The Evolution of Primate Intelligence

The primate class includes apes , monkeys , lemurs , tarsiers , lorises and , hard as it is for some of us to accept , humans (Burnie . Indeed humans and simians alike have so much in common that Charles Darwin had written his groundbreaking theories as to the origins of man . But the similarities aren 't so obvious now as it was roughly seven million years ago . Just look at the difference between the face of a human and the face of a monkey . The former is predominantly highbrowed , with no protruded jaws , no flared nostrils , and no

too much facial hair - whereas the opposite is true in the latter . Then there 's the difference in walking . Humans walk upright without falling , whereas the apes still walk on all fours , and though some apes can walk upright , they cannot walk for long periods of time , let alone run . Man has evolved a lot leaving the apes and monkeys still swinging from the highest trees Blame it on the somewhat giant leap of our intelligence with which we have founded civilizations . Yet no matter how much we have evolved from tree swinging cousins of apes to civilization-founding bipeds , we are still unsure of our origins . Charles Darwin and others have only went as far as point out the possibilities , but the rest of the new generation still find it hard to accept that maybe we have descended from apes This aims not to convince people into embracing Darwinism , but rather to examine the evolutionary changes that occurred in primate intelligence , as well as discuss the gestation period , social organization , and mating behaviors of primates . Time to swing from one to the next

To begin with , primates are classified into two groups : prosimians and anthropoids . Prosimians , also known as the primitive apes , include lemurs , galagos , and lorises . They are typically either small or medium in size , have long whiskers , pointed muzzles , and can hear and smell very well (Burnie . And because they are small compared to other primates , most of them hunt at night using their sharp sense of smell and hearing effectively . Snakes , lizards , and bats are the typical sustenance of a prosimian . Using its leaping prowess and agility , plus its razor-sharp teeth , a prosimian would land on and pin down preys - a highly effective ambush

Humans , apes , and monkeys - to include the rest of primates - make up the anthropoids , a group many believe to be closely related to humans Where the prosimians excel in smelling and hearing , anthropoids compensate with their hunting prowess using mainly their superb hand-and-eye coordination in doing so . They also protect their territories aggressively , never giving an inch to ambitious would-be conquerors

Scientists find it hard to estimate the period or epoch in which the first anthropoids had appeared . Based on research , fossils of anthropoids appeared in the Oligocene Epoch , which began 38 million years ago (Burnie . The world was very young then , full of lush forests and dinosaurs roaming about . The first anthropoids were called the cattarhine primates...