Christina Martin
ANTHRO 101 MW 805-930am
November 8, 2008
Assignment # 2 Traits
Primates have many different physical traits and characteristics and some the same. Within the primate family there is 350 different species, some big, some small, many different colors, some have long prehensile tails and some have none. Some have long snouts, some have short snouts, and some have long legs and arms while some have very small legs and arms.
Just by physically examining a primate, and knowing the different traits between the prosimian, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes would allow someone to identify what primate species is which. I will start with the smallest primate the prosimian. The smallest is the pygmy mouse lemur weighing about an ounce. (Great Apes and Other Primates) Prosimians include about 50 species; lemurs in Madagascar, lorises in West Africa, and Southeast Asia and bushbabies in Africa. (Great Apes and Other Primates) Without knowing where any of these prosimians came from and just looking at their physical traits you would be able to tell the primate is prosimian because they are smaller in size then any other primate, their arms are shorter then their legs, prosimians have strong hind legs for leaping and clinging to tree trunks. Most prosimians are nocturnal, they have tooth combs, and some have visible tails and grooming claws. Prosimians have a wet nose, and dog-like snouts, which allows them to have a developed sense of smell; they also have light-reflecting eyes. (Great Apes and Other Primates)
If a primate doesn’t have any of the traits of the prosimian I would look next for the traits of a monkey. This includes Old World Monkeys, New World monkeys and tarsiers, more then 200 species. New World monkeys are normally found in South and Central America, Old World monkeys are found in Africa and Asia and tarsiers are found in Southeast Asia. (Great Apes and Other Primates) All monkeys are fairly small in size but not...