Primate Classification
The primate order is divided informally into three main groupings: prosimians, New World
monkeys, and Old World monkeys and the apes. The prosimians are species whose bodies
most closely resemble that of the early proto-primates, the earliest examples of primates
(Figure14.31). Prosimians include the lemurs, located in Madagascar and to a lesser
extent on the Comoro Islands, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.
Figure 14.31: One of the prosimians, a greater bush baby, Kenya. ( 23 )The New World monkeys include the capuchin, howler and squirrel monkeys, who live ex-
clusively in the Americas. The Old World monkeys and the apes (all except for humans,
who inhabit the entire earth) inhabit Africa and southern and central Asia.
A few new species of primates are discovered each year and the evaluation of current popu-
lations varies as to the number of species; estimates over the last several years range from
350 to 405 species. In New World monkeys alone there are thought to be 128 species; of Old
World monkeys, 135 species; of gibbons or “lesser apes,” 13 species and of humans and other
great apes, seven species. But there is only one species of humans, which will be discussed
below.
The Human Family
The great apes are the members of the biological family Hominidae, which includes seven
species, making up humans, two species each of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Ho-
minids are large, tailless primates, ranging in size from the pygmy chimpanzee, at 66-88
lbs (30-40 kg) in weight, to the gorilla, at 309-397 lbs (140-180 kg) (Figure14.32). In all