Primates

Primates are a diverse order of mammals that includes six major groups:

- lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans.

- Simiiformes family (monkeys, apes, and humans)

The scientific name for primates is Primates.

Primates are mammals, and their order is Therapsid. The earliest primates likely evolved from a small, nocturnal, insectivorous mammal. The closest living relatives to primates are tree shrews and colugos, also known as flying lemurs.

Primates share many common traits, such as:

- Divergent digits on their hands and feet

- Nails instead of claws (in most species)

- A "wet nose" (rhinarium)

In evolutionary and genetic terms, ape species are much closer to humans than monkeys are.

Primates - Lemurs

Lemurs are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea, divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail.

Please Don’t Pet the LemursMore than 30,000 wild-captured lemurs are being kept as household pets in Madagascar each year, according to research published today by PLOS ONE. For some lemur species, even low levels of extraction could be detrimental, as up to one-third of all wild-captured lemurs die prematurely in captivity, and those that survive cannot be put back in the wild. The findings are the result of a collaborative project including co-lead investigators from USD and Franklin Scholars.

Loris is the common name for the strepsirrhine mammals of the subfamily Lorinae in the family Lorisidae. Loris is one genus in this subfamily and includes the slender lorises, Nycticebus is the genus containing the slow lorises, and Xanthonycticebus is the genus name of the pygmy slow loris.

The Only Primate With a Toxic Bite Might Have Evolved to Mimic CobrasSlow lorises have snake-like markings, postures and a hiss that all resemble the speckled cobra

Tarsiers are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is, itself, the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes.

Tarsier | Description, Species, Habitat, & FactsTarsier, any of about 13 species of small leaping primates found only on various islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers are intermediate in form between lemurs and monkeys and are only about 9–16 cm (3.5–6 inches) long, with a tail extending twice that length. They are nocturnal and have a well-developed sense of smell.

The Simiiformes family, also known as "anthropoids", includes monkeys, apes, and humans.

The Simiiformes family also includes the following related taxa:

Aotidae: Night monkeys
Atelidae: Howler and prehensile tailed monkeys
Cebidae: Marmosets, tamarins, capuchins, and squirrel monkeys
Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys
Hominidae: Great apes and humans
Hylobatidae: Gibbons and lesser apes

Primates are a group of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans. Primates have a wide range of behavioral, morphological, and ecological flexibility. For example, while most primates are arboreal, some are terrestrial.