primate, member of the mammalian order Primates, which includes humans, apes ape, any primate of the subfamily Hominoidea, with the possible exception of humans. The small apes, the gibbon and the siamang, and the orangutan , one of the great apes, are found in SE Asia.
..... Click the link for more information. , monkeys monkey, any of a large and varied group of mammals of the primate order. The term monkey includes all primates that do not belong to the categories human, ape, or prosimian; however, monkeys do have certain common features.
..... Click the link for more information. , and prosimians, or lower primates. The group can be traced to the late Cretaceous period, where members were forest dwellers. As a whole, they are arboreal, although a few species are terrestrial; nearly all inhabit warm climates. All higher primates and some prosimians display some degree of social organization.

Primates are very unspecialized anatomically, and the order is more easily described by the evolutionary trends within it, tending generally toward increased dexterity and intelligence, than by specific traits characteristic of all its members. Significant trends have been the enlargement of the braincase, elaboration of the brain and of the sensory pathways to it, flattening of the face and shifting of the eyes to a forward position, development of stereoscopic vision, and increased flexibility of the hands and feet. Nearly all primates have flat fingernails and opposable thumbs and big toes.

The prosimians ("premonkeys") are small, arboreal, mostly nocturnal animals. The most primitive, the tree-shrews, strongly resemble the insectivores insectivore (ĭnsĕk`təvōr'), term broadly given to any insect-eating animal or plant.
..... Click the link for more information. , a primitive, unspecialized group of mammals from which primates branched at an early stage of mammalian evolution. The prosimians also include the lemurs lemur (lē`mər), name for prosimians, or lower primates , of two related families, found only on Madagascar and adjacent islands.
..... Click the link for more information. and the aye-aye aye-aye (ī`ī`), name for an aberrant primate, Daubentonia madagascariensis,
..... Click the link for more information. of Madagascar, the lorises loris, name for slow-moving, nocturnal, arboreal primates of the family Lorisidae, found in India, Sri Lanka, and SE Asia. Lorises have round heads, large round eyes, and furry bodies. They have no tails, and their index fingers are vestigial.
..... Click the link for more information. of Africa and Asia, and the tarsiers tarsier (tär`sēər), small, nocturnal, forest-dwelling prosimian primate , genus Tarsius.
..... Click the link for more information. of SE Asia.

Monkeys are diurnal animals, generally with flatter, more expressive faces and better developed brains than the prosimians. Like prosimians, they retain the skeletal structure of quadripedal animals and usually walk or run on four feet. The New World monkeys are anatomically distinct from Old World monkeys; most have prehensile tails, and all are arboreal. The Old World monkeys, which lack prehensile tails and include some terrestrial species, are more closely related to the hominids (apes and humans).

The apes (gibbons gibbon, small ape , genus Hyloblates, found in the forests of SE Asia. The gibbons, including the siamang, are known as the small, or lesser, apes; they are the most highly adapted of the apes to arboreal life.
..... Click the link for more information. , orangutans orangutan (ōrăng`
..... Click the link for more information. , gorillas gorilla, an ape , Gorilla gorilla, native to the lowland and mountain forests of western and central equatorial Africa. It is the largest of the apes, the males reaching a height of 5 to 6 ft (150–190 cm) with a 9-ft (144–cm) arm spread.
..... Click the link for more information. , and chimpanzees chimpanzee, an ape , genus Pan, of the equatorial forests of central and W Africa. The common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, lives N of the Congo River. Full-grown animals of this species are up to 5 ft (1.
..... Click the link for more information. ) are characterized by modification of the upper skeleton for brachiation (arm swinging) and by high intelligence. Tool use and limited toolmaking are found among apes. Humans, of which Homo sapiens is the only living species, have a pelvic structure adapted to upright posture and is characterized by the use of language and by a highly developed ability to manipulate the environment (see human evolution human evolution, theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology , anthropology , and genetics , and involves the process of natural selection (see Darwinism ).
..... Click the link for more information. ).

primate

Any of more than 300 species of the order Primates, including monkeys, apes, humans, and others. Primates are distinguished from other mammals by one or more of the following traits: unspecialized structure, specialized behaviour, a short muzzle, comparatively poor sense of smell, prehensile five-digit hands and feet possessing flat nails instead of claws, acute vision with depth perception due to forward-facing eyes, a large brain, and prolonged pre- and postnatal development. Most species bear a single young and live in troops headed by a male. The primates are one of the most diverse orders of mammals on Earth. They include the lemurs (more than 70 species in six families), the lorises (three or more species in one subfamily), the tarsiers (six or more species in one family), the New World monkeys (almost 100 species in five families), the Old World monkeys (more than 100 species in one family), and the apes and humans (about 20 species in two families). The oldest known fossil remains of primates are about 60 million years old.

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