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Exploring Biological
Anthropology:
The Essentials, 3rd Edition
CRAIG STANFORD
JOHN S. ALLEN
SUSAN C. ANTÓN
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chapter 7
The Primates
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Primate Radiation
Mammals are divided into three groups:
Metatheria
Prototheria
Eutheria
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Primate Radiation (cont’d)
• The extraordinary diversity of nonhuman
primates
– 300 species of nonhuman primates are recognized
– More than 400 taxa or varieties
– Size and form vary greatly
– Body shapes vary tremendously
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Primate Radiation (cont’d)
What Exactly is a Primate?: Primate Suborders
Strepsirhini and Haplorhini
Prosimian and Anthropoid
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Primate Radiation (cont’d)
• Anatomical Traits
– Grasping hands/opposable thumbs and big
toes
– Flattened nails
– Forward-facing eyes with stereoscopic vision
– Generalized body plan
– Generalized teeth
– Petrosal bulla
– Enclosed orbits
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Primate Radiation (cont’d)
• Life History Traits
– Single offspring
– Large brains
• Encephalization
• Neocortex
– Extended ontogeny
• Lifecycle
– Sociality
• Living in groups
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The Primate Radiation (cont’d)
• Behavioral Traits
– Activity Patterns
• Diurnal
• Nocturnal
• Crepuscular (active during dawn and dusk)
– Sociality
• Living in groups
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A Guide to the Nonhuman Primates
• The Strepsirhines
– The Lemurs
• Madagascar
• Lemuridae
• Cheirogalidae
• Indriidae
• Daubentoniidae
– The Lorises
• Tropical Africa and Asia
• Galagos
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
A Guide to the Nonhuman Primates
(cont’d)
• The Haplorhines
– The Tarsiers
– New World Monkeys
– Old World Monkeys
– The Hominoids
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A Guide to the Nonhuman Primates
(cont’d)
• New World Monkeys
– Infraorder Platyrrhini
– Superfamily Ceboidea
– Small body size
– Three premolar teeth
– Arboreality
• Prehensile tails
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A Guide to the Nonhuman Primates
(cont’d)
• Old World Monkeys
–Infraorder Catarrhini
–Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
–Ischial callosites
–Bilophodant molars
–Estrus (in some)
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
A Guide to the Nonhuman Primates
(cont’d)
• The Hominoids
– Apes
• Hylobatidae
• Pongidae
•
•
•
•
Encephalization
Brachiation
Extended ontogeny
Social complexity
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A Guide to the Nonhuman Primates
(cont’d)
• Apes
– Gibbons
• 14 species
• Asia/ Indonesia
– Orangutans
• Indonesia
– Gorillas
• Africa
– Chimpanzees
• Africa
• Bonobo/ Chimpanzee
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Primate Ecology
• Diet
– Most primates are herbivores
– frugivores
– folivores
• Phenology
• Dietary and Digestive Strategies
– Strategic foraging
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Primate Ecology (cont’d)
• You Are What You Eat: Dietary and Digestive
Strategies
– In general, the largest-bodied primates rely the
least on insect prey
– Chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys forage for
insects intensively and at times consume large
numbers of them
– Gorillas don’t eat many insects
– Very small-bodied primates rarely eat large
quantities of leafy matter
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Primate Ecology (cont’d)
• Diet
– Primates select food to balance an energy
budget of nutrients and calories that requires
them to forage all day long
• Diet and Feeding Competition
– Nonhuman primates engage in feeding
competition and use well-defined areas of
their habitat to find food and shelter predation
– Activity budget allows compensation for
calories expended with calories consumed
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Primate Ecology (cont’d)
• Territorial Ranges
– All mammals, including nonhuman primates,
live in defined places called home ranges
– This area can be very limited, smaller than a
football field in the case of some nocturnal
strepsirhines, or many square kilometers in the
case of some apes and monkeys
– The range must contain all the resources
needed by a nonhuman primate or a social
group: water, food, shelter, and mates
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Primate Ecology (cont’d)
• Predation
– Nonhuman primates in the wild face challenge
of finding food while avoiding attacks by
predators
– Failing to find food will leave a monkey hungry
the next day, but failing to avoid an attack by
an eagle or leopard will leave it dead or injured
– Behavioral defenses against predators
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Primate Communities
• Primate communities, like communities of
other animals, are integral parts of tropical
forest ecosystems
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