Download Our Place among Primates

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The Primates
Anthropology:
The Exploration of Human Diversity
11th Edition
Conrad Phillip Kottak
McGraw-Hill
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The Primates
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Our Place among Primates
Homologies and Analogies
Primate Tendencies
Prosimians
Anthropoids
Monkeys
Apes
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The Primates
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McGraw-Hill
Endangered Primates
Human-Primate Similarities
Human-Primate Differences
Behavioral Ecology and Fitness
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Our Place among Primates
• Primatology—study of nonhuman
primates—fossil and living apes,
monkeys, and prosimians—including
their behavior and social life
– Terrestrial monkeys and apes—primates
that live on the ground rather than in trees
whose ecological adaptations are similar to
our own
Chimpanzees and gorillas are
most closely related to us
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Our Place among Primates
• Similarities between humans and apes
evident in anatomy, brain structure,
genetics, and biochemistry
– Taxonomy—assignment of organisms to
categories
– Phylogeny—genetic relatedness based on
common ancestry
– Hominoidea (hominoids)—the
superfamily containing humans and apes
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Our Place among Primates
• Phylogenetic Classification
– Organisms placed in classifications,
arranged hierarchically according to
degree of genetic relatedness
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Our Place among Primates
• The Principal Classificatory Units of
Zoological Taxonomy
– Insert Figure 6.1
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Our Place among Primates
• The Place of Humans (Homo sapiens)
in Zoological Taxonomy
– Insert Table 6.1
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Homologies and Analogies
• Homologies—similarities that
organisms share because of common
ancestry
– Organisms assigned to taxonomic
categories on basis of homologies
Estimated that humans, chimpanzees,
and gorillas have more than 98% of
DNA in common
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Homologies and Analogies
• Analogies—similar traits that arise if
species experience similar selective
forces and adapt to them in similar ways
– Convergent evolution—process by which
analogies are produced
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Primate Tendencies
• Primates varied because they adapted
to diverse ecological niches
• Modern primates share homologies
reflecting common arboreal heritage
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Primate Tendencies
• Primate trends
– Grasping
– Smell to Sight
– Nose to Hand
– Brain Complexity
– Parental Investment
– Sociality
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Prosimians
• Primate order has two suborders
– Prosimians
– Anthropoids
Early history of primates limited to
prosimian-like animals known through
fossil record
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Prosimians
• First anthropoids, ancestral to monkeys,
apes, and humans, appeared more than
40 million years ago
– Some prosimians managed to survive in
Africa and Asia because they adapted to
nocturnal life
• Did not compete with anthropoids, which are
active during day
• Lemurs
• Tarsiers
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Anthropoids
• All anthropoids share resemblances that
can be considered trends in primate
evolution
– Overlapping fields of vision, permitting
them to see things in depth
– Ability to see in depth and in color may
have developed together
– Fingers are main touch organs
– Cranium (skull) increased to fit larger brain
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Monkeys
• Anthropoid suborder has two infraorders
– Platyrrhines—flat-nosed, New World
monkeys
– Catarrhines—sharp-nosed, Old World
monkeys, hominoids
• Monkeys move differently from apes
and humans
– Arms and legs move parallel to one
another
– Most monkeys have tails
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Monkeys
• New World Monkeys
– Developed form of brachiation—underthe-branch swinging, but gibbons and
some New World monkeys swing through
trees using hands as hooks
– Prehensile, or grasping, tails
– With one exception, all monkeys, apes,
and humans are diurnal
– Lack full color vision
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Monkeys
• Nostril Structure of Catarrhines and
Platyrrhines
– Insert Figure 6.3
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Monkeys
• The Prehensile Tail of the Spider
Monkey, a New World Monkey
– Insert Figure 6.4
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Monkeys
• Old World Monkeys
– Full color vision
– Lost the third premolar
– Lost moist, hairless area that surround
nostrils in most mammals
Humans share more recent ancestry
with Old World monkeys and apes than
they do with New World monkeys and
prosimians
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Monkeys
• Old World Monkeys
– Both terrestrial and arboreal
• Significant distinctions exist between arboreal
and terrestrial Old World monkeys including:
• Size—arboreal monkeys smaller than terrestrial
monkeys
• Sexual dimorphism—terrestrial males
significantly larger and fiercer than terrestrial
females, while little or no such differentiation
exists among arboreal monkeys
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Apes
• Old World Monkeys have separate
superfamily (Cercopithecoidea)
– Humans and apes in the hominoid
superfamily (Hominoidea)
• Hominoidea is subdivided into families
– Great apes—orangutans, gorillas,
chimpanzees
– Lesser (smaller) apes—gibbons,
siamangs
– Third African ape—humans
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Apes
• Old World Monkeys:
– Live in forest and woodlands
– Light and agile gibbons completely
arboreal
– Heavier gorillas, chimpanzees, and adult
male orangutans spend considerable time
on ground
– Ape behavior and anatomy reveal past and
present adaptation to arboreal life
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Apes
• Gibbons
– Smallest of the apes
– Spend most time just below the forest
canopy
– Use arms as balance when they
occasionally walk erect
– Tend to live in primary groups
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Apes
• Orangutans
– Two existing species
– Relatively large (up to 200 pounds)
– Solitary
– Markedly sexually dimorphic
– Move between arboreal and terrestrial
habitats
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Apes
• Gorillas
– Large (up to 400 pounds)
– Most sexually dimorphic of primates
– Primarily terrestrial
– Live in relatively stable social groups
– Typically led by mature silver-back male
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Apes
• Chimpanzees
– Two kinds of chimpanzee:
• Common (Pan troglodytes)
• Pygmy (Pan paniscus)
– Up to 200 pounds
– Sexual dimorphism is proportionally the
same as in humans
– Social organization relatively well-known
because of longitudinal studies done by
Goodall and other primatologists
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Apes
• Bonobos
– Belong to species Pan paniscus
– Live in humid forests of the Democratic
Republic of Congo
– Female-centered communities
• Peace-loving
• Egalitarian
– Frequently use sex to avoid conflict within
community
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Endangered Primates
• Humans are the only hominoids not
endangered
– Factors contributing to demise of wild
primate populations include:
• Deforestation
• Poaching
• Capture
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Human-Primate Similarities
• Learning
– Behavior and social life not rigidly
programmed by genes
– Learned behavior has been observed in
monkeys as well as apes
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Human-Primate Similarities
• Tools
– Wild chimps have been observed
constructing tools
• To get water from places their mouths
can’t reach, use leaves as primitive
sponges
• Use sticks for “termiting”
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Human-Primate Similarities
• Predation and Hunting
– Form large hunting parties (almost always
adult and adolescent males)
– Both opportunistic and planned
– Wild chimpanzees have been observed
hunting consistently, using cooperative
techniques
– Appear to be political as well as sexual
reasons for meat sharing
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Human-Primate Similarities
• Aggression and Resources
– Expression of predation and aggression
seems to depend on the environment
– Goodall specifically linked chimpanzee
aggression and predation to human
encroachment
– Primate behavior plastic
Capable of varying widely as environmental forces change
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Human-Primate Differences
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• Sharing, Cooperation, and Division of
Labor
– Sharing and cooperation are as basic to
technologically simple humans as
dominance and threats are to baboons
– Humans appear to be most cooperative of
primates
Except for meat sharing by chimps, ape tendency is to
forage individually
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Human-Primate Differences
• Sharing, Cooperation, and Division of
Labor
– Amount of information stored in human
brain far greater than that in any other
primate society
Sharing, cooperation, and language
intrinsic to information storage
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Human-Primate Differences
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• Mating and Kinship
– Human females lack visible estrus cycle
and ovulation concealed
– Human pair bonds for mating tend to be
more exclusive and more durable than
those of chimps or bonobos
Systems of kinship and marriage that preserve
kinship links provide major contrast between
humans and other primates
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Behavioral Ecology and
Fitness
• Behavioral ecology—studies
evolutionary basis for behavior
– Assumes genetic features of any species
reflect long history of differential
reproductive success
– Members of same species may compete to
maximize reproductive fitness
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Behavioral Ecology and
Fitness
• Behavioral ecology
– Individual fitness measured by number of
direct descendants an individual has
– Inclusive fitness is measured by the genes
one shares with relative
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