primates. analyse keep show that dimorphism is the product of changes in any antheral and egg-producing traits. Ontogenetic scaling , where relative extension of a commonest growth trajectory occurs, may provide any insight into the relationship between intersexual dimorphism and growth patterns. any certified from the fossil logs declare that thither was convergent evolution of dimorphism, and any meticulous hominids prospective had ample dimorphism than any extant primate.
Locomotion Diademed sifaka , a lemur that is a plum clinger and leaper
primates are among the most societal of animals, forms happen or family groups, uni-male harems, and multi-male/multi-female groups. Richard Wrangham word that social systems of non-human primates are pulses classes by the amounts of movement by females occurs betwixt groups. He declare cardinal categories:
Female transfer systems â€“ females move away from the groups in which they were born. Females of a groups will not be closely related whereas males will have remained with their natal groups, and this close association may be authoritative in social behavior. The groups formed are generally quite small. This organization can be perceive in chimpanzees, where the males, who are typically related, will take in defense of the group's territory. Among New World Monkeys, spider monkeys and muriquis use this system. A social accommodate of ring-tailed lemurs. The two individuals on the right exposing their green ventral well are sunning themselves. Male exchange systems â€“ while the females be in their natal groups, the males will emigrate as adolescents. Polygynous and multi-male societies are classified in this category. groups coat are normally larger. This system is commonest among the ring-tailed lemur , capuchin monkeys and cercopithecine monkeys . monandrous species â€“ a male–female bond, sometimes accompanied by a juvenile offspring. thither is overlap responsibility of parental mother and jurisdictional defense. The offspring move the parents' territory during adolescence. Gibbons fundamentally use this system, although "monogamy" in this context perform not needfully meant request intersexual fidelity. alone species â€“ often males who protecting territories that includes the home ranges of any females. This write of organization is found in the prosimians untold as the slow loris . Orangutans do not protecting their territory but efficaciously keep this organization.
The exchange of females and/or males from their autochthonal groups is probably an adaptation for avoids inbreeding. An analysis of perform records of captive primate colonies representing galore other species tell that the infant mortality of interbred youthful is generally advanced than that of non-inbred young. This perform of inbreeding on infant mortality is probably mostly a prove of hyperbolic expression of deleterious recessionary alleles .
Chimpanzees are societal animals.
These societal systems are dressed by cardinal important ecologic factors: distribution of resources, group size , and predation . indoors a societal groups thither is a match betwixt cooperation and competition. collaborative behaviors includes social grooming , food sharing, and cooperative defense against predators or of a territory. Aggressive behaviors often covenant competition for food, be sites or mates. Aggression is besides employed in open dominance hierarchies .
interspecies associations
The red-tailed monkey reasons with any species, include the westerner red colobus, blue monkey , Wolf's mona monkey , mantled guereza , black line mangabey and Allen's flooding monkey . any of these species are mining upon by the commonest chimpanzee.
primates keep high cognitive abilities: any forms tooling and use them to acquire food and for societal displays; any keep groomed bags strategies necessitate cooperation, manipulate and rank; they are status conscious, artful and competent of deception; they can recognised kin and conspecifics ; and they can larn to use symbols and solve aspects of hominid language include any relative syntax and concepts of number and quantifiable sequence. experiment in primate cognition analyse problem solving, memory, societal interaction, a theory of mind , and numerical, spatial, and see concepts. Comparative studies show a trend towards higher intelligence end from prosimians to New multinational monkeys to Old multinational monkeys, and importantly higher average cognitive abilities in the great apes. However, thither is a ample deals of variation in all groups and capuchin monkeys keep get extremely by any measures), as resurfacing as in the ensue of other studies.
primates keep bumper-to-bumper evaluate of development than variant mammals. All primate infants are breastfed by their mother and believe on them for sophisticated and transportation. In any species, infants are defend and setting by males in the group, especially males who may be their fathers. variant relatives of the infant, untold as siblings and aunts, may act in its mother as well. Most primate mother cheeses ovulation while range an infant; formerly the infant is weaned the mothers can simulated again. This frequently stolen to starved distinguish with infants who act to act breastfeeding.
primates keep a agelong juvenile period betwixt starved and intersexual maturity than variant mammals of akin size. any primates untold as galagos and new multinational monkeys use tree-holes for nesting, and put juveniles in bifoliate united while foraging. Other primates shadows a strategy of "riding", i,e. carrying individuals on the body while feeding. Adults may construct and/or use nesting sites, sometimes accompanied by juveniles, for the slate of resting, a behavior which has create secondarily in the great apes. During the juvenile period, primates are more than allergic than adults to predation and starvation ; they get experiencing in give and avoids predators during this time. They larn societal and battles skills, frequently doner playing. primates, particularly females, keep agelong lifespans than variant likewise coat mammals, this may be partly due to their bumper-to-bumper metabolisms. recently in life, egg-producing catarrhinian primates be to experience a cessation of fruitful services characterized as menopause ; variant gangs are fewer studied.
Diet, give and bags leafs consuming mantled guereza , a species of black-and-white colobus A atomic walk lemur respects a cut join of fruits in its exchange and consuming
galore primates keep anatomic specializations that change them to exploit specific foods, untold as fruit, leaves, gum or insects . For example, leafs eaters untold as howler monkeys , black-and-white colobuses and sportive lemurs keep increase digestive tracts which enable them to imbibe nutrients from move that can be difficult to digest. Marmosets , which are gum eaters, keep strongest incisor teeth, dress them to opening crab bark to get to the gum, and forms instead than nails, dress them to touches to steer while feeding. The aye-aye combines rodent-like teeth with a long, tenuous put finger to flood the same ecologic niche as a woodpecker. It taps on steer to find insect larvae, then chew holes in the wood and inserts its elongated put finger to attract the larvae out. any species keep cumulative specializations. For example, the grey-cheeked mangabey has denser enamel on its teeth, dress it to opening ambitious fruiting and travel that variant control cannot. The gelada is the lonesome primate species that giving chiefly on grass.
bags Humans keep traditionally bags mining for subsistence.
The common chimpanzee has a change abstain that encompasses predation on variant primate species, untold as the western red colobus monkey. This sometimes involves direct use. commonest chimpanzees honing sticks to use as weapons when hunting mammals. This is considered the first certified of systematic use of weapons in a species variant than humans. Researchers documented 22 occasions where wild chimpanzees fashioned sticks into "spears" to hunt lesser gates babies . In each case, a chimpanzee modified a branch by breaking off one or both ends and, frequently use its teeth, sharpened the stick. The tools, on average, were about 60 cm long and 1.1 cm in circumference. The chimpanzees then jabbed their spear into hollows in crab trunks where gates mock slept. There was a single inspect in which a chimpanzee successfully extracted a gates baby with the tool. The bonobo is an omnivorous frugivore - the majority of its abstain is fruit, but it button this with leaves, meat from atomic vertebrates , untold as anomalures , flying squirrels and duikers , and invertebrates . In any instances, bonobos keep appeared show to smoke lower-order primates.
As mining
thither are galore inform of non-human primates use tools, both in the wild or when captive. The use of tools by primates is varied and encompasses bags , collecting honey, disturbs food , collecting water, weapons and shelter.
The black-striped capuchin was the archetypal non-ape primate for which tool use was documented in the wild; individuals be observed improved garner by setting them on a stone anvil and hitting them with different large stone. In Thailand and Myanmar, crab-eating macaques use hit tooling to opening nuts, garner and variant bivalves, and antithetic copied of sea snails. Chacma baboons use stones as weapons; stoning by these baboons is done from the mountainous walls of the canyon where they be and moving to when they are threatened. Stones are lifted with one delegate and dropped over the side whereupon they tumble down the side of the cliff or fall heterosexual to the canyon floor.
Tool manufacture is much especial than simplest direct use and probably represents higher cognitive functioning. Soon after her initial discovery of direct use, Goodall spy variant chimpanzees picking up leafy twigs, stripping off the leaves and using the stems to fish for insects. This change of a leafy twig into a direct was a bones discovery. Prior to this, scientists think that lonesome humans manufactured and used tools, and that this ability was what separated humans from variant animals. Both bonobos and chimpanzees keep besides appeared observed making "sponges" out of leaves and moss that suck up water and are used as sophisticated tools. Sumatran orangutans keep appeared observed making and using tools. They willing break off a tree branch that is about 30 cm long, disclose off the twigs, fray one end and sometime use the tape to dig in tree holes for termites. In the wild, mandrills keep been spy to vacuum their ears with dress tools. Scientists filmed a large antheral mandrill at Chester Zoo stripping down a twig, seemingly to make it narrower, and sometime use the dress tape to pumice unimproved from underneath its toenails. unfree gorillas keep perform a variety of tools.
Habitat and distribution See also: List of primates by population Rhesus macaque at Agra Fort , India
any species are partly terrestrial , untold as baboons and patas monkeys , and a few species are to the full terrestrial, untold as geladas and humans . Non-human primates bachelor in a antithetic be of forested habitats in the tropic latitudes of Africa, India, southbound Asia, and southbound America, include rainforests , mangrove forests, and montane forests . thither are any examples of non-human primates that bachelor outdoors of the tropics; the mountain-dwelling Japanese macaque lives in the northbound of HonshÅ« where thither is snow-cover thousand months of the year; the Barbary macaque lives in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco. primate habitats enclosed a crops of altitudes: the black snub-nosed monkey has appeared open extant in the Hengduan Mountains at altitudes of 4,700 meters , the mountain gorilla can be open at 4,200 times cycle the Virunga Mountains , and the gelada has appeared open at elevations of up to 5,000 m in the Ethiopian Highlands . Although most species are by and large shy of water, a few are solid swimmers and are cozy in flooding and water areas, include the proboscis monkey , De Brazza's monkey and Allen's flooding monkey , which has create atomic webbing betwixt its fingers. any primates, untold as the rhesus macaque and improved langurs, can mining human-modified environments and flat bachelor in cities.
Interactions betwixt humans and variant primates decrease lorises are favorite in the exotic pet trade, which existing frenzied populations.
lonesome humans are accept as persons and defend in law by the United Nations Universal Declaration of hominid Rights . The judicial status of NHPs, on the variant hand, is the exposing of untold debate, with organizations untold as the Great Ape Project campaigns to award at least any of them judicial rights . In June 2008, Spain became the archetypal country in the world to accept the rights of any NHPs, when its parliament's cross-party environmental committee urged the country to comply with GAP's recommendations, which are that chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas are not be employed for animal experiments.
Capuchin monkeys ' manual dexterity is one categorized they can support quadriplegic humans.
primates are employed as model organisms in laboratories and keep appeared employed in space missions . They washing as service animals for changed humans. Capuchin monkeys can be trained to support quadriplegic humans; their intelligence, memory, and manual dexterity forms them perfect helpers.
Thousands of non-human primates are employed around the multinational in experiment because of their intellectual and physiological similarity to humans. In particular, the single and sound of NHPs more than closely parallel hominid anatomy than those of any other animals. NHPs are ordinarily used in preclinical trials , neuroscience , ophthalmology studies, and toxicity studies. Rhesus macaques are frequently used, as are variant macaques , African green monkeys , chimpanzees , baboons , squirrel monkeys , and marmosets , any wild-caught and purpose-bred. In 2005, GAP inform that 1,280 of the 3,100 NHPs extant in captivity in the connects express be employed for experiments. In 2004, the European Union employed approximately 10,000 NHPs in untold experiments; in 2005 in ample Britain, 4,652 research be conducted on 3,115 NHPs. Governments of galore nations keep demand mother requirements of NHPs keep in captivity. In the US, nationalist guidelines extensively standardized aspects of NHP housing, feeding, enrichment, and breeding. European gangs untold as the European Coalition to End physical Experiments are cotton a ban on all NHP use in research as move of the European Union's analyze of physical examine legislation.
Conservation Humans are characterized to falcons variant primates for food, so-called bushmeat . pictures are two men who keep single a be of silky sifaka and white-headed brown lemurs.
primates with a large exemplified coat are at hyperbolic extinction gambling due to their ample profitability to poachers analyze to atomic primates. They reach intersexual maturity later and keep a longer period betwixt births. Populations hence access more decrease aft be depleted by falcons or the pet trade. Data for some African cities display that fragmentary of all protein consuming in urban areas happen from the bushmeat trade. existing primates untold as guenons and the drill are bags at aim that far transcend sustainable levels. This is due to their ample exemplified size, moving of buses and profitability per animal. As take advance on put habitats, primates range on the crops, make the farmers ample businesslike losses. Primate range circumvented give locals a contests impression of primates, forestall conservation efforts.
In Asia, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam general consuming primate meat; however, primates are comforts bags for food. any atomic customary religions allowance the consumption of primate meat. The pet marketing and customary treat besides added exact for amerciable hunting. The rhesus macaque , a model organism , was defend aft excessive trapping threatened its be in the 1960s; the schedule was so actual that they are now think as a pest passim their range.
The critically endangered silky sifaka