Primate
The name primates is derived from Old French or French primat, from primus. Primates range in size from Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur, which weighs 30 g, to the eastern gorilla, weighing over 200 kg. About 60% of primate species are threatened with extinction. Common threats include deforestation, forest fragmentation, and primate hunting for use in medicines, as pets, and for food.
About Primate in brief
A primate is a eutherian mammal constituting the taxonomic order Primates. Primates range in size from Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur, which weighs 30 g, to the eastern gorilla, weighing over 200 kg. There are 190–448 species of living primates, depending on which classification is used. About 60% of primate species are threatened with extinction. Common threats include deforestation, forest fragmentation, and primate hunting for use in medicines, as pets, and for food. The name primates is derived from Old French or French primat, from primus. The name was given by Carl Linnaeus because he thought this was the highest order of animals. For example, the word ‘primat’ has been used to refer to either apes or monkeys, but it is more commonly used as an example of the different groups of primates. The word “primates” has also been used as a derogatory term for non-human primates, such as monkeys and apes, as well as apes and other primates such as gorillas, monkeys, and baboons. The term ‘primate’ is also used to describe a group of animals that live in the rainforest, including monkeys, apes, baboons, and humans. The last of these groups includes humans, which is why humans are considered to be a “primate.” Primates are among the most social of animals, forming pairs or family groups, uni-male harems, and multi-malemulti-female groups. Depending on the species, adults may live in solitude, in mated pairs, or in groups of up to hundreds of members.
Some primates are trichromats, with three independent channels for conveying color information. Except for apes, primates have tails. Most primates also have opposable thumbs. Many species are sexually dimorphic; differences may include muscle mass, fat distribution, pelvic width, canine tooth size, hair distribution, and coloration. The relationships among primates were not clearly understood until relatively recently, so the different terms are somewhat confused as to what primate groups are. The relationship between humans and non- human primates can create opportunities for the transmission of zoonotic diseases, especially virus diseases, including herpes, measles, rabies, ebola, hepatitis, and rabies. The similarity to humans and similarity to other primates is thought to have led to the creation of the term “ primate”. The most common primate group is the human primate, which has been around for more than 2,000 years and is now the world’s most widespread species of animal. It is thought that humans are the only species in the world that is not in some way related to a primate or a group that is related to the primate called a ‘monkey’ or ‘ ape’. The first primate to be classified as a monkey or ape is the African lemur.
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This page is based on the article Primate published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
