Primate Evolution

Extract

The mammalian order Primates includes living tarsiers, lemurs, monkeys, apes and humans. The name Primates itself, derived from Latin primus, first or foremost, betrays a characteristically immodest self-appraisal of our place in nature! When proposed by Linnaeus, in the definitive 1758 edition of his Systema Naturae, nature's center stage was indeed defined as that on which we play. Now, knowing that we are but one of 200 or so living primate species, knowing that primates are but one of 18 or so living mammalian orders, nature's stage appears much grander – claiming the center is clearly more difficult. Central or not, primates we are – human interest in human origins being what it is, primates will always hold a special fascination.