Source 1: “Discovery of Oldest Primate Skeleton Helps Chart Early Evolution of Humans, Apes” This article was published by the American Museum of Natural History on June 5th, 2013. In this article, researchers have identified a fossil primate skeleton that could possibly be the oldest and smallest primate ever discovered. Experts found the fossil in the Hubei Province of China in the bottom of a former lake. It is estimated that the animal lived around 55 million years ago. Given the…
Primates, a small group of mammals, including monkeys, apes, lemurs, bushbabies, lorises, tarsiers, and humans. Now, what makes a primate different from all animals, one of the reasons being that they have all retained the ancient mammalian trait of pentadactylism. This means that with the exception of spider monkeys, they all have 10 fingers and 10 toes total. Along with their hands and feet, on each finger and toe they all have fingernails, meanwhile they all have opposable thumbs- just…
Chapter 6 discussed the distinct characteristics of primates and how they compare to other mammals and the text highlights some specific traits to consider. Along with arboreal adaptation-or the ability to live in trees- and diet plasticity, primates also practice parental investment. Instead of having hundreds or thousands of offspring, primates will invest more time and attention to a very small number of offspring that are smarter, more socially involved, and have greater chances of reaching…
It’s been proven many times that human and non-human primates are closely related to each other. We have similar number of species, similar DNA, similar brain size, similar sociability, and some similar characteristics. Well, how about speaking capabilities? Can they speak like us? Many people may say no, but researchers have a different answer in mind. A well-known and long-kept theory says that chimps, monkeys, and gorillas do not talk because they are incapable of creating sounds for the…
Primate parenting have a lot of features which can be considered different from other mammal. One of the biggest difference could be the parental investment which is the amount of time the average parent spends with it's off spring after birth and further gives it the skills of survival or maybe just social skills to survive in the group. Primates especially females spend a lot of time caring for their off springs by teaching them skills like termite fishing and further grooming them. Female…
1. The two genera of Eocene fossil primates I choose are Eosimias and Darwinius. Eosimias was first described in 1999 and discovered in 1994 by Christopher Beard. Darwinius was discovered and described in 1983 at the Messel pit. 2. Eosimias lived during the middle Eocene age in Southern China (Fleagle 397). The fossil itself was collected Jiangsu Providence, China. Darwinius also lived during the middle Eocene in Europe, particulary Germany. Darwinius masillae was discorvered southeast of…
After clocking in I went to greet the Primate team who were gathering their food dishes from the Animal Nutrition Service. The Squirrel Monkeys are positive for Herpesvirus saimiri and are deadly to other primate species so their food must be kept separate from the others. The keepers discussed issues that would pertain to other keepers for that day. There was also talk about each of the animals that had issues ranging from medical to shifting from one space to another. We then separated…
Why Nonhuman Primates Engage in Infanticide When anthropologists began to study infanticide, it was seen only as abnormal and counterproductive behaviour. Anthropologists could not discover any positive reasons for primates to engage in infanticide. This is partly due to the fact that infanticide is seen as criminal and deviant in human society. A second reason was due to a lack of evidence and insufficient research done about infanticide. Initially, infanticide was considered bizarre because…
keyboard symbolic communication language after watching his mother being taught (Park 2015, p.282). My first instinct was to throw my support in with those who claim that these non-human primates prove that they possess true language skills. However, I paused and considered the differences between human and non-human primate communication and what constitutes true language versus mere communication. It is clear and evident that non-human…
Primates at the Los Angeles Zoo When I visited the Los Angeles Zoo it was raining and very cold. Although it stopped some primates from coming out of their dwellings, it did not stop all. I analyzed many primates at the zoo but not all. Each species had their own interesting , and unique personalities and characteristics. The first primate I observed was the Orangutan, which belongs in the ‘Great Ape’ category. The pongo belongs to the ponginae family. What I saw was a large male,…