Chapter%205%20An%20Overview%20the%20Primates

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Chapter 5An Overview the Primates

• Key Terms

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• prosimiansMembers of a suborder of primates
  (lemurs, lorises and tarsiers).
• anthropoidsMembers of a suborder of primates
  (monkeys, apes and humans).

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• primitiveReferring to a trait or a combination
  of traits present in an ancestral form.
• specializedEvolved for a particular function
  usually refers to a specific trait.

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• primatologistsScientists who study the
  evolution, anatomy, and behavior of nonhuman
  primates.
• morphologyThe form of anatomical structures can
  also refer to the entire organism.

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• omnivorousHaving a diet consisting of many food
  times (plants, meat and insects).
• nocturnalActive at night.

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• diurnalActive during the day.
• stereoscopic visionVisual images are, to varying
  degrees, superimposed on one another. Provides
  for depth perception or the perception of three
  dimensions.

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• binocular visionVision characterized by
  overlapping visual fields provided by forward
  facing eyes.
• arborealtree living

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• arboreal hypothesisView that primate
  characteristics can be explained as a consequence
  of primate diversification in arboreal habitats.
  
• visual predation hypothesisPrimates may have
  first adapted to shrubby forest undergrowth and
  the lowest tiers of the forest canopy, where they
  captured insects and other small prey primarily
  through stealth.

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• adaptive nicheThe entire way of life of one
  organism where it lives, what it eats, how it
  gets food, how it avoids predators, etc.
• intelligenceThe ability to learn, reason, or
  comprehend and interpret information, facts,
  relationships, meanings, etc.

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• arboreal hypothesisThe traditional view that
  primate characteristics can be explained as a
  consequence of primate diversification into
  arboreal habitats.
• cuspsThe elevated portions on the chewing
  surfaces of premolar and molar teeth.

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• quadrupedalUsing all four limbs to support the
  bodyduring locomotion.
• brachiationA form of locomotion in which the
  body is suspended beneath the hands and support
  is alternated from one limb to the other arm
  swinging.

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• hominoidsMembers of the superfamily Hominoidea
  includes apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas,
  orangutans, gibbons, and siamangs) and humans.
• sexual dimorphismDifferences in physical
  characteristics between males and females of the
  same species.

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• estrusPeriod of sexual receptivity in female
  mammals correlated with ovulation.
• homoplasyThe separate evolutionary development
  of similar characteristics in different groups of
  organisms.

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• hominoidsThe formal description for the
  superfamily of anthropoids that includes apes
  and humans.
• frugivorousHaving a diet composed primarily of
  fruit.