ARCL-1006EL Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Foramen Magnum, Visual Communication, Depth Perception
16 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
ARCL 1006
Jan 29, 2018
Primate Characteristics
•Reasons why we study primates
•with a broad understanding of primates, we can hypothesize abut why all primates evolved
as they did.
•to determine how each primate species evolved to adapt over time to certain conditions
•To understand why particular adaptations occur to humans we need to examine other
organisms
•Primate characteristics
•upper body tends to an upright position- relation to the foramen magnum, and spinal cord
•relatively generalized diet and dentition- molars, pre molars, incisors, etc.
•Bunadonte form- bears, raccoons, primates
•Prehensile (grapsing) hands and feet.
•5 digits- pentadactyl.
•Opposable is helpful for grasping
•Focus on vision
•Stereoscopic vision
•all primates have forward facing eyes// each eye overlaps and sends messages to
the brain
•depth perception
•derived characteristic
•Colour vision in diurnal primates
•Found in old world primates
•reduced dependency on sense of smell
•Expansion of brain, larger brain to body ratio
•Diurnal
•MOST primates are active during the day
•ones who aren’t active during the day are the ones who eat insects
•being active during the day is good for visual foraging
•Visual communication can only be done during daylight
•gregarious- tendency to live in groups
•Composition of groups vary from species to species
