Primates

“ The number of primitive characters seen among the Primates, even in Man himself, is remarkable. Of these the more important are the five digits of both limbs and the plantigrade walk, the presence of clavicles and of a centrale, and the absence of a third trochanter. ”

“ The primates mean that order of organisms which include the lemurs, the tailed monkeys of this hemisphere, the tailless monkeys, the ape and baboon and so on of the eastern hemisphere and man and also quite a large number of forms of whose—of whom we have a satisfactory fossil record which we may class as apes or may class as men. ”

“ When about fourteen years of age, they fled from the tribe, going west to raise their family and establish the new species of Primates. And these new creatures are very properly denominated Primates since they were the direct and immediate animal ancestors of the human family itself. ”

“ Perhaps, when all is said and done, it marks the difference between man and the lesser mammals, the thing that has evolved a certain species of the primates—simply woods creatures that trembled at the storm and cowered in the night—into the rulers and monarchs of the earth. ”

“ The comparative psychology of man and the higher animals enables us to learn from the highest group of the placentals, the primates, the long strides by which the human soul has advanced beyond the psyche of the anthropoid ape. The phylogeny of the mammals and of [Pg 150] the lower vertebrates acquaints us with the long series of the earlier ancestors of the primates which have arisen within this stem since the Silurian age. All these vertebrates agree in the structure and development of their characteristic psychic organ—the spinal cord. ”

“ The Primates, or apes, are, as we have seen, the highest order of the great class of mammals. Most of them, like other comparatively defenseless vertebrates, are gregarious or even social.3 They have a feeling of kind, if not of kindness, [Pg 7] toward one another. This sociability, together with the family as a unit of social structure, has contributed incalculably to human intellectual and moral development. Man is a Primate, a distant cousin of the highest apes, though no one of these represents our “furry arboreal ancestor with pointed ears.” ”

“ To one unacquainted with the facts of vertebrate comparative anatomy, the distinguishing characteristics of the primates seem to be trivial in nature. It is surprising to find how insignificant are the details to which appeal must be made in order to draw a line between our own division of mammalia and the others. ”

“ But all at once, perhaps somewhere in the upper Eocene or lower Miocene, it appears that among the primates, a newly developing family already distinguished for prehensile capabilities, one genus is beginning to sustain itself more by mental craft and shiftiness than by any physical characteristic. ”

“ Strangely enough, the practical importance of knowledge of the primates has seldom been dwelt upon even by those biologists who are especially interested in it. It is, therefore, appropriate to emphasize the strictly human value of the work for which I am seeking provision. ”

“ Supposing the fauna of the world was reduced to the 250th part of living species, then the Primates would be represented by one species only, and this being of course Man, his available menagerie would consist of scarcely threescore species, half of which would be Teleostean Fishes. ”

“ In your epoch, primates ate many domestic animals who differed less in intelligence quotient from them than differ civilized Tegurians from human primates like yourself ... the gap today is much greater.... ”

“ Thus it was that the dawn mammals, springing from the North American lemur type, gave origin to the mid-mammals, and these mid-mammals in turn produced the superior Primates, who became the immediate ancestors of the primitive human race. The Primates tribes were the last vital link in the evolution of man, but in less than five thousand years not a single individual of these extraordinary tribes was left. ”

“ All the momentous consequences that follow from it in regard to our human nature, our past and future, and our bodily and psychic life, remain undisturbed whether we derive man directly from one of the primates, an ape or lemur, or from some other branch, some unknown lower form, of the mammalian stem. ”

“ He strode forward to hasten the first meeting between Primate and Feline on the common ground of civilization.
VI.
The catman's steps faltered. This alien, that had come from some distant star, was definitely primate in evolution. He knew primates—they had primates on Sscantoo, here—and primates were nasty animals. They were filled with curiosity—mass curiosity—that had been the basis for a platitude on Sscantoo: "Curiosity saved a mansee." When you killed or wounded a primate, the woods would fill up with curious, chattering hordes of his fellow-primates. ”

“ Order XI.—Primates are at the head of the animal kingdom. The distinguishing characteristics of this class are the more erect carriage of the body, a hand better adapted for use, its fingers being furnished with nails, and a thigh free from the body. The order includes the Lemurs, Monkeys, Apes and Man. The lowest division of the primates, the lemurs, are small animals whose bodies are covered with hair. They have a fox-like face, a pointed nose, large ears, and a long tail, and they walk on all fours. ”

“ But it is a reasonable view that Carnivores and Primates sprang from a common Insectivore stock, the one order diverging towards flesh-eating and hunting on the ground, the other order diverging towards fruit-eating and arboreal habits. ”

“ Forthwith does natural selection seize upon any and every advantageous variation in this craft and shiftiness, until this favoured genus of primates, this Homo Alalus, or speechless [Pg 95] man, as we may call him, becomes preëminent for sagacity, as the mammoth is preëminent for bulk, or the giraffe for length of neck. ”

“ Are we, then, to explain the more amiable side of human nature, partly at least, by derivation from the frugivorous Primates, extensively modified by our wolfish adaptation, but surviving as latent character? ”

“ The primates have a much larger number of such vocal instincts than the other mammals, and a much larger number of stimuli can call them out, e.g., injury to bodily tissue calls out one group; hunger calls out a certain group; sex stimuli (mate, etc.) ”

“ These and other characteristics fit the primates for life in trees, where nearly all spend their time. The number of young, as a rule, is no more than two annually, and they are born in a helpless condition, hence they must for a period be nursed and be carried about by the mother. [Pg 374] The food consists almost wholly of fruit and other soft or easily digested vegetable materials, insects and eggs, and the teeth are of nearly even size. ”

“ It is, indeed, impossible to observe any of the primates without noting most interesting and illuminating activities. And although the major portion of my time was spent in hard and monotonous work with my experimental apparatus, I found time each day to get into intimate touch with the free activities of my subjects and to observe their social relations and varied expressions of individuality. ”

“ We have, therefore, no alternative but to conclude that the same factors controlling the dispersion of the whole division of primates apply also to man, and that his dispersion will, in the main, follow the same beaten tracks. ”

“ Hence in turning the fore foot into a hand, for climbing and grasping purposes, the primitive Primate entered upon the path of brain-development. Even the earliest Primates show large brains in comparison with the small brains of their contemporaries.
It is a familiar fact in the animal world that when a certain group enters upon a particular path of evolution, some members of the group advance only a little way along it, some go farther, and some outstrip all the others. The development of social life among the bees will illustrate this. ”

“ We draw our sustenance from the primates, as do your plants, and we constantly replace the electronic base of these primates with our own emanations, in much the same manner as your nitrogenous plants revitalize your soil. ”

“ Thus far naturalists are agreed as to man's place in Nature. The question, however, of determining the particular order of mammals to which man belongs, has given rise to much discussion. Linnaeus united in one group the half Monkeys (Lemurs) , the Bats, the true Monkeys, and Man, calling them Primates. ”

“ For the natural system is, within the order of the primates, an expression of genealogical relationship, just as it is in every other group of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Hence result the following important inferences as to the genealogical tree of man: (1) The primates form a natural monophyletic group; all "dominant animals," lemurs, apes, and man himself sprang from a common original stem form, a hypothetical Archiprimas. ”

“ All this, you see, papa, I have remembered pretty well. Will you now be so kind as to tell me what animals belong to the first order, Primates, and how they may be distinguished?
Mr. B. The principal animals of this order are, man, the ape, the various tribes of monkeys, and the bat. They have, in each jaw, four front, or cutting teeth; except in some species of bats, which have, occasionally, only two, and at others none. They have one canine tooth on each side, in both jaws. Mr. Bernard then desired Louisa and Ferdinand to open their mouths, and he would show them which were the canine teeth ”

“ As soon as some ancient member in the great series of the Primates came, owing to a change in its manner of procuring subsistence, or to a change in the conditions of its native country, to live somewhat less on trees and more on the ground, its manner of progression would have been modified ”

“ While recognizing that the task of prospecting for an anthropoid or primate station may in its outcome prove incomparably more important for the biological and sociological sciences and for human welfare than my experimental study of ideational behavior, I give the latter first place in this report, reserving for the concluding section an account of the situation regarding our knowledge of the monkeys, apes, and other primates, and a description of a plan and program for the thorough-going and long continued study of these organisms in a permanent station or research institute. ”

“ We have reserved for a closer inquiry that order of the placental mammals to which we ourselves belong, and on which zoologists have bestowed the very proper and distinguishing name of the Primates. Since the days of Darwin there has been some tendency to resent the term "lower animals," which man applies to his poorer relations. ”

“ It is true that in other respects the higher primates (even including man) may be more specialized, but the specialization is not as obvious as in the cases referred to, and it is not evident how we are to balance irrelative specializations against each other, or even how we shall subordinate such cases. ”

“ Although for centuries students of nature have been keenly interested in the various primates, the information which has been accumulated is fragmentary and wholly inadequate for generally recognized scientific and practical needs. ”

“ The group of mammals which includes the monkeys, apes, and man we call the primates.
Although anatomically there is a greater difference between the lowest type of monkey and the highest type of ape than there is between the highest type of ape and the lowest savage, yet there is an immense mental gap between monkey and man. ”

“ Soon after this young couple forsook their associates to found the human race, their Primates father became disconsolate—he was heartbroken. He refused to eat, even when food was brought to him by his other children. His brilliant offspring having been lost, life did not seem worth living among his ordinary fellows ”

“ The primates (higher apes) have on their finger-tips patterns that are far simpler than our own, resembling geometric figures, among which the principal ones are the triangle, the circle, and forms resembling the cross-section of an onion. ”

“ He then published one of the epoch-making books of all time, on "The Origin of the Species." Even if we cannot hope to be Pasteurs or Darwins, we can at least keep our eyes and ears open; we can be constantly learning new and interesting facts, and we may be able to contribute something of real value to the sum total of human knowledge."
Referring to page 463 (reading) : "The highest order of mammals, the primates." You will remember we referred to that the other day—"There remains one other group of mammals of which we shall speak, namely, the highest, that to which man belongs. ”

“ A good billiard player probably has more associations in connection with this single pastime [136] than a dog with his whole life’s business. In the associations which are homologous with those of animals man outdoes them and adds an infinity of associations of a different sort. The primates would seem, by virtue of their incessant curiosity and addition to experience not for any practical purpose but merely for love of mental life, to represent an advanced stage toward this tremendous quantity of associations. ”

“ But it is possible that certain species of primates are apt to go to pieces under conditions which lead them to effect changes of space-time systems. Such species would only experience a long range of endurance, if they had succeeded in forming a favourable association among primates of different species, such that in this association the tendency to collapse is neutralised by the environment of the association. ”

“ The horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs, great as are the differences among them now, can be traced back step by step through fossil forms, their differences gradually becoming less marked, until ‘the lines ultimately blend together, if not in one common ancestor, at all events into forms so closely alike in all essentials that no reasonable doubt can be held as to their common origin.’ ‘The four chief orders of the higher mammals—the primates, ungulates, carnivora, and rodents—seem to be separated by profound gulfs, when we confine our attention to the representatives of to-day. ”