Section outline

  • A girl in a denim outfit sits near a brown monkey in a natural setting.

    How are the monkey and the girl alike?
    ::猴子和女孩都一样吗?

    Both are intelligent and can learn new things quickly. They both like to play. And they are both primates.
    ::两者都是聪明的,可以很快地学到新东西。它们都喜欢玩。它们都是灵长类。

    What Are Primates?
    ::什么是"初犯"?

    If primates are mammals , what makes them seem so different from most mammals? Primates, including humans, have several unique features. Some adaptations give primates advantages that allow them to live in certain habitats , such as in trees. Other features have allowed them to adapt to complex social and cultural situations.
    ::如果灵长类动物是哺乳动物,为什么它们看起来与大多数哺乳动物大相径庭?原始动物,包括人类,有几个独特的特征。有些适应性适应性赋予了灵长类动物优势,使他们能够生活在某些生境中,如树木中。其他特征使他们能够适应复杂的社会和文化环境。

    Primates are mostly omnivorous , meaning many primate eat both plant and material. The order contains all of the species commonly related to lemurs, monkeys, and apes. The order also includes humans ( Figure ).
    ::植物和材料都是许多灵长类动物的食用。 植物和材料中包含所有通常与狐猴、猴子和猿类有关的物种。 动物也包含人类(图 ) 。

    Four primate species: ring-tailed lemurs, a squirrel monkey, chimpanzees, and a Neanderthal reconstruction.

    ( top left ) Ring-tailed lemurs. Lemurs belong to the prosimian group of primates. ( top right ) One of the New World monkeys, a squirrel monkey. ( bottom left ) Chimpanzees belong to the great apes, one of the groups of primates. ( bottom right ) Reconstruction of a Neanderthal man, belonging to an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens . This subspecies of humans lived in Europe and western and central Asia from about 100,000 – 40,000 BCE.
    ::环尾狐猴。 Lemurs属于亲西米亚的灵长类动物。 (右上角 ) 新世界猴子之一,一只松鼠猴子。 (左下角 ) 黑猩猩属于大猩猩,一个灵长类动物群体。 (右下角 ) 重建尼安德特人,一个已灭绝的智人亚种。 这个亚类人类生活在欧洲以及西亚和中亚,从大约10万到40,000个BCE。

    Key features of primates include:
    ::灵长类的关键特征包括:

    • Five fingers, known as pentadactyl .
      ::五个手指,叫做五甲二氧基
    • Several types of teeth.
      ::几类牙齿。
    • Certain eye orbit characteristics, such as a postorbital bar , or a that runs around the eye socket.
      ::某些眼轨道特征,如轨道后栏或环绕眼窝的眼轨道特征。
    • An opposable thumb , a finger that allows a grip that can hold objects.
      ::一个可以抵抗的拇指,一个可以握住物体的手指。

    What's the difference between monkeys and apes? The easiest way to distinguish monkeys from the other primates is to look for a tail. Most monkey species have tails, but no apes or humans do. Monkeys are much more like other mammals than apes and humans are.
    ::猴子和猩猩有什么区别?最容易区分猴子和其他灵长类动物的方法就是寻找尾巴。大多数猴子物种都有尾巴,但没有猿类和人类。猴子比猿类和人类更像其他哺乳动物。

    Big Brains
    ::大脑

    In intelligent mammals, such as primates, the cerebrum is larger compared to the rest of the brain . A larger cerebrum allows primates to develop higher levels of intelligence. Primates have the ability to learn new behaviors. They also engage in complex social interactions, such as fighting and play.
    ::在智能哺乳动物(如灵长类动物)中,脑部比大脑其他部分要大。较大的脑部允许灵长类动物发展更高水平的智力。 灵长类动物有能力学习新行为。 他们也参与复杂的社会互动,比如战斗和游戏。

    Social Relationships
    ::社会关系

    Old World species, such as apes and some monkeys ( Figure and Figure ), tend to have significant size differences between the sexes. This is known as sexual dimorphism . Males tend to be slightly more than twice as heavy as females. This dimorphism may have evolved when one male had to defend many females. Old World generally refers to monkeys of Africa and Asia. New World refers to monkeys of the Americas.
    ::古老的世界物种,如猿类和一些猴子(图和图),往往在两性之间有显著的大小差异,这被称为性畸形,男性往往比女性略重一倍多,当一个男性不得不保护许多女性时,这种畸形可能已经演化。老世界一般是指非洲和亚洲的猴子。新世界是指美洲的猴子。

    New World species, including tamarins (squirrel-sized monkeys) and marmosets (very small primitive monkeys) ( Figure ), form pair bonds , which is a partnership between a mating pair that lasts at least one season. The pair cooperatively raise the young and generally do not show a significant size difference between the sexes. Old World monkeys do not tend to form monogamous relationships.
    ::新的世界物种,包括鱼(松鼠大小的猴子)和marmoset(非常小的原始猴子)(图 ) 、 成对债券(图 ) 、 成对债券 ) , 这是至少持续一个季节的配对伴侣之间的伙伴关系 。 夫妇合作抚养年轻人,通常不表现出两性之间的巨大差异。 旧世界猴子并不倾向于形成一夫一妻关系 。

    Three monkeys: a macaque, a tamarin, and a pygmy marmoset, showcasing varied species.

    ( left ) An Old World monkey, a species of macaque, in Japan. ( center ) A New World species of monkey, a tamarin. ( right ) Another New World species of monkey, the pygmy marmoset.
    :sad左) 一只老世界猴子,日本的猴子。 (中点) 一只新世界的猴子,一只罗曼猴。 (右) 另一只新世界的猴子, 一只侏儒。

    Where Do Non-human Primates Live?
    ::非人类囚犯住在哪里?

    Non-human primates live mostly in Central and South America, Africa, and South Asia. Since primates evolved from animals living in trees, many modern species still live mostly in trees. Other species live on land most of the time, such as baboons ( Figure ) and the Patas monkey. Only a few species live on land all of the time, such as the gelada and humans.
    ::非人类灵长类动物主要生活在中美洲和南美洲、非洲和南亚。 由于灵长类动物从植树动物中演变而来,许多现代物种仍然主要生活在树木中。其他物种大部分时间生活在陆地上,如鱼(Figure ) 和帕塔斯猴子。 只有少数物种在陆地上生存,如凝胶和人类。

    A mother baboon walking with her young in a natural grassland habitat.

    Baboons are partially terrestrial. Pictured here is a mother baboon and her young.
    ::是部分陆生的 照片上是一只母浣熊和她的幼小

    Primates live in a diverse number of forested habitats, including rain forests , mangrove forests and mountain forests to altitudes of over 9,800 feet. The combination of opposable thumbs, short fingernails, and long, inward-closing fingers has allowed some species to develop the ability to move by swinging their arms from one branch to another ( Figure ). Another feature for climbing are expanded finger-like parts, such as those in tarsiers, which improve grasping ( Figure ).
    ::原始人生活在多种多样的森林生境中,包括雨林、红树林和山林,高度超过9 800英尺,可抵挡的拇指、短指指甲和长的内闭手指结合,使一些物种能够通过从一个分支向另一个分支挥动手臂(图 ) 。 攀爬的另一个特征是扩大手指类部分,如塔里带,这样可以更好地捕捉(图 ) 。

    A few species, such as the proboscis monkey, De Brazza’s monkey, and Allen’s swamp monkey, evolved webbed fingers so they can swim and live in swamps and habitats. Some species, such as the rhesus macaque and the Hanuman langur, can even live in cities by eating human garbage.
    ::少数物种,如无脊椎动物猴子、德布拉扎的猴子和艾伦的沼泽猴子,进化了温床的手指,这样他们就可以游泳并生活在沼泽和生境中。 一些物种,如马卡克和哈努曼兰古尔等,甚至可以通过吃人垃圾生活在城市中。

    A gibbon hanging from a tree and a tarsier grasping a branch.

    ( left ) A gibbon shows how its limbs are modified for hanging from trees. ( right ) A species of tarsier, with expanded digits used for grasping branches.
    :sad左) Gibbon 显示其四肢如何被从树上挂起而修改。 (右) 一种焦油种类,其数字用于抓取树枝。 (右)

    Summary
    ::摘要

    • Features of primates include five fingers, several types of teeth, an opposable thumb, and a large brain.
      ::灵长类动物的特点包括五根手指、几类牙齿、可对抗拇指和大大脑。
    • Primates live in a variety of places, including trees, swamps, and on land.
      ::囚犯居住在各种地方,包括树木、沼泽地和陆地上。

    Explore More
    ::探索更多

    Use the resources below to answer the questions that follow.
    ::利用以下资源回答以下问题。

    Explore More I
    ::探索更多

    • Primate Classification at (2:15)
      ::囚犯分类(2:15)
    1. How do primates differ from other animals?
      ::灵长类与其他动物有何不同?
    2. How do prosimians differ from monkeys?
      ::假象和猴子有什么不同?
    3. How do Old World monkeys differ from New World monkeys?
      ::旧世界猴子与新世界猴子有何不同?
    4. How do apes differ from monkeys?
      ::猩猩和猴子有什么不同?

    Explore More II
    ::探索更多情况二

    • Ring-Tailed Lemurs at
      ::环形雷穆尔斯
    1. Why are lemurs endangered?
      ::为什么狐猴会濒临灭绝?
    2. Where do lemurs live?
      ::狐猴住在哪里?
    3. How do lemurs mark their territory?
      ::狐猴如何标记他们的领地?

    Review
    ::回顾

    1. What's the difference between monkeys and apes?
      ::猴子和猩猩有什么区别?
    2. What is an opposable thumb?
      ::什么是可反对的拇指?
    3. What is the significance of a large cerebrum?
      ::大大脑的意义是什么?
    4. What is meant by pentadactyl?
      ::五溴二苯醚是什么意思?