Primate Groups

As part of the only Old World Monkey group I analyzed the Silver Langur whose scientific name is Trachypitneus Cristatus. In this cage there was a total of 6 monkeys so there was very much activity. This

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

Non human primates’ social organization can provide useful information how human social evolution occurs. We will go over main points of how similar and different non human primates such as chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas’ society are compared to ours, humans.

The study of primates has been a common field of study for a long time. The studies are carried out for different reasons but the common reason is trying to understand human beings better. Studies have revealed that the behavior of primates is similar to that of human beings on different aspects. Human beings and primates have a history of being related based on the evolution stories. The earliest human beings are believed to have been apes and evolved from there.

The primates species that I observed were the Bornean orangutans and the Sumatran orangutans. There were three adult females. one adult male, and one infant female. The orangutans were observed at San Diego zoo’s ape webcam on April 26, 2106.

There are many similarities and differences in primate species.The ones I chose to focus on today was the Philippine tarsier, Mandrill and the gibbon. What made me choose these non- human primates so interesting was the uniqueness and appearance of each primate. I plan to explain the similarities of their teeth structure and purposes and the similarities of their diet and feeding and also the differences of their behaviors.

According to the data collected, the Intermembral index for each of the six primates observed from highest to lowest is: Gibbon (127), Howler monkey (102), Baboon (94), Macaque (89), Marmoset (74), Human (69). From this grouping, the Gibbon is the primate whose IM at 127 is the highest percentage, and this indicates that their upper limbs are significantly longer than their lower limbs. In contrast, the Human, with an IM of only 69 serves as the lowest percentage of the examples given, and this instead serves to demonstrate that their upper limbs are shorter than their lower limbs. This difference in limb length between the Gibbon and the Human is significant because it helps to show how species are adapted to best fit the environments

“Non-human primates, due to their level of intelligence when compared to other animals, and also due to their evolutionary closeness to man are maintained in several types of captive facilities like laboratories, zoological parks, animal circuses and conservation breeding centres” (Mallapur 2005). Non-human primates are the closes species to human-kind compared to others. The intelligence they contain and their relatively comparable behaviors they have with human-kind make them a fascinating study. They are kept for observation and research; but many of the enclosure sceneries evoke abnormal behavior patterns among non-human primates. Maintaining a satisfied non-human primate in captivity can be challenging.

This paper will discuss primate morphology for the Lemur catta, also known as the ring tailed lemur, what characterizes them as primates, how they react in their environment, and their social and adaptive behaviors in that environment. The Lemur catta and it is only found in the island of Madagascar, as well as off the coast of southeast Africa. In Madagascar, they reside in the southeastern portion anywhere from sea level, up to 8530 feet high. Their environment consists mainly of tropical forested area in the proximity of nine forests: Andohahela, Andringitra, Ankilitelo, Berenty, Beza Mahafaly, Isalo, Tsimanampetsotsa, Tsirave, and Zombitse (Godfrey et al. 1998). According to the National Primate Research Center (pin.primate.wisc.edu), they also have a variety of habitats for example rainforests, spiny bush forests, subalpine, deciduous, and gallery. However, a lot of their habitat has been affected by constant human contact; agricultural clearing, deforestation, and burning to produce charcoal. The Lemur catta need to be able to hide in the forest and they are not very good at adapting to new environments so they depend a lot on the forested areas. The southwest part of Madagascar is very prone to droughts and they can have serious effects on the habitats of ring-tailed lemurs and other mammals. I will discuss what makes the Lemur catta a primate and the primate characteristics that they possess. Then, I will express the specialized, physical characteristics that they

Primates come from the order of mammals and are defined based on the morphology of the group of animals. Morphology is the branch of biology that concerns the study of the structures and forms of various organisms based on their structural features. The study involves both the internal and external primary functions of the structures of an organism including the parts. According to the identification of primate’s family they are divided based on the generalized and the specialized features of the organisms (Russell 2015). The generalized features of the organisms are the common traits that identify the organisms to the specific family of primates. These are the characteristics that the entire organism that is considered to be primates possess

At the Lowery Park Zoo located in Tampa Florida, I was able to conduct a field project on primates. These primates that I focused on are divided into the suborders Anthropoidea and Prosimii (. The first primate on my list is classified as a prosimian, the Ring-Tailed Lemur or the Lemur catta are located on the African island of Madagascar. Next I turned to the Mandrill or Mandrillus sphinx that fall in the suborder of Anthropoids, these monkeys are located in Nigeria, Africa. Lastly my attention was drawn to the Siamang Gibbon or Symphalangus syndactylus who also fell in the category of Anthropoids and are located in Malaysia and Sumatra. These monkeys all being related do have many differences among them as well as comparisons as I have

Due to the higher degree of intelligence, different types of primates engage in different complex social groups. The three main ways to group primate societies are monogamous, polygynous and multi male multi female groups.

Order Primates – It includes highest developed mammals having some primitive features and specialized adaptations. It is an ancient diverse group having 233 species. They are primarily arboreal and return to land as a secondary adaptation. Pygmy mouse lemur is the smallest primate and gorilla is the largest primate.

Ways to tell a species was if they had distinctive and recognizable features of primate, they had highly manipulative grasping hands and feet. Another way to distinct a primate is by the major primate groups, the prosimian and the anthropoid. Bonobos, falling into the primate group of anthropoid,

Modern non-human anthropoids consist of New and Old World monkeys and the great and lesser apes that inhabit a range of environments throughout North and South America, Africa, and Euroasia. At least 90% of the anthropoid population consists of monkeys. There are two distinct Parvorders of anthropoids that have been evolving independent of each other for at least 30,000,000 years: the Platyrrhine and the Catarrhine. These two diverse groups of species can be distinguished from each other most easily based on the form of their noses and by the number of specific types of teeth. Today, Old World monkey habitats range from tropical jungles to semiarid deserts and seasonally snow-covered areas throughout Africa and South-East Asia. In comparison,