Primates emerged around 58 million years ago and can be divided into several families including prosimians, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and hominoids. Primates are distinguished from other mammals by adaptations for tree living like stereoscopic vision, grasping hands, and large brains. The hominoids are the group that includes both apes and humans, who are tailless with large, complex brains and who are good suspensory climbers. Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, with whom we share over 98% of our DNA.

1. Primate Evolution

2. Common Ancestor
• A common ancestor is the ancestor of
two or more species.
• Shared derived characteristics are traits
that species inherited from a common
ancestor.

3. Classification
Phylogenetics tries to trace the origins
and ancestry of various type or
organisms.

4. Family Tree of Mammals

5. Linnaean Classification
• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

6. Binomial Nomeclature
• All organisms are given a binomial (two-
name) designation. This includes their
genus and species.
• Homo sapiens = Humans
• Felis catus = House cat

7. Animals
• Animals are the Kingdom of organisms
that:
• Are multi-cellular
• Are independently mobile
• Have sense organs
• Eat food (as apposed to
photosynthesize).

8. Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
• Warm blooded (maintain constant body
temperature)
• Have Hair at some point in their life cycle.
• Have mammary glands (provide milk for
young)
• Give birth to live young

9. Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order: Primates
• Adapted to living in trees
• Grasping Hands
• Large Brains
• Stereoscopic vision

10. Primates
Primates are a group of mammals that
are adapted to living in trees through
stereoscopic vision, grasping hands and
large brains.

11. Evolution
• Evolution is change in allele frequencies
in populations over time.
• Evolution occurs through mutation,
natural selection, gene flow and genetic
drift.

12. Primate Evolution
Primates emerged around 58 million
years ago and can be divided into a
number of families.

13. Darwinius masillae
~47 million years

14. Primate Evolution

15. Primate Families
• Prosimians
• New World Monkeys
• Old World Monkeys
• Hominoidea (Apes and Humans)

16. Prosimians
• Live in Africa, South and South-East
Asia (many in Madagascar)
• Have moist noses (like dogs and cats).
• Large eyes
• Limited opposability in their thumbs.
• Least “human-looking” of the primates.

17. Ring-tailed Lemur

18. Slender Loris

19. New World Monkeys
• Live in the Americas (Mexico, Central
and South America)
• Have widely spaced nostrils separated
by a thick septum.
• Many have prehensile tails (they can
use their tails like an arm to grab things)

20. Golden Lion Tamarin

21. Capuchin Monkey

22. Squirrel Monkey

23. Old World Monkeys
• Live in Africa and Asia
• Downward facing nostrils
• Tails that aren’t prehensile

24. Rhesus Macaque

25. Rhesus Macaque

26. Langur

27. Hominoidea
Hominoidea is a category that contains
both humans and apes.

28. Hominoidea
• Both Apes and Humans are classified in
this group
• Tail-less primates
• Largest, most complex brains of any
primates
• Good suspensory climbers

29. Great Apes
There are four members of Hominidae
that are commonly called the Great
Apes.

30. Orangutans

31. Bonobo

32. Gorilla

33. Chimpanzee

34. Gibbon: a “lesser ape”

35. Siamang: a “lesser ape”

36. Chimpanzees
• Of all extant primates, we share the
most similarities genetically with
chimps.
• Our DNA sequences are more than
98% identical with those of chimps.