Primate

order of mammals

Primates are an order of mammals. It includes all lemurs, monkeys and apes, including humans.[1] Most primates (but not humans) are mainly or entirely forest dwellers.

Primates
Temporal range: Palaeocene - Recent
Olive baboon, an Old World monkey
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Grandorder: Euarchonta
Mirorder: Primatomorpha
Order: Primates
Linnaeus, 1758
Ring-tailed lemur, a strepsirrhine primate

There are about 400 species of primates.[2] All primates are similar to humans in many ways, but language is an important advantage which only humans have. Other primates have a pattern of calls and gestures, but not language as we know it.

Primates have hands with five fingers and flat fingernails (most other animals have claws or hooves). All primates are covered with fur (hair), but in humans the body hair is only noticeable in two places: on the head and around the genitals.

Primates are split into two groups: Strepsirrhini and Haplorhini. Haplorrhini includes larger monkeys such as, tarsiers and apes including humans. Strepsirrhini includes smaller monkeys such as lemurs, lorises, galagos (also called bush babies) and the aye-aye.

Primates are one of the few mammal groups which re-evolved full color vision. Even so, color vision in birds is better. Color vision was lost in mammals during the long period when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, and mammals were mainly small nocturnal animals.[3]

Close contact between humans and non-human primates creates opportunities for zoonotic diseases to get to humans. Virus diseases transmitted to humans include herpes, measles, ebola, rabies, and hepatitis.

Classification change

Clade change

Euarchontoglires 
 Glires 

 Rodentia



 Lagomorpha



 Euarchonta 

 Scandentia


Primatomorpha

 Dermoptera


 Primates 
 Strepsirrhini 

 (lemuriformes and lorisiformes)


 Haplorhini 

 Tarsiiformes



 Simiiformes (platyrrhini and catarrhini)








References change

  1. Groves C.P. 2005. Wilson D.E.; Reeder D. M. (eds). Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference (3rd ed). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 111–184. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494
  2. Silcox, Mary T.; Bloch, Jonathan I.; Boyer, Doug M.; Chester, Stephen G. B.; López‐Torres, Sergi 2017. The evolutionary radiation of plesiadapiforms. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 26 (2): 74–94. PMID 28429568
  3. Macdonald, David 2006. Primates. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. The Brown Reference Group plc. pp. 282–307. ISBN 0-681-45659-0

Related pages change

  Data related to Primates at Wikispecies