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Time: 10 hours
Level: Introductory
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 Introduction Resource- In this unit we will focus on the Anthropoidea, a suborder of primates that includes monkeys, apes and humans. We will concentrate our attention here primarily on monkeys. Colour vision, a large brain...
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- 1 The anthropoids Resource
- As you work through this unit you will come across boxes, like this one, which give you advice about the study skills that you will be developing as you progress through the unit. To avoid breaking up...
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| | 2 Who are the anthropoids?
- 2 Who are the anthropoids? Resource
- As you know, the suborder Anthropoidea includes monkeys, apes and humans. You will be aware from reading LoM that taxonomists group monkeys according to the shape of their nose: Old World monkeys are catarrhines...
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| | 3 How do anthropoids differ from prosimians?
- 3.1 Diurnal living Resource
- In three particular respects, anthropoids have evolved features that have given them a competitive edge over other animals, especially prosimian primates. They have a diurnal instead of a nocturnal pattern...
- 3.2 Colour vision Resource
- DA stresses that colour vision is very important in primates, not only because colour is used ‘in sexual displays’ such as advertising a female's receptiveness to mating [p. 275], but also to identify...
- 3.3 Seeing red Resource
- Watch the TV programme from 20.37–24.06 and reread LoM pp. 247–248 and 255. Write a paragraph of about 120 words explaining why the inability to detect the colour red would disadvantage anthropoid primates....
- 3.4 Stereoscopic vision Resource
- DA explains that ancestral monkeys had to ‘decide whether a branch was within reach of a stretch or a jump – or beyond either’ [p.248]. Individuals that were able to judge distances between themselves...
- 3.5 Communication Resource
- Compared with many other mammals, primates have a rich repertoire of communication skills, which I'll be looking at in more detail in this section.
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- 4.1 Group size and collaboration Resource
- This section requires you to interpret the data presented in Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 consists of two bar charts showing (a) the mean day range and (b) the weekly home range for a large and a small group...
- 4.2 Social dynamics Resource
- Yet another type of diagram is given in this section. Take a preliminary look at Figure 7, which is a way of illustrating the relationships between individual primates and groups of primates. Some specialist...
- 4.3 Hierarchies within groups Resource
- Within multimale-multifemale groups of the type portrayed in Figure 7f, complex social relationships exist. These animals are ‘forced together’ to defend resources and to avoid predation, but competition...
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- 5.1 The neocortex Resource
- Throughout LoM Chapter 9 and the TV programme, DA has referred to the large brain of monkeys and to their intelligence. Humans are the most intelligent of the anthropoid species, but evidence for non-human...
- 5.2 Social and ecological factors Resource
- Researchers think that the increase in creative thinking capacity was driven by group living because, in primates, increasing neocortex size is linked to increasing group size. We know that, even if there...
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- 6 Reflections Resource
- DA opens the TV programme by stating that ‘monkeys and apes have the richest social life of all mammals’. I have explored the importance of colour vision in the interactions between individuals and discussed...
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| | References and Acknowledgements | |
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