Primates Timeline

A few weeks ago, I spent a lovely Monday afternoon observing two different primates at the Santa Ana Zoo. I got to the zoo around two in the afternoon, and to my surprise, the zoo was decently crowded. The Santa Ana Zoo is smaller in comparison to other zoos like the Los Angeles Zoo, but still had a decent amount of animals there. Covering a small 20 acres of land, I came across two primates that fit perfectly for the purposes of this course project. I chose to observe an endangered ape, the white-handed gibbon, and an endangered new world monkey, the golden-headed lion tamarin.

During the space race, not only did the Soviets send an animal into space, we (Americans) sent a animal also. A chimpanzee named “Ham”. Hams journey into space was very

The first group of primates I mainly observed were the Bonobos, also known as the pygmy chimps to many. On this occasion a youngster running

What makes a primate a primate? A primate is defined by its many incredible features. A primate is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and social animals. What makes a primate a primate is its characteristics. Some of the physical features primates are identified by is their teeth, snouts, eyes, ears, arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Human evolution is a big part of humans being primates, and having similar features and characteristics make humans to be considered to be a primate, but both humans and non-humans have differences.

In the article, “Of Primates and Personhood: Will According Rights and ´Dignity´ to Nonhuman Organisms Halt Research?¨, written by Ed Yong, who explains the moral but unclear delma of granting Great Apes rights. Extending from Spain to the U.S., the Great Ape Project (GAP) fights for these basic sets of moral and legal rights for apes. The problem is that apes, although genetically similar to humans are still viewed as simple animals. Which makes the ability to give these non-human animals, human like rights unnecessary as it would to give rights to dogs or rats. The U.S. has also passes the Great Ape Protection Act, which stop any harmful experience to apes. Consequently also stopping any further understanding of underlying biological mechanisms,

In 1948 before the space race began a rhesus monkey was launched into space. Unfortunately, the monkey did not make it out of the atmosphere. Lakia was the first animal to actually make it to space in 1957. She was launched on November 3rd aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2. Following Laika, The Russians launched two more dogs into space. Bella and Strelka launched on August 19, 1960, on the Sputnik 5 along with 40 mice, two rats, a rabbit, some fruit flies and a couple plants. They were the first living things to successfully get to space and return

They are very fast and can be able to run within short distances using the most minimal time. It takes less than 10 seconds to run within a distance of approximately 100 meters. While the animals move around they try to monitor the environment as quadrupedally and monitoring of the environment can be able to take as much as up to ten minutes in any case they have doubts of where they are, this alerts them of any predators. Consortship is a situation where the two animals would stay close to each other and monitor the movement and environment of each other. This is done as long as the animals are out in an environment that is not seen as being friendly. The patas can be seen to be less vocal and they move around in silence, they make certain noise only once when they have seen a predator. The noise or the sound takes just a few seconds as long as the danger is taken away

As an anthropology student, I want to observe primates to challenge my knowledge of them. Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth. They have complex social structures, moreover; they are often cited as humans closest living relatives. I went to Lincoln zoo with my assistance (my brother to help me take photos while I observe the primates).

The studies of primate evolution have been developing throughout the years and now scientists are able to compare and contrast between several types of primate groups. One notable primitive characteristic that non-human primates and human primates have retained is the development and evolution of their dentition. Due to primates having long growth periods, scientists are able to research how primates have different dental characteristics and specializations in modern time (Larsen, 2008). By analyzing teeth, scientists are able to determine several factors, such as similar dental formation, growth, development, and diet preferences (Larsen, 2008).

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of promisians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to

Primates have been evolving for millions of years and during this time they have adapted into ecosystems in which they live in. Through the process of primate evolution, the most significant impact was their changes in body structure and locomotion. Evolution is the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth. Improving body structures and speed of movement made it possible for the primates to escape predators and survive hostile environments. Throughout the Epoch of Cenozoic Grades, primates developed four different types of locomotion in order to adapt to the new environment.

Ed Yong’s article “Of Primates and Personhood” an interesting and controversial opinion is brought up, that being, should we give rights to animals? The article justifies giving rights to animals by pointing out that animals are capable of feeling pain just as humans do. He also states that animals have consciousness, implying that they are equivalent to humans. Yong uses a heavy influence of pathos in his article, by making animals seem more human he is able to establish a feeling of sympathy toward animals. Yong’s article does well at making animals seem like victims, however, this does not make his cause is just.

Kavanagh, M. & Morris, D. (1983). Complete guide to monkeys, apes and other primates. London: Viking Press.

“Of Primates and Personhood” by Ed Yong talks about legalizing rights for animals. In this article it explains how great apes will now be getting more protection. Those laws will not allow great apes to be used in an experiment. It explains how great apes are like us humans and they can also feel pain. Great apes are our closest relatives.

Once humans broke off from other primates during evolution our behavior evolved with us. I think primates and early humans have similar behaviors but I do not think it would make a good model into understanding early human behavior. It would not make a good model because there might be similarities but the similarities are not exactly the same and there are still differences in the behaviors. In Ape genius, they showed chimpanzees are making spears and hunting that would be a good example of a similarity in primates and early human behavior. In Ape Genius they showed that some apes can learn different skills by watching and imitating. Imitation is similar to how humans teach children. Apes displaying imitation showed that they have complex