ANTH 225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Purgatorius, Plesiadapidae, Treeshrew
15 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
At the end of the cretaceous period (65 mya) there was a mass extinction of the dinosaurs due to the collapse of their food chain, which led to the thriving of small mammals (adaptive radiation). Genetic evidence of earliest primates: 71 mya (near the end of the cretaceous) Nocturnal and arboreal and insectivorous (tree shrews) Epic marks beginning of tertiary period and cenezoic ear. Mammals appeared that filled ecological niches of dinosaurs. Specialized dental traits that allowed them to process nuts and inscets. Bones from wyoming: 60 mya primate traits began to appear: opposable big toes/thumbs, nails instead of claws (climbing behavior) Mammalia group from which the early primates evolved: strong adaption of trees and occupy same ecological niche of primates. North american and eurasia were still close together and possible connected when earliest primates appeared laurasia. Originated in western laurasia: north america and greenland. Lived in north america during the earliest part of the paleocene.
