Primates Since the beginning of time, man has evolved through primate evolution. Each primate has acquired different characteristics over a period of millions of years. The ecosystem has experienced an enormous change in this phase. Most major changes have occurred due to the phenomenon of continental drift. Other such factors are deforestation, natural calamities and, more recently, global warming. These changes have caused primates to become less arboreal and more and more terrestrial. In order to survive the pressures of natural selection, terrestrial life and other factors primates have developed more upright locomotion, changes in body configuration, increase in size and loss of hair. Over a period of millions of years, the planet has gone through a number of changes. To adjust to these changes the residents of this planet have also had to adapt. For the time span encompassing vertebrate evolution, there are three eras: the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. The highly successful mammalian adaptive radiation is almost entirely within the most recent era of geological history, the Cenozoic. There are seven epochs in the Cenozoic - Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene. In Paleocene (65 m.y.a.), the Lemuroids were the group of primates that existed. The Ruffed Lemur originated in the tropical rainforests of Madagascar. They ate mostly fruits, flowers, and leaves. Lemurs feature a somewhat elongated snout with a slight overlap on their eyes. They are large in size and are adapted to the ground. That ahs made them slower and thus they find it to harder to escape from their predators. They have gaps between their teeth and are extremely loud because of their strong vocal co... ... middle of paper ... ...s the males that she is ready to mate. The swelling is sensitive, but does not hurt. It may last for two weeks. Man made its entry on this planet during the final to epochs of the Cenozoic- the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. Man appeared about 5 m.y.a. The earliest discoveries of that were made in South Africa. It is believed that Man originated from the primates and different eras do show that primates underwent a lot of changes and the most recent ones are very similar to humans. We have seen the changes that have occurred in the primates over a period of about 63 million years. We have observed that all these changes have been made to make the primate adapt better to its surroundings. These changes include the modification and then disappearance of the tail. As time passed and the forests became less dense the primates became more adapted to terrestrial life.
Dr. Goodall is a well-known British primatologist who has discovered a substantial amount about primates in her many years of research. She has written numerous books, including one that we will be going into depth about called, “Through a Window.” Her book contains personal experiences, research findings, and even pictures to help the readers visualize her scientific breaking moments from her thirty years with the chimpanzees of Gombe. She states that there is are minor differences, and several similarities between humans and the chimpanzees. We will discuss these differences and similarities through their social behavior, intellectual ability, and emotions. To conclude, examine Goodall’s research to adopt what her findings can tell us about our early ancestors, and whether or not her study coincided to the steps of scientific methodology.
There are two distinct infraorders of Anthropoidea that have been evolving independent of each other for at least 30,000,000 years. They are the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) and the Catarrhini (Old World monkeys, apes, and humans). 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.
After millions of years that humans separated from their relative primate how is that humans became bipedal. So many changes have happened to the human body to decide to stay on the ground and abandoned their lives in the trees. Primates evolved different body structures according to their lifestyle and the ecosystem in which they lived. As Charles Darwin natural selection stays; it could be as a result of new environments, the need for food and shelter, which forced humans to adapt and survive. Although, most of primates’ anatomy reflects habits of movement, it could be easy to see the external differences but there are many differences that have been intensely studied and researched.
: Primates didn’t just appear among Earth, but they evolved. The coevolution has to do with flowers and fruits. Fruits were evolving to get tastier for primates to eat and as primates ate them they spread them around as well. As they ate these new evolved fruits and flowers this invited changes onto their bodies as
Quiatt, D., & Reynolds, V. (1993). Primate behaviour: information, social knowledge, and the evolution of culture. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press].
1. Since apes were pushed out of the trees by lack of food, they eventually had to adapt to walking around on two legs.
Our earliest ancestors are primates. They are our closest relatives which is why we can see our behavior’s and practices in them. If we observe them we can get a better understanding of them and us, human beings. But unfortunately we all don’t get the chance to see a Primate right in our backdoor. So the best thing I could do for my observation was to visit them at the zoo.
Storr (1989, 108) argues that today there is no evidence from anthropology or from studies of subhuman primates that ...
If earth were a field and evolution a farmer then the leading and the healthiest crop in his field would be the human or homo sapiens. But this human race would never had flourished into an above average species without assistance from outer space friends. The aliens initialized the primary phase of the advancement process about three million years ago. They did this by means of a monolith, planted on earth on a fateful night. The monolith probed the ape-man's (Austrapethicas Erectus) mind, studied their reactions and finally evaluated their potential. By carefully conducted experiments the monolith altered the molecular makeup of the ape-man's brain making them smarter and providing them with the necessary skills needed to survive in the hostile world. The ape-man changed its shape and size evolving into a new and improved species. It was a slow, cumulative process, and at its end was man. Therefore, without the assistance of helpful extra terrestrial friends, ape-man would never had developed the dexterity to compete for life sustaining rations with rival species and would probably had suffered the same fate as the overgrown lizards. But evolutions success story has constructed tools that have become too hard for even him to handle.
The evolution of the human species has significantly changed during the course of evolution to what is now the modern day Homo sapiens. Some of the changes that have occurred through the evolution are bipedalism, changes in body features such as brow ridges, and an increase in brain capacity.
Around five to seven million years ago in Africa, a man/ape primate ventured about in the wooded areas. (Morgan, 1982) “My thesis is that a branch of this primitive ape-stock was forced by competition from life in the trees to feed on the sea-shores and to hunt for food, shellfish, sea-urchins etc.”, quoted from Alister Hardy. For the need of food, shelter, space, and resources, the hominid relocated from its traditional environment of the tree, toward water. As evident today, many species of monkeys and apes seek these resources in trees. According to Elaine Morgan, the man/ape primates that stayed and continued to survive in the wooded environment millions of years ago, are the direct ancestors of today’s monkey and ape primates, while the ones that chose to move to the water are the direct ancestors of today’s humans. As proposed by AAT, this is the point along the evolutionary line in which humans and ape primates split.
Apes, like humans, are catarrhines and part of the superfamily hominoidea. Apes started to appear in the Miocene about 20 million years ago(lecture notes, week 10), under this category there are many primates that are distinguished as apes, such as, orangutans, gibbons, chimpanzees, and gorillas. These particular primates are from the old world and are native to Africa and Asia. Apes can be distinguished by the foramen magnum towards the back of the skull, having no tail, and having a hook nose (Larsen 2013, p. 150). Another characteristic of apes is that they have large brains for their body size, this is important because it shows they have a higher intelligence than other animals, and this can be connected to the relationship shared with humans.
“The scientific study of how humans developed did not begin until the 1800s in Europe. Until that time, people relied on religious explanations of how humans came into existence. Starting in the 1500s a scientific revolution began to sweep Europe. Thinkers started using scientific methods and experiments to try to better understand the world and the creatures living in it. Eventually these methods were turned to the question of human origins” (The Nature Of Human Origins, 1). Earth made it possible for species to change over time because Ancient Earth provides ability to plenty of time.The Homo Sapien a is very complex creature. The species started off very simple by living in caves and surviving with little food and then later evolved into a species that were able to do many more complex things. The first species was Sahelanthropus tchadensis They were one of the most simple humans in that time period and on. They had very small skulls compared to Homo Sapiens today and their motor skills were just the same. We have evolved and changed for the better both mentally and physically. The Evolution of Homo Sapiens started off simple, such as the Neanderthals, and now we are the most advanced species to ever walk the planet so far.
Paleolithic age presents the era when key human adaptations evolved in response to a variety of environmental changes experienced at the time. This period of human evolution coincided with change within the surrounding of man. Such included cooling, drying and unpredictable climatic patterns over the time. This increased amount of variability in environmental conditions raised the level of uncertainty and instability in their respective terms of survival, necessitated the man to adopt new habits to increase adaptability to the new and changing surroundings. The evolved structures and behaviors led to specialization to enable coping with changing and unpredictable conditions.
Tertiary period started about 70 million years ago. It was the start of the "era of mammals". It produced adaptive emission in the mammals. Extinction of many reptilian lineages also persent in this period.