Compared to other mammals, primates possess a relatively unspecialized anatomy, while their behavioral patterns are diverse and flexible. Although the earliest primates were active at night and tree dwelling, relatively few of the living primates still behave in this way. Most primate groups today live in social groups and are quite active in the day. Brain expansion and development of visual acuity in place of a reliance on sense of smell accompanied this behavioral shift. While some primates still live in the trees, many species today are ground dwelling; some move into the trees only to forage or to sleep at night.
What Is the Place of Humanity among the Other Animals?
Biologists classify humans as belonging to the primate order, a mammalian group that also includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. Among the primates, humans are most closely related to the apes, particularly to chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. A common evolutionary history is responsible for the characteristics shared by humans and other primates. By studying the anatomy, physiology, and molecular structure of the other primates, we can gain a better understanding of what human characteristics we owe to our general primate ancestry and what traits are uniquely human.
Why Is Primate Conservation of Vital Importance to Anthropologists Today?
Anthropologists study other primates because their biology and behavior are so close to those of humans. Yet it is human behavior—politically and economically—that threatens primates throughout their natural ranges. Today, as a result of human destruction of primate habitats and the hunting of primates for bushmeat or souvenirs, nearly 50 percent of the known 634 primate species and subspecies are threatened with extinction in the next decade. Anthropological perspectives contribute significantly to preventing the extinction of our primate cousins.
The diversity of life on earth attests to the fact that living organisms solve the challenge of survival in many ways. In evolutionary terms, survival means reproducing subsequent generations of the species and avoiding extinction. Over the course of countless generations, each species has followed its own unique journey, an evolutionary history including random turns as well as patterned adaptation to the environment. Because new species are formed as populations diverge, closely related species resemble one another due to recent common ancestry. In other words, closely related species have shared part of their evolutionary journey together. With each step living creatures can only build on what already exists, making today’s diversity a product of tinkering with ancestral body plans, behaviors, and physiology.
In this chapter we will look at the diversity of living primates, the group of animals to which humans belong. By doing so, we will gain a firmer understanding of those characteristics we share with other primates, as well as those that distinguish us from them and make us distinctively human. Figure 3.1 shows the natural global distribution of living and fossil primates. It also indicates where the twenty-five most endangered primate species are struggling to survive. Among them is the Tonkin snubnosed monkey in northern Vietnam, with only 150 individuals remaining in the wild.
World History
