Endangered Primates

6 Pages 1519 Words

There are many endangered species in the world today. One species that is in danger of becoming extinct are primates. The primate species include prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans. One group of primates that are endangered is the great apes. Great apes are in danger due to many different reasons such as humans hunting them, loss of habitat due to humans, or other animals prey on them. Great apes are important to researchers today because they are very closely related to humans. Primates, especially great apes, are coming closer and closer to extinction every day. There are different types of great apes and each one is unique in its own way. There are three things that effect why great apes are becoming extinct: physical traits, locations and lifestyles.
Primates are an ancient and diverse eutherian group of animals. They are “built much like tree-dwelling mammals. They have long flexible backbones, five-fingered gripping hands and feet and forward pointing eyes on a short, flexible neck.” They have hair instead of fur, nails instead of claws, opposable thumbs and big toes, padded fingers with fingerprints, and a higher brain to body size ratio. They have high levels of intelligence because of their larger brain. Primates are able to see in color which most animals only see in black and white. Many primates are omnivorious, although most eat mainly plant foods. Most live in tropical rain forests in the continents of Africa, Asia, and America.What also makes them different is that they have all five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. Only humans are truly bipedal, but many can walk on only two legs although not for a long period of time. Apes and monkeys are very different physically even though they often get confused with each other. Apes have no tails, larger body size, they are semi-bipedal, moral teeth have a y-5 pattern, and they have a larger brain to body size. Apes are catagorized into t...