Primates ANT 101

Flashcards generated from lecture notes on Primates, covering general characteristics, specific traits, and examples of different primate groups, including human and non-human primate behaviors.

Natural selection

A process that leads to adaptation in populations.

Primates

Humans and their closest living non-human relatives, sharing a suite of traits.

Mammals

Animals characterized by body hair, mammary glands, giving birth to live young, maintaining body temperature, and having a larger brain for their body size.

Arboreal life

Living in trees; primates show adaptations for this lifestyle.

Convergent eyes

Eyes positioned on the front of the face, characteristic of primates, providing depth perception.

Depth perception

The ability to judge the relative distance of objects, aided by convergent eyes in primates.

Orbits with full ring of bone

A primate visual trait where the eye sockets are fully enclosed by bone.

Prehensile hands

Hands capable of grasping, a key feature of primates.

Opposable thumbs/big toes

Digits that can be moved opposite to others, aiding in grasping, found in primates.

Nails

Flat keratin plates at the ends of digits, replacing claws in primates.

Sensitive finger tips (tactile pads)

Primate feature providing enhanced sense of touch for manipulation.

Extended life history (primates)

Characterized by slow growth, longer life, infrequent reproduction with few offspring, and high parental investment.

Parental investment

The time and energy parents expend for the benefit of their offspring, typically high in primates.

Lemurs

A type of primate found exclusively in Madagascar, including the aye-aye.

Tarsiers

A type of primate characterized by long tarsal bones and large eyes.

Monkeys

A group of primates divided into New World Monkeys and Old World Monkeys.

New World Monkeys

Monkeys found in the Americas.

Old World Monkeys

Monkeys found in Africa and Asia.

Apes

A group of primates characterized by longer arms than legs, no tails, a longer clavicle, and including lesser and great apes.

Brachiation

A form of arboreal locomotion where primates swing from branch to branch using their arms.

Lesser Apes

A category of apes, exemplified by Gibbons.

Great Apes

A category of apes including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

Bonobos

A type of great ape, closely related to chimpanzees.

Human traits

Specific characteristics including a vertical forehead, mental eminence, bipedalism, skull above spine, convergent big toe, and long legs.

Bipedalism

The ability to walk upright on two legs, a defining human trait.

Mental eminence

The prominent protuberance of the chin, a characteristic human trait.

Convergent big toe (humans)

A big toe aligned with the other toes, adapted for bipedalism in humans.

Cultural variation (chimpanzees)

Differences in learned behaviors, such as tool use (e.g., getting honey with logs, using sticks, chewed-leaf sponges) and prey preferences, among different groups of chimpanzees.

Primate tool use

The ability of primates to use objects to achieve a goal, demonstrating learned behavior and cultural variation.