Investigation

What Makes a Primate a Primate?

Kathryn Orzech

Table of Contents

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Lowland gorilla

Gorilla gorilla gorilla © 2001

Introduction

Maybe you just watched a film about Madagascar and met some lemurs jumping and running through the forest. Maybe you visited the zoo and saw gorillas grooming each other and eating leaves. Maybe you passed an elementary school and saw kids swinging on the monkey bars. Or maybe you just looked at your thumb as you picked up a carrot to eat it and thought “wow, that’s pretty cool I can pick things up like that!” In all these scenarios, you are contemplating what it means to be a primate.

Building on the Mammal Pattern

One of the important things to know as we ask “what makes a primate a primate” is that the primate characteristics we see are all built on mammal characteristics. All primates are mammals. This means that based on what we know about mammals, we can assume some basic things about how primates are put together, how they function, and what they do. Four kinds of mammals are pictured below so when you look at the table below about mammal characteristics, you will be able to look for those traits in these pictures.

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Ateles (Red Spider Monkey) shows thermoregulation by his hair for insulation and by sitting in the shade, showing he does not need the sun to maintain body temperature © 2001

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Children of the Dai minority in a schoolyard

Homo sapiens (Human) children, in the childhood stage unique to humans, are showing their first set of teeth (baby teeth) the first of two sets mammals have to promote nutritional efficiency © 1993 Ethan Michelson

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aardvark

Orycteropus afer (Aardvark) shows one way of moving - quadrupedally, or on four limbs. How do these other mammals move? © 2001

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Black rhinoceros

Diceros bicornis (Black rhinoceros) Notice the environment these rhinos occupy and think about the different environments that are illustrated in these pictures that can all be occupied by mammals © 2000 Greg and Marybeth Dimijian

Table of Mammal Characteristics

Trait This means they can They have
Thermoregulation Maintain and change body temperature Hair to insulate, sweat glands to cool off, and are “warm-blooded” so unlike reptiles, they don’t have to be in a sunny spot to stay warm
Nutritional Efficiency Eat and digest a lot to keep themselves going A hard palate that divides chewing and breathing apparatus so they can eat and breathe at the same time, two sets of teeth over the lifetime and several different kinds of teeth for different functions
Locomotion and Posture Move in many different ways A variety of options when traveling through the environment and seeking food
Multiple, Developed Life Stages Spread growth and development over a longer period Four main stages:
  • In Utero
  • Infancy
  • Juvenile
  • Adult
Humans add Childhood between Infancy and Juvenile
Behavioral Flexibility Change behavior to cope with changes in the environment A better chance of using resources, surviving and reproducing due to larger brains

See Morbeck, Galloway and Zihlman's book The Evolving Female for more on what it means to be a mammal and how primates build on those mammal characteristics.

What Makes a Primate a Primate?

We look at 3 kinds of evidence:

Note: The primate characterisitics below are drawn mainly from Falk's Primate Diversity, with additional information from Fleagle's Primate Adaptation and Evolution.

Skeletal Features Related to Teeth and Snout

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Vervet monkey

Cercopithecus aethiops (Vervet or Green Monkey). Notice his small snout © 1999 Greg and Marybeth Dimijian

 
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Vervet monkey (Catarrhini)

Cercopithecus aethiops (Vervet or Green Monkey). Notice this monkey's tooth display, showing off canine teeth © 2000 Greg and Marybeth Dimijian

Skeletal Features Related to Eyes and Ears

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Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) adult male

Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii (Common chimpanzee) Notice his forward facing orbits. This is a portrait of a high-ranking male from Gombe National Park in Tanzania © 2005 David Bygott

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Quercus macrocarpa (Bur Oak) Using your stereoscopic vision, you can see that some of the branches of the oak tree are closer than others. Without that depth perception, all the branches would look flat and equally far away from you. Image courtesy of the US Forest Service, St. Paul Field Office.

Skeletal Features Related to Arms and Legs

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Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) eating meat

Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii (Common chimpanzee) This photo shows a female chimpanzee with an infant begging for meat from the males who have captured a small monkey. Note that her arm is raised, showing the range of shoulder motion common to primates © 2005 David Bygott

 
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Nycticebus pygmaeus (Pygmy loris) This loris is descending a branch, taking advantage of the limb motion afforded by two bones in the primate forearm and lower leg.

 

Skeletal Features Related to Fingers and Toes

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Adult male olive baboon (Papio anubis) eating meat

Papio anubis (Olive baboon) Notice how this baboon is manipulating his meal with his mobile thumbs © 2005 David Bygott

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Ring-tailed lemurs

Lemur catta (Ring-tailed lemur) Look at the grasping hands and feet on this mother lemur.  Her baby also has good grasping ability, as it hangs on to mom's back as she travels © 2000 Greg and Marybeth Dimijian

Primate Evolutionary Trends

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Indri sitting in tree

Indri indri (Indri) Though this indri moves by clinging to tree trunks and using powerful hindlimbs to leap from tree to tree, it maintains the more vertical posture seen in many primates © 2000

 
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Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) using tools

Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii (Common chimpanzee) The chimpanzee in the foreground of the photo is using its hindlimbs to stand upright and its forelimbs to insert a stick into a termite nest (in the very front of the photo) to capture the termites to eat © 2005 David Bygott

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Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) mother with newborn infant

Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii (Common chimpanzee) This mother cradles her day-old infant © 2005 David Bygott

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Homo sapiens (Human) Notice how large the braincase of this skull is as compared to the face, reflecting the enlarged brain of primates © 2005 Kathryn Orzech

Primate Behavior

So what do primates DO that makes them primates? They spend time:

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drawing of a  lemur

Eulemur mongoz (Mongoose lemur) Notice how this lemur is climbing by grasping.

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Saimiri sciureus (Squirrel monkey) Look at how this monkey is bringing food to its mouth with its hands © 2001

 
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A male baboon (Papio anubis) grooms an infant suckling from its mother

Papio anubis (Olive baboon) This picture shows an infant baboon nursing and being groomed by another member of its troop © 2005 David Bygott

 
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Pongo pygmaeus (Orangutan) Orangutans rely solely on their mothers to teach them how to survive in the world.  It is typical for an orangutan to stay with its mother until it is 7 years old © 2001

Information on the Internet

  • Primate Info Net  A searchable database of primate information run by the University of Wisconsin
  • The Primates Topic Menu  Clearly organized information about the Order Primates with information pages, flash cards to review information and interactive crossword puzzles to test your new knowledge
  • Animal Diversity Web: Order Primates  A comprehensive site with information about primates as well as many images of primates, specimens (for example, photographs of primate skulls and jaws) and sounds made by primates.
  • Valley Zoo School Primate Research Results  Information on five kinds of primates as well as classification information and some primate links put together by a Canadian primary school. Also has teacher resources like a kid-friendly primate observation sheet on the school's home page.
  • Gombe Page  Several fun chimp and primate-themed quizzes along with video clips of Jane Goodall greeting an audience with chimp sounds and talking about the Gombe chimpanzees.
  • Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Central  Information about chimpanzees, part of the Jane Goodall Institute site.

References

1) Falk, Dean. 2000. Primate Diversity. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York, NY.

2) Fleagle, John G. 1999. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. 2nd Ed. Academic Press. San Diego, CA.

3) Morbeck, Mary Ellen, Alison Galloway and Adrienne L. Zihlman, Eds. 1997. The Evolving Female: A Life History Perspective. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ.

Learning Information

About This Page


University of Arizona

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Kathryn Orzech at

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