ANT 1101 : Chapter3Notes_TextBook.docx
Document Summary
Primate order: the group of mammals that include lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans: study other primates to gain hopefully gain an understanding of how and why humans first developed. Natural selection: individuals with characteristics best suited to a particular environment survive and reproduce with greater frequency than those without them. (survival of the fittest) Anatomical adaptation list of characteristics common to all. Primate dentition: diet available to arboreal (in trees) primates required unspecialized teeth. Sense organs: mammals in trees are out of the way of most predators, and good vision is a better guide than smell for judging where the next branch is. Stereoscopic colour vision is the ability to see in. The primate brain: great increase in brain size; the cerebral hemispheres (areas of conscious thought) have grown dramatically. The primate skeleton: shift in backbone enables it to join the skull at the centre of its base; more advantageous for an animal that assumes an upright posture.
