Anthropology 1026F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Simian, Plate Tectonics, 5 Fingers
Document Summary
Things not covered in class low priority (study slides) Don"t have to know date of time period just what happens in them. Plesiadapis is the most likely to be the ancestors of the extant members of the order primates. Earliest discovery of the fossil primate in 1822 by gorges cuvier. Detention form is generalized (number of teeth is reduced) Visual specializations: eye orbits exhibit frontation (eyes on front, convergence (the space between eyes is reduced, binocular vision (depth perception) Stereoscopic: fibres from the optic nerve transmit visual info. Proposes that arboreality (tree creatures) explain the primate pattern. But this is not sufficient (think of squirrels etc. ) Emphasizes that primates use stereoscopic to catch prey plus tree dwellings. Proposed that primates and flowering plants had a multi-million year co- evolution. Most primates were nocturnal (cid:523)kay"s threshold(cid:524: + 500g fruit and leaves, u 500g- small body, high proportion of insects.