Mammals

Primates communicate through far more than vocal calls. Depending on the species and situation, they may use facial expressions, gaze, body posture, hand or arm gestures, touch, grooming, scent, and combinations of several signals at once. A call may attract attention before a gesture is given, a facial expression may change how rough play is … Read more

Primate hands and feet are not built around one universal grip. Instead, the order shows a flexible anatomical pattern that lets different species cling, climb, leap, walk along branches, hang below supports, move on the ground, or manipulate food. Mobile digits, sensitive pads, nails on many digits, flexible wrists and ankles, and opposable digits where … Read more

Lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers can look superficially similar because many are small-bodied, tree-dwelling primates with large eyes. Modern classification, however, separates them in an important way. Lemurs and lorises belong to Strepsirrhini, while tarsiers belong to Haplorhini, the same major primate branch that also contains monkeys and apes. That relationship is why the older label … Read more

Great apes and lesser apes are both members of the ape superfamily Hominoidea, but they belong to different families and have evolved noticeably different body sizes, movement styles, and social systems. Great apes belong to Hominidae and include orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. The animals traditionally called lesser apes belong to Hylobatidae and include … Read more

Old World monkeys and New World monkeys are two major branches of monkey evolution, and the names describe far more than geography. Old World monkeys belong to the family Cercopithecidae within Catarrhini and are native to Africa and Asia. New World monkeys belong to Platyrrhini and are native to the Americas. Their noses, teeth, tails, … Read more

Monkeys and apes are both primates, but they are not the same kind of primate. In modern classification, monkeys belong to New World or Old World monkey lineages, while apes belong to the superfamily Hominoidea. The most familiar visible clue is the tail: living apes do not have an external tail, while most monkeys do. … Read more

What makes an animal a primate is not one obvious feature. Primates are mammals that belong to a shared evolutionary branch and tend to combine several traits, including mobile hands and feet, sensitive digits, forward-facing eyes, strong depth perception, flexible limbs, and relatively long periods of growth and learning. Many also have nails on most … Read more

Primates are a diverse order of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans. They are not defined by one feature such as opposable thumbs, large brains, or life in trees. Instead, primates share a broad evolutionary pattern that combines flexible limbs, grasping ability in many lineages, forward-facing eyes, sensitive hands and … Read more