fa25-anthro105 anthro105
Chapter 9: From Tree Shrew to Ape Chapter 9: From Tree Shrew to Ape
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Chapter objectives
From mammals to the first primates
Continental Drift and Climate Change
The continents have shifted relative to one another and to the poles
World climate changed dramatically over the last 65 million years
The Methods of Paleontology
Several radiometric methods estimate fossil age
Relative dating supplements absolute methods
The Evolution of the Early Primates
The earliest primates were small, nocturnal, shrewlike quadrupeds
Carpolestes helps explain why primate features were favored
Primates with modern features appeared in the Eocene
The First Haplorrhines
The Oligocene world turned colder and drier
Monkey-like primates may have begun in the Eocene but radiated in the Oligocene
Monkeys appear in South America, but their arrival is a mystery
The Emergence of the Apes
The early Miocene was warm and moist, then cooled and dried
Apes differ from monkeys in posture and locomotion — reflected in their skeletons
Morotopithecus shows early suspensory adaptations
Other early Miocene apes had apelike teeth but monkey-like bodies
The middle Miocene saw a new hominoid radiation across Eurasia
Late-middle-Miocene cooling cut hominoid diversity in Asia and Europe
Late Miocene African apes refocus human origins on Africa
No clear ancestors for modern apes — except perhaps orangutans
Apes declined as monkeys diversified — evolution is not progress
Key terms
Study questions