Primates

Have you ever wondered where we orginated from? How we got to where we are today? The scientific theory is that humans,apes, and monkeys share a common ancestor that lived more than 45 million years ago. Although there isn't enough evidence to support this theory many fossils have been found that show traits of humans and apes.   

The First Primates

Primates are a group of mammals that include humans, apes, monkeys, and lemurs.  The first primates were probably mouselike mammals that were active at night, lived in trees and ate insects. The first primates did not exist until after the dinasoar era, they probably appeared  around 45 million years ago and were our first ancestors. A primate is an animal that has opposable thumbs and binocular vision.  


Opposable Thumbs

Bionocular Vision

Apes and Chimpanzees

 People think that an ape is the closet living relative of humans, although humans didn't evolve from apes and chimpanzees. About 6 million to 30 million years ago the ancestors of many primates began to evolve. The DNA of humans is nearly identical to those of apes and chimpanzees. We have a few differences that seperate us apart, apes and chimpanzees don't walk on two feet; they get around differently. Apes and Chimpanzees get around doing what is called knuckle walking. Knuckle walking means to use your knuckles to support your weight and keep balance.Our differences can be seen in the formation of our skeletons. Chimpanzees have long and narrow pelvis's while humans have short and small pelvis's, we walk with our knees close together and they walk with theirs far apart.

Take a look at the video below based on primates and bipedilism.



Knuckle Walking

Comparison of skeleton of Human and skeleton of Ape