Chapter 4 Flashcards
What is taxonomy?
(Classification schemes or categories) have been created by primatologists to make sense of prime diversity.
What is anthropomorphism?
Placing human characteristics on non-human animals (animals wearing human clothing)
Who are primatologists?
People who study primates behavior.
Who are taxonomist?
People who classify organisms into groups arranged in a hierarchy: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.
Explain the relationship between primates and Homo sapiens.
Homo sapiens are a type of primates. Primates describe multiple groups of animals that share similar characteristics.
What is morphology?
Shapes or sizes of organisms are used in traditional taxonomy.
What are primates?
Similar levels of complexity with similar environments are grouped in the same evolutionary grade.
What are the 4 traditional taxpnomies evolution grades?
Prosimian: lemurs, Louise’s, and tarsier
Anthropoids: monkey, apes and humans
Hominoid: apes and humans
Hominids: humans
What is Cladistic taxonomy?
Primates groups animals with shared and derived features.
What is homologies?
Represent similarities due to common ancestry.
What do Taxonomist do?
Distinguish homologies from analogies.
What is analogies?
Represent cases of convergent or parallel evolution.
What are the six evolutionary trends?
Increased Brain Size, relative to body size, and increased brain complexity Decreasing facial projection Increasing dependence on sight Decreasing number of teeth Increasing period of infant dependence Greater dependence of learned behavior
What is prehensile morphology?
Opposable thumbs and big toes
Nails rather than claws
Pads at the tips of fingers and toes with many nerve endings
Dermal ridges (friction skin) on toes, fingers, soles, palms, and underside of prehensile tails
What is arboreal theory?
Primates represent an adaptation to living in trees
