Primatology has showed humans that although we are still the most advanced species, there is not as big of a gap as what has previously been thought. There are a lot of similarities, not only biologically but also culturally, between humans and other primates. Research and studies have shown that primates live in community with each other very similar to humans. Their community may not be as complex as ours, but it is similar all the same. Their communities even contain hierarchies and social groups. Although primates have not learned how to use spoken language, researchers have been able to teach some of them sign language. They have also found that primates make their own tools. Another aspect of primate culture that is similar to
The primate freedom organization protects primates from inhuman experimentation in hopes to stop animal experimentation. They also donate Primate Freedom Tags and provide research to other organizations. Finally, they write articles for campus publications, foster community, and campus-based Primate Freedom Projects, and work to connect all primate freedom efforts
This study examined the differences in articular surface morphology of caudal vertebrae between prehensile and non-prehensile tailed primates. Articular surface is skeletal surface, which includes bone and cartilage, that makes contact with other skeletal surface as part of a joint. Variation in the morphology of articular surface can confer a greater capacity for mechanical loading, which is required for prehensile primates as they often use their tails to suspend their entire weight during locomotion. In this experiment, it was hypothesized that articular surface area and curvature in caudal vertebrae could be used to distinguish between prehensile and non-prehensile tails. The results showed that articular surfaces found in both proximal and distal regions were greater in prehensile tailed primates, in comparison to primates that were non-prehensile tailed.
The article I have chosen was written by Helen Pilcher and is about evolution of creatures, especially for primates. However, until now, what do our very first primates were like still remain mysterious as we do not have sufficient information and evidences which are 60 million years ago. Yet, we still cannot deny that evolution occurs in creatures. No matter for humans, animals or plants, all of them will make changes because of their living habits and environment in order to survive. In this article, the author explains everything clearly about the primate evolution was taken around million years ago and ancestors are a small and nocturnal creature.
In the book A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among Baboons the author Robert Sapolsky describes many differences within a baboon troop he decided to observe for more than twenty years. There are many differences he describes for example the differences of sex and the age difference between them. In his work Sapolsky uses names for some of the baboons and describes the relationship between them. The names he used were based on Old Testament Figures. Sapolsky states that baboons live in big groups and their members work very hard to feed themselves.
Although some may think of metaphor as ornamental and inapplicable for use in subjects other than English literature, metaphors are necessary for communication in all fields. The use of metaphor is especially crucial in the field of education, where students cannot be taught without the use of metaphor because one cannot understand completely new ideas without making a connection to previously known information (Reddy). Textbooks readily employ metaphor in order to convey new information to students. Pages 28-29 of The Primate Family Tree by Ian Redmond illustrates the evolution of primates through a diagram of a tree and describes how the theory of evolution has changed since the nineteenth century. The Primate Family Tree willfully utilizes
The primate observation that I chose to observe are Orangutan, Squirrel Monkey, and Lemur. This observation took place in the Lowry Park Zoo on October 18th. I went to the Lowry Park Zoo around 2 pm until 5 pm. The purpose of this observation is through primate’s anatomy, locomotion, and behavior to getting know them better, and how they are differences and similarities compare to human beings. When I got there, the Zoo was already very crowd.
Sapolsky Essay on the Moral Question Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. Robert Sapolsky, the author of A Primate’s Memoir, witnessed Game Park Rangers in Kenya dispersing the meat of a zebra that they killed. The game wardens killed the vulnerable zebra illegally only because they wanted the meat. Their reasoning was that they were not receiving a salary from the warden, but instead the warden was keeping the money for himself. The question is, are these game wardens poachers?
Due to the intellectual level of primates there parenting skills differ from other mammals. Primates birth fewer off spring than other mammals because there births are spaced out over time to account for teaching and nurturing the newborns. Primates tend to take much better care of there infants with mothering qualities due to there intelligence which is far different than other mammals who sometimes give birth and leave there young. Primates care for there offspring much more than other mammals and do things that more closely resemble the care humans have when it comes to parenting as oppose to animals like dolphins and other mammals. There are six types of social groups which primates follow.
These new environments made possible the evolution of nonhuman primates, and influenced the evolutionary path of primates. Three common theories of early primate evolution are the Arboreal Hypothesis, the Visual Predation
Through years of training and interactions Koko the gorilla demonstrated a great knowledge of having learned ASL (American Sign Language). To quote ’’She communicates in sign language, using a vocabulary of over 1,000 words.’’ She understood English as well (over 2,000 words) when spoken and responded in sign language to questions being asked of her in English. The case of Koko demonstrates the cognitive abilities that primates can show when being trained for sign language. It also provides evidence that non-human primates can use a communication system to express their thoughts and needs to humans.
Primates have developed the ability to actually create different cultural groups, each of which operates with its own unique set of artifacts, symbols, social practices, and institutions. While primates in general have evolved advanced social-cognitive skills for competing and collaborating with related and with their own species, humans have also developed these abilities (Hermann et al., 2007). This illustrates cognition as a big factor in the theory of mind because, without cognition, non-human primates would not have been able to develop these different groups, vocalizations, and symbols to communicate with fellow and other species. Other primate species may share certain social or cultural behaviors with one another, but their species-typical cognition does not rely on engaging in cultural interactions in the same way that it does in humans (Hermann et al., 2007). Although social interactions are not a large part of cognitive evolution for primates, they are still able to understand the behaviors of other species.
The article, “Of Primates and Personhood: Will According Rights and “Dignity” to Nonhuman Organisms Halt Research?” by Ed Yong is trying to convince the reader to see a different side to primates. The Great Ape Project set legal rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutan. United Kingdom and New Zealand protect great apes from experimentation. For the Great Ape Project they are basically setting laws and higher standards for primates to me experimented on or held captive.
Primates have a lot in common with us humans, and with the research and studies that we have preformed we can now show that primates have become a lot more like humans. The lifestyle of primates are a lot like that of ours. Communities is big in the race of the humans and we believe that only we have developed communities and live within theses communities. This statement is not true because not only have primates developed and lived in communities but so have several other species. Primate communities exsist with fifty or more individuals who collectively inhabit a large geographical area.
Studying primates could also help us better understand how our ancestors may have lived and how they may have socialized, foraged/ate, or raised
B. Primate Diversity All of our global biodiversity are important from biological point of view. But certain groups of species, which influence the other in the ecosystem dynamics, deserve special attention. Among these are the non-human primates- the monkeys, apes and lorises. Primates play vital role in forest ecology, as seed dispersers, seed predators and even pollinators. As canopy dwellers, primates play vital role of flagship species in woodland forest, indicating the quality of the forest.