synonymprimates(primates) generally referring to primates
Primates are an order of mammals.[15]There are 346 species belonging to 66 genera and 15 families in the world. If subspecies are added, there are 623 species and subspecies.[23]Long limbs, good at climbing, fingers and toes can be bent, eyes wide, facing forward;[16]Grasping with hands (sometimes feet), the thumb and big toe are opposite to other fingers or toes, and the top of fingers or toes has flat nails;The brain is well developed.[17]
Most primates live in tropical and subtropical forests in Asia, Africa, Central America and South America, and a few species can be distributed in areas with an altitude of about 4000 meters.[18]Most primates live in warmer climates.[19]It usually perches on a tree, moves quickly, and uses its tail to maintain its balance.A few species live on the ground part of the time, move slowly, and their tails are short or not obvious.[20]Female animals have menstruation.Group habitat.It is omnivorous, mainly eats fruits and cereals, and also eats insects and meat.[21]
Primates are the most evolved group in the animal kingdom,[19]It is of great significance for research to solve the problem of human origin.[22]
Primates are translated differently from other families and genera. Primates are named Primates in Latin, which comes fromBinominal methodFounder ofCarl von Linne The original meaning is "primary, first class". In English, primary and this word are cognates.After being spread to the East, the Japanese translated the Latin Primates into primates, which is the "leader of all spirits", the highest point of animal evolution.
The relationship between different groups in primates has not been clear until modern times, so some commonly used words may be confusing. For example, ape may just be another name for monkey, but it may also only refer to primates that have no tail and are closer to humans.
Sir Wilfrid Le Gros Clark is a primatologist. He and other primatologists developed the concept of the evolution trend of primates, and ranked the non extinct primates in an ascending order, with humans at the end (the highest degree of evolution).Common names like prosimian and monkeys（monkey）、lesser apes（Gibbon）、great apes（Human family）It is the product of this methodology.According to the current understanding of primate evolution, this classification isDyadic group, that is, the group does not containNearest common ancestorAll descendants.
Fossil
Pulgatori monkey
The Pulgatori monkey found in North America's Pulgatori Mountain is the oldest primate fossil in the world so far.Some of the earliest primates found in Europe and North AmericaNear monkeysFossil.They have claws instead of nails.Teeth are three wedge typeLow crown tooth, which is more general, but the gate teeth are enlarged, like a flat chisel.Most monkeys are found inPaleocenestratum.
sinceEocenestartlemurThe early ones belong to extinct onesadapidae They are widely distributed and have been found in Asia, North America and Europe.Now lemurs are only distributed inMadagascarandComoros Islands, no reliable fossils have been found.Otter monkey(Translated againa thin person）Today, it only exists in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the tropical areas south of the Sahara in Africa. The fossils were found in the Miocene strata in East Africa.TarsierThere are a few fossil like fossils.It has been found in Europe, Asia and North America since Eocene.Near monkey, lemurs and tarsiers are commonly calledProtomonkeysorLower primates。
Around 2003, archaeologists found the most complete skeleton fossil of an early primate in Hubei Province, China, and cooperated with researchers from Carnegie Museum of Natural History in the United States and other international peers to conduct research and reconstruct the fossil with high resolution through X-ray technology.Research shows that this ancient monkey, named "Achilles Monkey", lived in the humid and hot lake about 55 million years ago and is the earliest primate found so far.This ancient monkey is about 7cm long, weighs less than 30g, and is close to the modern small dwarf lemur.It also has long limbs, sharp small teeth and large eye sockets, which proves that it is good at jumping and using its limbs to walk, eats insects and has good eyesight.[1]
Researchers believe that the new discovery provides important clues for the early evolution of primates. The existence of this ancient monkey further supports the argument that primates first appeared in Asia rather than Africa.Researchers speculate that this kind of ancient monkey may have evolved into two branches: the tarsier and the anthropoid ape, which differentiated into humans after millions of years of evolution.
origin
primate
The earliest primates are some near monkey fossils found in Europe and North America.It is mostly found in Paleocene strata.Since the Eocene Epoch, lemurs have appeared. The early lemurs belong to the extinct rabbit monkey family. They have a wide range of distribution. They have been found in Asia, North America and Europe, but inAfricaNo fossil evidence was found.reachthe oligocene epochApes and monkeys have appeared and evolved in different directions.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, Paris, July 8, 2009, the French National Research Center issued a communiqu é on July 8, saying that it cooperated with researchers from other countries to study and speculate that the anthropoid ape fossils found in Myanmar may indicate that this species originated in Asia, rather than Africa as previously thought.Previously, scientists believed that apes originated from the African continent, but with the discovery of ape fossils in Myanmar, the above theory was questioned.
The bulletin said that as early as 20 years ago, Laurent Marivo, a paleontologist at the French National Research Center, cooperated with many archaeologists to dig in China, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar.In 2005 and 2008, they excavated several primate fossils nearly 40 million years ago in Myanmar. One of the mandibles has sharp teeth, and the wear is also very serious, which indicates that this animal is used to biting hard shells with its teeth to absorb nutrients. This eating habit has only been found in anthropoid apes, such as the monk faced monkey in South America.
The new ape fossils found by scientists in Libya in 2010 show that the "cradle" of mankind may be in Asia.Before, many scientists believed that human beings came from Africa.However, the new research believes that the direct ancestors of human beings may have gone to Africa and dominated the African continent after they developed in other places (most likely Asia).Scientists found fossils of four early primate species in the Sahara Desert of Libya. These species may have lived 39 million years ago, but they are different from those living in Africa at the same time or earlier, which indicates that they arrived in Africa after evolution in other places.Three of these species come from different branches of the primate family, indicating that they share the same ancestor and have evolved over a long period of time.During this period, the Eocene, there were few or no known anthropoids living in Africa.[1-2]
evolution
The living primates from low to high are tree monkeys, lemurs and tarsiers, monkeys, apes and including us humans.Man is developed from apes.Therefore, human position in the animal kingdom also belongs to primates.[3]
Primates are the highest class of placental species, and they are closely related to insectivores, the basic stem of placental species.In the Cretaceous period, 70 million years ago, a class of primitive insectivores appeared, and many branches were differentiated from the adaptive radiation of primitive insectivores, one of which developed towards primates.[3]
The best evidence of the basic genetic relationship between primates and insectivores is the Oriental tree shrew now distributed in southwest China, Hainan Island and Southeast Asia.It is as big as a squirrel and has a long snout and tail.The brain is large, the olfactory area is small, and there is a bone between the orbit and the temporal area.The thumb (toe) and big toe (toe) are slightly separated from other toes.Its characteristics are between insectivores and primates, but closer to primates.In addition to eating insects, Oriental tree shrews have already eaten "fruits".In the process of evolution, early primates may have gradually changed their diet from eating "insects" to eating "fruits" to a variety of "omnivores".The change of food habits is an important step in the evolution of primates.[3]
In a way, the body structure of primates is the most unspecific animal.Only when there is no specialization can we develop towards a higher level of evolution.[3]
Primates have flexible limbs, retaining the form of five toes. The thumb (toe) is separated from other fingers (toes), which is convenient for climbing and holding objects.Primates have large brains;The eyes are also large, with the ability of binocular stereo vision;There is a bone between the orbit and the temporal region, and in the advanced primates, the eye is completely in the closed orbit.These characteristics play an important role in the progress of primates.[3]
During the Paleocene 60 million years ago in the Cenozoic era, primates developed in different directions from primitive tree abalones, producing primitive lemurs and tarsiers.In the late Eocene, 50 million years later, primitive monkeys and apes were generated from the evolution and radiation of primitive lemurs.In the Miocene, about 10 to 20 million years ago, a branch of ancient apes split up and developed in the direction of human beings. About 3 million years ago, the first human beings who could make tools and had conscious initiative finally appeared.
Today's lemurs are confined to Madagascar and its nearby islands.However, in the Paleocene, lemurs were widely distributed in Asia, Europe and America, including Harper monkeys and Geng monkeys.The Eocene Lantian lemur in China.Today's tarsiers are only distributed in Malaysia, the Philippines, Borneo, Siliber and other places;However, in the Eocene, there were Yellow River monkeys and Qinling Lushi monkeys distributed in China.[3]
The living apes can be divided into broad nosed monkeys and narrow nosed monkeys.Broad nosed monkeys, also known as New World monkeys, are mainly distributed in South America, Central America and Mexico.Narrow nosed monkeys (including narrow nosed monkeys, apes and humans) are also called Old World monkeys, mainly distributed in the Old World.Macaques are distributed in India and South China, but in geological history, macaque fossils are often found in the Pleistocene strata of North China.[3]
The living apes include chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa and orangutans and gibbons in Southeast Asia.These apes are similar to humans in appearance, facial expression and internal structure.This shows that man and apes have a common ancestor.The most primitive apes appeared in the Oligocene more than 30 million years ago.By the Miocene ten or twenty million years ago, there were many active ancient apes.One of the ancient apes later went down to the earth and developed into human beings.It is known that the ancient apes with the closest relationship to human beings are Lamar apes found in Pakistan and India.The canine teeth of this ancient ape are small, the dental arch is nearly parabolic, and the jaw protrudes from the face to a lesser extent;In a word, the morphology is the closest to that of humans. The tooth fossils of the ancient forest ape found 10 million years ago in the Xiaolongtan Coal Mine in Kaiyuan, Yunnan, China, and the ancient Kenyan ape found in the strata of Kenya more than 10 million years ago in Africa may also belong to the type of transition from ape to human.Other ancient apes continued to live in trees or came down after a long time, and later developed into orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees.Gibbons probably developed from an earlier Oligocene ape.The transformation from ape to man is a long process.[1][3]
classification
Primates used to fall into two categories: protomonkeys and anthropoids.The characteristics of the original monkey are close to the earliest primates, including the lemur in Madagascar, the lower eye of the loris monkey and the tarsus monkey.The anthropoid apes include monkeys, apes and humans.The recent Society for Biological Classification classifies primates intoProtosimia(Strepsirrhini) andJanaria（Haplorhini）。Protosimians refer to primates with moist noses, including protosimians other than tarsus monkeys. Simplex refers to primates with dry noses, including Tarsiiformes and Simiiformes.[10]
The suborder of anthropoids can also be divided into the suborder of narrow nose (apes and monkeys in Africa and Southeast Asia) and the suborder of broad nose (New World monkeys in Central America and South America).The order Narrow Nose includes Old World monkeys (like baboons and macaques), gibbons and hominids.New World monkeys include capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys and squirrel monkeys.Human is the only one of them that has successfully bred in Africa, South Asia and East Asia. However, there is fossil evidence that other narrow nosed animals have also appeared in Europe.There are still new primate species found, more than 25 species were found in the 2000s, and 11 species were found in the 2010s.[10]
morphological character
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The size of primates varies greatly,Gorilla beringei Weight up to 200kg[13]The smallest primate was recently rediscovered in the deciduous forest of West MadagascarMouse lemurThe length of the head and body of the animal is 6.2 cm, the length of the tail is 13.6 cm, and the average weight is 30.6 g;Or Bayi's Japanese lemur weighs only 30 grams.The eyes of primates are in front of the face, and the eyebrow bones protect the eye sockets.Sharp vision,Anthropoid apeHave the ability to distinguish colors, but manyProtomonkeyNo,The nose is shorter than other mammals, and the sense of smell is degraded.The brain of primates is large, heavy and complex relative to their body weight.Most primates have a row of gums in front of the upper and lower jaw.The one in the middle is called the incisor, followed byCanine tooth。Before canine teethMolarsAnd finally the molars.Primates can grasp on all limbs, and all limbs have five toes, close to human characteristics.
Most primates have short noses, and their sense of smell is inferior to vision, touch and hearing,RhinopithecusandAmbrosiaDegeneration of nasal bones, forming upward nostrils;Rhinopithecus monkeyThe nose of the genus is large and long.Most species have flat nails on their fingers and toes,plantigrade Sex.Gibbonidae andPongidaeIts forelegs are much longer than its hind legs.Apes and humans have no tails. Among species with tails, the tail length varies greatly,capuchinThe tails of most species of the family are capable of grasping.Some Old World monkeys (such asBaboon）The skin on the face, buttocks or chest of the female has bright colors, especially in the breeding period.There is a hard block composed of thick and hard skin on the buttocks, which is calledCallose buttock。
Most species have a pair of nipples on the chest or under the armpit. The male penis is in a pendulous shape. Except for humans and spider monkeys, most species have penis bones, and the female has a bicorned uterus or a single uterus.Most of them are omnivorous, with different food choices and feeding methods.
ProtosimiaOf the species, the face is like a fox, the eyes are large, the ears can turn, the brain volume is relatively small, and the frontal and mandibular bones are not healed;No cheek pouch and buttock callus;The forelimb is shorter than the hind limb, the thumb and big toe are developed, and can be relative to other fingers (toes). The five toes can only be extended and flexed at the same time, and cannot be moved alone. The toe end has claws;The tail cannot be curled or absent.Including 7 families.[4]
JanariaIts species looks like human beings;MostlyBuccal pouchAnd callose buttocks;Most forelimbs are longer than hind limbs, and some big toes degenerate;The tail is long, some can curl, some have no tail.According to regional distribution or nostril structure, higher species can be divided into broad nosed monkeys (New World monkeys) and narrow nosed monkeys (Old World monkeys).Including 9 families.[3]
Primates
Life habits
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Physiological characteristics
Most primates live in trees, which is different from most mammals.Living in trees is unusual for primates.They have no ground to support them, so they must grasp the trunk with all their limbs.In line with this, the end of their limbs gradually changed from the claws of early mammals to the hands that each finger can move independently;Finally, the thumb can also be held against the other fingers.It is conceivable that such evolution will certainly improve the grasping ability required by primates to move between branches;More importantly, the finger tip of the thumb and index finger can form a ring, which greatly improves the accuracy of grasping objects in the palm.The emergence of this evolutionary feature is not only very beneficial for early primates to search for insects and other food, but also laid the foundation for later primates to manipulate various objects with their hands dexterously until they can finally make and use tools.
In combination with the dexterous activities of the hands, primates have developed three-dimensional vision.When both eyes look forward at almost the same target, the brain can accept a pair of visual images.After processing by the brain, the image will have a sense of depth, image and distance.This is very important for primates to leap through the forest.Smart hands plusStereovisionSo that primates canthree-dimensional spaceObserve the object, and move and poke the object with your hand at will.It's all about primates taking full controlEnvironmental characteristicsIt is also the driving force to stimulate curiosity.
Primates have also developed the ability to recognize colors, which may be related to the early nocturnal mammals that originated from large eyes.The large eyes of early nocturnal mammals were designed to enhance the sensitivity to light at night. However, when primates originated, they became more and more active during the day, and the retina in the large eyes became able to accept different colors.Being able to distinguish colors helps primates to distinguish certain foods, especiallyTropical rain forestFruit on thick branches.
In this way, primates have a unique set of sensory apparatus, which can combine touch, taste, hearing, especially color andStereovisionAll kinds of information felt are input into the brain.The brain receives more and more information from the outside world, and then can classify and rank all kinds of information, resulting in the development of intelligence.No other animal has such wisdom, which is why we call this kind of animal "primate".
social behavior
Primates are mostly social animals.They live and migrate in groups.Its scale varies according to the type.In a group, one adult male is the leader of the whole group.[5]
Humans and other primates not only have similar physical characteristics, but also have similar social behaviors.It is generally believed that this is mainly because their brains are very developed, so their behavior is more complex than that of other animals.
Primate individuals also interact with each other.The most noteworthy thing is to decorate the other party's activities.They remove parasites and sundries from each other.In addition, minors of primates often play games with each other.Researchers believe that this is to understand the surrounding environment, or to train strength, because if you want to win the leadership position often depends on strength.[5]
Primates can make sounds and communicate with each other.They use a series of shouts or body movements to convey information.
Primates generally have a "residential area", that is, a certain area where they usually live.Group members often patrol around the residential area.In the residential area, it is also divided into different small areas according to the size of the group and the way of obtaining food.Residential areas often change according to the seasons.Some species will migrate to the area they often go to, which is called the "core area".[5]
Primate babies are different from other animals. They always follow their mothers when they are just born. Their lives are taken care of by their mothers and they snuggle up in their mothers' arms.Of course, different primates have different maternal behaviors.Males of many primate species often play a parental role in caring for and protecting infants.[5]
An important social behavior of non-human primates isaggressionBehavior.This behavior is generally through postureintimidateOpponents, not through fiercefightTo show.Fighting is generally only used to fight for leadership in the group.Primates have strongranking system。Male leaders have the priority to choose food, select females, and have subordinate members to serve.But when he is injured or ill, he may lose this position.
Because primates are closely related to humans, their lifestyles may also be similar to those of the earliest humans.Therefore, it is of great help to the study of human ancestors.[5]
Distribution range
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Non human primates have limited natural habitats, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the New World.They have never survived in Australia or most of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.However, since about 55 million years ago, the first primates also lived in North America and Europe.[6]
Primate distribution map
Reproductive mode
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It can breed 1-2 times a year, with 1 litter per litter, and a few can breed up to 3 litters.The larva grows slowly.The sexually mature female has menstruation, and the male can mate at any time (except for lower monkeys).[4]
The species has a wide range of distribution, and it is generally believed that there is a trend of moderate reduction in its number, the main threat is habitat destruction. The reason for the decline is that habitat loss, precipitation reduction, tourism impact, road development, and the forest on which it depends are being replaced by cultivated crops, resulting in changes in the living environment.
level
All included《World Conservation Union》(IUCN) 2008-2016 Red List of Endangered Species ver 3.1.[9]
In December 2022, the Chinese research team realized stable thermoregulation based on central nervous regulation on non-human primates, revealing the regulation and protection mechanism of primate body temperature。[14]
On November 1, 2023, Nature published the latest findings of the joint research team of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Institute of Genomics, which took seven years to find a cell subtype toxic to motor neurons, and the team named it "AIMoN CPM".[24]
scientific knowledge
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Rumor: Primates are most suitable for providing transplants.
Truth: Some people believe that in the field of xenotransplantation, primates closest to humans are the most suitable organ donors.In fact, primate "close relatives" are not ideal organ transplant donors for human beings。[12]
