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Virtual Explorations
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Visit our textbook-specific Online Learning Center Web site at www.mhhe.com/relethford8e to access the exercises that follow.

  1. World of Primates

    2. In this chapter, we were introduced to the two major primate suborders, Prosimii and Anthropoidea. A good way to review primate diversity is to familiarize yourself with images representing these two suborders. Go first to Michigan State University's Prosimii site: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/prosimii.html. Read over the introductory paragraph. It provides a brief overview of this suborder.

    Below the introduction are links for the infraorders of the Prosimii:

    Lemuriforms: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/lemur.html
    Lorisiforms: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/loris.html
    Tarsiiforms: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/tarsier.html

    The site allows you to navigate back and forth between the three links.

    • Are any of these primates unfamiliar to you?
    • What about their habitats?
    • What types of specializations does each have?
    • What other information about them is new to you?

    Now visit the Anthropoidea site: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/anthropoidea.html. The introductory paragraph about the anthropoid suborder discusses size and dietary difference and other physical features that distinguish them from other primates. Recall what your learned in the earlier chapters in your book about advantages and disadvantages of evolutionary change. The two anthropoid infraorders, Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) and Catarrhini (Old World monkeys), each have separate links:

    Platyrrhini: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/plats.html
    Catarrhini: http://www.msu.edu/%7Eheckaaro/cats.html

    Explore each of the two links.

    • What are some of the features that distinguish the two infraorders?
    • What about differences within each infraorder?
    • What features make the Catarrhini more similar to humans?
    • What features distinguish the Platyrrhini?

  2. Primate Info Net

    3. The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison continues its work on primates in the tradition of Dr. Harry Harlow (discussed in Chapter 6). The site http://pin.primate.wisc.edu provides a wealth of helpful information concerning issues as contemporary as "Primates in Pop Culture and the Movies" and issues involving biomedical research and recent news articles about primates.

    Primate Factsheets provides a quick way to locate particular primates geographically or taxonomically: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets. Select the link that allows you to view by common name:http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/index/taxon/common/all. Choose the first link listed for "Allen's swamp monkey."

    • Is this an Old World or New World monkey?
    • What does the photo tell you?
    • What other information is there?
    • Now click on the "African Mammals Databank" link.
    • What additional information does the link provide?
    • Why are teeth and dental patterns so important in classification?

    Follow the "Alternative Classification" link to see an older version of how scientists classified primates.





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