Any good sources online on the Evo. of Primates?

Boyish-Tigerlilly · Post by **Boyish-Tigerlilly** » 2005-07-21 06:59pm

I did some research, and I did find some information, but I don't know if there is any reliable science on the evolution of primates. I think I undersand the basic concepts of ANcestral primate------> Human, but from what ancestor did primates evolve? Was it some other tree-based mammal or something?

Jalinth · Post by **Jalinth** » 2005-07-21 07:40pm

Try this page as a starting point http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/

Pretty comprehensive (page of links to all types of hominid information)

Tasoth · Post by **Tasoth** » 2005-07-21 07:41pm

Talkorigions should cover, as does an intro Phys. Anthro. class. Primates start with lemurs, the first primate of the group, then old world and new world monkeys(IIRC, old world monkeys lack a tail), then the gibbons, Organutauns, chimps, gorillas. After that it's heading into hominids of various sorts.

Boyish-Tigerlilly · Post by **Boyish-Tigerlilly** » 2005-07-21 08:02pm

OH thanks.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2005-07-22 02:20am

Old world monkeys lack tails? I don't thinks so. Baboons, colobus monkeys (all species), maqaques (sp?) etc. all have tails. It's apes that lack tails. Of course, neither type of monkey MUST have a tail.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2005-07-22 11:23pm

Old world monkeys lack a prehensile tail.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2005-07-22 11:58pm

ArmorPierce wrote:Old world monkeys lack a prehensile tail.

It's a personal pet peeve of mine that they didn't...betcha that if they did (thus making it functional for things other than balance), we would've kept 'em when we developed bipedalism. I could've had a fifth prehensile limb, dagnabbit!

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2005-07-23 12:13am

Bah, 'primate' is just a fancy-schmants word for 'tree rat'. For trousers-wearing critters we're kinda snobbish about our fellow clade members.

Tasoth · Post by **Tasoth** » 2005-07-23 01:06am

ArmorPierce wrote:Old world monkeys lack a prehensile tail.

Thank you pierce. I knew it was something with the tail, just didn't remember what from class.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2005-07-23 03:42am

Molyneux wrote:
ArmorPierce wrote:Old world monkeys lack a prehensile tail.
It's a personal pet peeve of mine that they didn't...betcha that if they did (thus making it functional for things other than balance), we would've kept 'em when we developed bipedalism. I could've had a fifth prehensile limb, dagnabbit!

What? We lost tails back when the apes separated from monkeys. It wouldn't matter if Old world monkeys had prehensile tails if our ancestors lost them long before they were classified as hominids.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2005-07-23 12:55pm

wolveraptor wrote:
Molyneux wrote:
ArmorPierce wrote:Old world monkeys lack a prehensile tail.
It's a personal pet peeve of mine that they didn't...betcha that if they did (thus making it functional for things other than balance), we would've kept 'em when we developed bipedalism. I could've had a fifth prehensile limb, dagnabbit!
What? We lost tails back when the apes separated from monkeys. It wouldn't matter if Old world monkeys had prehensile tails if our ancestors lost them long before they were classified as hominids.

What I'm sayin' is that if the tails had been prehensile, they would have been more useful to our ancestors than they were. They wouldn't have become useless and thus atrophied; apes would have kept them, and when we evolved, we'd still have 'em.

S'what I think, anyway.

Tasoth · Post by **Tasoth** » 2005-07-23 05:48pm

Molyneux wrote:
wolveraptor wrote:
Molyneux wrote: It's a personal pet peeve of mine that they didn't...betcha that if they did (thus making it functional for things other than balance), we would've kept 'em when we developed bipedalism. I could've had a fifth prehensile limb, dagnabbit!
What? We lost tails back when the apes separated from monkeys. It wouldn't matter if Old world monkeys had prehensile tails if our ancestors lost them long before they were classified as hominids.
What I'm sayin' is that if the tails had been prehensile, they would have been more useful to our ancestors than they were. They wouldn't have become useless and thus atrophied; apes would have kept them, and when we evolved, we'd still have 'em.

S'what I think, anyway.

We'd still lose them. Prehensile tails are only useful while up in trees. The moment our ancestors made the jump to being bipedial and therefore less capable in trees, the tail would become useless. We'd probably wouldn't have them now even if our ancestors had them.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2005-07-23 05:58pm

Or, they might've developed more extensive dexterity, and coul've been used as a fifth limb. But I can't see why you'd need an arm attached to your butt. It's cool, but pretty unnecessary.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2005-07-23 09:16pm

wolveraptor wrote:Or, they might've developed more extensive dexterity, and coul've been used as a fifth limb. But I can't see why you'd need an arm attached to your butt. It's cool, but pretty unnecessary.

Coolness is reason enough...there's also the aesthetic dimension (as Hobbes put it, "a necktie for your butt"), as well as the ability to carry one more thing at a time or be able to easily reach behind you.

I guess I'll just have to wait until our tech-level advances to the point where we can make one wholesale and integrate it into a human.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Any good sources online on the Evo. of Primates?

Any good sources online on the Evo. of Primates?

Re: Any good sources online on the Evo. of Primates?