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| the order of mammals that has a complex of characteristics related to an initial adaptation to life in the trees |
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| a vertebrate phylum consisting of organisms that possess a notochord at some period during their life (humans) |
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| a flexible internal rod that runs along the back of an animal |
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Definition
| a subphylum of hte phylum Chordata, defined by the presence of an intenral, segmented spinal column and bilateral symmetry (humans) |
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| symmetry in which the right and left sides of the body are approximately mirror images |
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| an organ that develops inside a pregnant placental mammal that provides the fetus with oxygen and food and helps filter out harmful substances |
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| period of life from conception until birth |
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| period of life from birth until death |
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| an organism capable of maintaining a constant body temperature under most circumstances |
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| all teeth being the same (reptiles) |
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| having different types of teeth (mammals) |
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Definition
| chisel-shaped front teeth, used for cutting, slicing, gnawing food |
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| teeth located in front of the jaw behind the incisors, which are normally sued by mammals for puncturing and defense |
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Definition
| one of the types of back teeth, used for crushing and grinding food |
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Definition
| teeth farthest back in the jaw, used for crushing and grinding food |
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Definition
| short-hand method of describing the number of each type of tooth in one-half the jaw of a mammal, I-C-P-M (humans: 2-1-2-3, 32 total) |
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Definition
| area of the forebrain that consists of the outermost layer of brain cells, associated with memory, learning and intelligence |
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| biological structure adapted to a narrow range of conditions and used in very specific ways |
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Definition
| biological structure adapted to a wide range of conditions and used in very general ways |
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| binocular stereoscopic vision |
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Definition
| overlapping fields of vision, with both sides of the brain receiving images from both eyes, thereby providing depth perception |
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Definition
| suborder of primates that are biologically primitive compared to anthropoids |
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| Anthropoidea (anthropoids) |
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Definition
| the suborder of primates consisting of monkeys, apes and humans |
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| nocturnal prosimian found today in Asia and Africa |
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| a nocturnal prosimian found today in Indonesia |
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| a prosimian found today on the island of Madagascar |
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| Strepsirhini (strepsirhines) |
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Definition
| one of two suborders of primates suggested to replace the prosimian/anthropoid suborders (the other is the haplorhines), primates that have moist noses (lemurs and lorises) |
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Definition
| one of two suborders of primates suggested to replace the prosimian/anthropoid suborders (the other is the strepsirhines), primates without a moist nose (tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans) |
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Definition
| form of movement in which all four limbs are of equal size and make contact with the ground and the spine is roughly parallel to the ground |
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| superfamily of anthropoids consisting of apes and humans |
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Definition
| raised area on the chewing surface of a tooth |
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Definition
| ability to raise the arms above the head and hang on to branches and to climb in this position |
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| physical structure of organisms |
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| family (Hominidae) within the hominoids, defined recently as including humans and the great apes (orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo), some scientists still use a more traditional definition that refers only to humans and their humanlike ancestors |
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Definition
| humans and their ancestors since the time of divergence from the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos |
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| subdivision of a geologic period |
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| movement of continental land masses on top of a partially molten layer of the earth's mantle that has altered the relative location of the continents over time |
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| epochs of the Cenozoic Era |
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Definition
Paleocene
Eocene
Oligocene
Miocene
Pliocene
Pleistocene
Holocene |
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Term
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Definition
first epoch
65.5 mya - 55.8 mya
primate-like mammals appeared, adaptive radiation |
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| bony ring that separates the eye orbit from the back of the skull in primates, lacking during Paleocene |
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second epoch
55.8 mya - 33.9 mya
first true primates (primitive prosimians) appeared, adaptive radiation, first anthropoids |
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Definition
third epoch
33.9 mya - 23 mya
anthropoids underwent an adaptive radiation |
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Definition
fourth epoch
23 mya - 5.3 mya
several adaptive radiations of hominoids, oldest known possible hominins appeared |
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Definition
| combined land masses of Europe and Asia |
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fifth epoch
5.3 mya - 1.8 mya
adaptive radiation of hominins, origin of genus homo |
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sixth epoch
1.8 - 0.01 mya
evolution and dispersal of genus homo, origin of modern humans |
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seventh epoch
0.01 mya - present
humans develop agriculture and civilization, recorded history |
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| referring to that part of the skeleton below the skull |
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| species of primate-like mammal that had some derived primate traits, such as a grasping foot and an opposable big toe, intermediate in many respects between primitive primate-like mammals and true primates, Paleocene |
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| genus of fossil hominoid from Africa showing a number of monkey characteristics, Miocene |
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| gap next to the canine tooth that allows space for canine on opposing jaw, ape jaw |
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| genus of fossil ape in Asia, possible ancestor to orangutans, Miocene |
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| genus of fossil ape in Spain, possible ancestor of all great apes and humans or just African apes and humans, Miocene |
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| genus of fossil ape in Hungary and Spain, possible ancestor of African apes and humans, Miocene |
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| genus of fossil ape in Greece, possible ancestor of African apes and humans, Miocene |
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Definition
| application of methods of genetic analysis to estimate the sequence and timing of divergent evolutionary lines |
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| size of the geographic area normally occupied and used by a social group |
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| study of behavior that focuses on the adaptive value of behavior from an ecological and evolutionary perspective |
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| behavior that has been favored by natural selection and that increases an individual's fitness |
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| study of how characteristics of an organism's life cycle affects reproduction, focusing on trade-offs between energy expended for numbers and fitness of offspring |
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Definition
| parental behaviors that increase the probability that offspring will survive |
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Definition
| exclusive sexual bond between adult male/female for a long period of time |
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Definition
| sexual bond between an adult male/female in which either individual may have more than one mate at the same time |
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Definition
| individual that cares for an infant but is not a biological parent |
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| one male/one female group |
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| social structure in which the primary social group consists of a single adult male, a single adult female and their immature offspring (uncommon) |
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| one male/multifemale group |
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Definition
| social structure in which the primary social group consists of a single adult male, several adult females and their immature offspring, more common |
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| one-female/multimale group |
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Definition
| social structure in which the primary social group consists of a single adult female, several adult males and their immature offspring, less common |
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| multimale/multifemale group |
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Definition
| most common type of social group in nonhuman primates, consisting of several adult males, several adult females and their immature offspring |
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Definition
| friendly behaviors that promote social bonds |
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| unfriendly social relationships |
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Definition
| handling and cleaning of another individual's fur, serves as a form of communication and provides reassurance |
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Definition
| concept that altruistic behavior can be selected for if it increases the probability of survival of close relatives |
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Definition
| the concept that altruistic behaviors will be directed toward nonkin if they increase the probability that the recipient will reciprocate at some future time |
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Definition
| ranking system within a society that indicates which individuals are dominant in social behaviors |
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Definition
| average difference in body size between adult males and adult females |
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Definition
| home range that is actively defended |
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| environment consisting of open grasslands in which food resources tend to be spread out over large areas |
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| method of movement that uses the arms to swing from branch to branch, gibbons |
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Definition
| form of movement used by gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos that is characterized by all four limbs touching the ground with the weight of the arms resting on the knuckles of the hands |
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| primate society in which the population splits into smaller subgroups at times (fission) and then alter reunites (fusion), process affected by the distribution of food resources, chimpanzees |
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