Our Primate Cousins

Photo slideshow of various primates I've worked with at a wild animal park (except the orangutans and gorillas, which were photographed elsewhere).

Humans belong to the taxonomic Order Primates, which is comprised of 11 Families, 52 Genera, & 181 species. Primates are divided into two main groups: Prosimians (literally "before monkeys/apes) and Anthropoids (literally "man like"). The evolution of primates is characterized by trends toward mobile limbs, grasping hands, a flattened face, binocular vision, a large, complex brain, & a reduced reproductive rate. Most Primates are well adapted to arboreal living (living in trees).

Primate evolution occurred primarily during the Cenozoic Era, Prosimians first branching off in the early Eocene Epoch 58 mya (million years ago).

Around 33 mya, during the Oligocene Epoch, the Anthropoids split off into 3 main groups: New World Monkeys (w/prehensile tails), Old World Monkeys (w/out prehensile tails), & the Hominoids (eventual Apes & Humans w/out any tails).

In the Miocene Epoch, around 15 mya, Asian Apes & African Apes diverged paths. At approx. 6 mya, African Apes & Human lineage split, producing Hominids (members of the taxonomic Human Family Hominidae) in a region of Central Africa called the Great Rift Valley. There, dense jungle gave way to great savannah plains, & bipedalism became a helpful adaptation in surviving in a high grass environment w/a variety of predators.

To this day, Chimpanzees & Humans share 98.5% of the same DNA sequences, even though millions of years separate us from a common ancestor. The evidence for evolution has been found within the fossil record. Additional corroboration has been found comparing DNA sequences which show dramatic linkages between all modern primate species. A comparative study of mitochondrial DNA shows that the differences among present human populations are consistent w/their having a common ancestor no more than a million years ago.

Prosimian (lemurs, tarsiers, bushbabies & lorises)
0:26-0:45 Ring Tailed Lemur

Anthropoids (monkeys, apes & humans)

New World Monkeys (w/prehensile tails)
0:52-1:02 Black Tamarin Marmoset
1:03-1:10 Squirrel Monkey
1:11-1:18 Capuchin Monkey
1:19-1:26 Woolly Monkey
1:27-2:10 Spider Monkey
**1:47-1:51 a spider monkey is investigating/ harassing a river turtle.
**1:52-1:57 two spider monkeys are investigating/ harassing an alligator.

Old World Monkeys (w/out prehensile tails)
2:13-2:36 Vervet Monkey aka Green Monkey or Guenon or Grivet
**These are the monkeys scientists have thus far linked as a carrier species for the RNA retrovirus associated w/HIV/AIDS.
2:37-3:43 Rhesus Macaque
**3:13-3:43 show a troop of rhesus macaques interacting w/Sika & Fallow deer, as well as Mouflon sheep & raccoons.

Hominoids (apes & humans, w/out any tail)

Asian Apes
3:45-3:53 White Handed Gibbon
3:54-4:08 Orangutan

African Apes
4:11-4:32 Lowland Gorilla
4:33-4:59 Chimpanzee

Human
4:52-4:59 Me kissing a Chimpanzee ^_^


All photographs are the property of Dafttool & cannot be reproduced or used without the expressed authorization of Dafttool.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dafttool
• primate
• evolution
• human
• lemur
• ape
• gibbon
• chimp
• gorilla
• orangutan
• monkey
• anthropology
• nature
• tarsier
• wildlife

[usamaasif12]

song name plz

[dafttool]

@usamaasif12 "Sweet Mary (Talks to You) by Alexander Perls. It wasn't my original music. Originally I had Sister Sledge's "We Are Family," but there was a copyright issue, so I did an auto-switch with youtube's free music.

[Thulgore]

It's odd...........so many seem to think that these apes and monkeys have stayed the same and only humans have changed. It's the exact wrong way to view evolution. They've changed as much as we have. We were never chimps. Chimpanzees weren't around back then. I don't see why people have such a hard time understanding that part of evolution.

[sragil]

All you have to do is look in their eyes to know that we are related.

[aaaazzzzable]

@dafttool Oh, so you only believe something if a well known scientist tell you to believe it? ... Wow, just ... wow. More and More this is sounding like a generic religion. You really think they are gonna release info that will destroy decades of research? No. Sorry buddy but facts are facts whether you lab leaders tell you so or not. Think for your self don't be lead by a man in a white coat. Mutation isn't possible as long as your leaders don't say anything it isn't true, like you for example.

[dafttool]

@aaaazzzzable If there were ANY faults found in the science of Evolution, it would be exposed & the theory discredited. That's how peer review science works. You don't keep around old "dogma" after it has been exposed as false (like the sun orbiting the Earth or dinosaurs being cold-blooded). Thus, there is nothing wrong or sketchy about it (which made it all the easier for me to teach in Biology). Hiding your head in the sand avoiding facts doesn't change those facts.

[aaaazzzzable]

@dafttool Also I know what you mean my All belief in God is Automatic. Which is not only rude but a very non-thought out statement. Your very one minded if you believe that all humans who believe in God are just Mindless freaks who have been hypnotized or brain washed since birth. As freely as you believe in Evolution is as freely as I believe in Jehovah. Everything You and I Do, Think, and believe is manual. I don't care what you have to say that's just a solid fact.

[aaaazzzzable]

@dafttool Man your like a robot... "Must... make sense of sit-oo-ation *Beep bop boop*." Evolution is wrong/sketchy it's, simply, your strong beliefs that keep it alive. Why do you think you were so quick to shoot down the fact that mutation isn't possible? Because you have so much faith that evolution is SOOO correct your not willing to consider any fact that prove evolution wrong.

[dafttool]

@aaaazzzzable If Evolution was "sketchy and/or wrong" the science surrounding Evolution would collapse. Instead, there have been NO findings to contradict Evolution, while new technologies only re-affirm its previous findings. --BTW, a belief in God & a belief in Evolution are NOT mutually exclusive, especially if one believes God works through Evolution/Nature.

[aaaazzzzable]

@dafttool Oh, so you just completely discard any facts that make evolution sound sketchy and/or wrong? I thought evolutionists always whaled on religions for doing that? :P Hmm, I guess Atheist-Evolutionists can't talk about us anymore... even though I have yet to hear a case that even came close to convincing me God doesn't exist. :P

[oODarkEnergyOo]

I swear that looks like my friend Rob when he's stoned ... at 1:25

[dafttool]

@aaaazzzzable You are talking junk science. Not all mutations are bad for a species survival; some actually make it possible for a species to survive where it might not have without those mutations, such as bacteria which evolve resistances to various antibiotics to become superbugs which no antibiotic can harm. Man's large, complex brain is one such mutation (from a very long time ago) which has helped us to survive for this long.