PRIMATES: Primates are considered the most evolved of the land animals because of their highly developed brain and the superior intelligence that goes with it.  Primates include apes, monkeys, lemurs, tree shrews and of course humans.  They all can be distinguished based on the structure of their hands and feet that are designed to adapt to the particular habit and mode of life of these animals.

BEHAVIOR:

1. HABITAT: Primates are fitted by nature to live in a warm climate, although being ‘warm blooded’ (body temperature maintained internally) they can withstand periods of intense cold as well.  They prefer forests although the types very.  Seasonal abundance or scarcity of food influences the local migration of the monkey.

2. UNIQUENESS: Apes and monkeys usually live on good terms with other wild animals.  Deer and wild cattle will often gather under trees when they are feeding, to eat the fruits and leaves they wastefully drop.  They also possess well-developed vision and hearing and are extremely alert and agile.

3. FOOD: Most primates are exclusively vegetarian.  Some of them add animal food such as insects, birds, crabs and eggs to their diet.  Macaques possess cheek pouches to store food and langurs have a special pouch inside their stomach that serves the same purpose.  Apes, tree shrew and lemurs eat whatever food is available.

4. LOCOMOTION: Their limbs are highly adapted for grasping and climbing.  Hands and legs remain the main organs of locomotion while the tail is used in some species to balance the body.  They prefer walking on all fours but can walk on their hind limbs as well.

FAMILY:

1. BREEDING: Most primates breed throughout the year. Several species show marked seasonal fluctuations in reproductive activities.

2. OFFSPRING: One only offspring is born at one time although twins have also been reported in a few instances.  Mother and offspring share a special bond.  The new born until weaned sticks to its mother’s bosom.  Amount of parental care in the initial stages also shapes the character and future social standing of the young.

3. COURTSHIPS: Social organization within a primate group is based on male dominance.  The largest male usually commands the group that can comprise of several females.  A female in ‘estrous’ will invariably have several suitors before the most dominant male can with her.

4. LIFE SPAN: Life span varies across different species.  In many species, average life span in the wild is still not known.  A common Rhesus Monkey lives on an average for 12-15 years though 30 years have also been recorded in captivity.

 FACTS:

1. ANCESTRY: Primates evolved from tree dwelling ancestors, developing the ‘prehensile’ (organs other than limbs that can be used to grasps and climb) tail so distinctive in them.  Coming down from the trees and walking on two legs took several thousand years.  One line of primates remained on land two evolve in to what we know today as humans.

2. MYTHS: Primates hold a special place in Hindus Religion.  Hindus will hardly ever assault monkeys as they are held to be sacred, and their protection is further strengthened by the Hindu legend that the monkeys  “GOD HANUMAN”, with his army of monkeys helped the divine prince ‘RAMA’ to conquer over evil.  At several places, though primates are considered to possess aphrodisiacal powers.

3. NUMBERS: Of the 21 species of primates found in the Indian sub-continent several of them have adapted themselves to human presence.  Some of them are sill wary and shy preferring dense evergreen forests.  Habitat destruction has drastically reduced their populations.

4. PREDATORS: As tree dwellers, they have very few enemies large birds of prey are known to hunt for their young.  Monkeys are also the favorite food of leopards.

 TYPES:

1. SLENDER LORIS (Loris Tradigradus): Loris belongs to the family Lorisidae of primates.  These small, thin, lanky creatures with long slender limbs are confined to Southern India and prefer dense evergreen forests singly in pairs.  They sleep through the day, but during the night hunt for insects, reptiles and birds.  They also feed on shoos and fruits.  Offspring usually one is born after a gestation period of three months.

2. RHESUS MACAQUE (Macaca Mulatta): One of the commonest monkeys in India, it lives in a variety of habitats ranging from cities, villages to forests and mountains.  Three races are found all along the Himalayas, Assam and Central India.  They live in highly organized troops and feed an everything they can lay their hunts on grooming each other from a major part of the daily activities.  A definite breeding season correlated with season is seen.  Offspring are born from March-June.

3. BONNET MACAQUE (Macaca Radiata): it is similar to its cosine, the Rhesus except far the reddish and the mop of long dark hair on its crown.  Throughout Southern India, they frequent villages and towns.  They are particularly fond of Banyan Tree where chances of finding a troop of 20-30 animals are quite high.  Mating occurs throughout the year with the peak in October-November.  Birth mainly occurs from late January-April.

4. LION TAILED MACAQUE (Macaca Silenus): This black monkey derives its name from its tail, which is almost two-thirds the length of its body and has a small tuft at the end.  Confined to small pockets of dense forests in Southern India, it prefers to remain mostly on trees.  Like other monkeys, they live in herds of 12-20 animals or more.  New born young mostly seen in September.  Destruction of habitat and pouching has made this animal and one or several species.

5. COMMON LANGUR (Presbytis Entellus): The range of this large black faced monkey stretches through the entire sub-continent held us sacred in Hindu mythology, they are quite indifferent to man if left alone.  On the other hand, langurs living near temples (shrine or monuments) are known to mob pilgrims, panicking them into parting with their food.  They live in larger troops and are purely vegetarian.  Their inveterate enemy is the leopard.  The peak birth period in North India is April-May, which in Southern India most births are in January-February.  “The gestation” (pregnancy) period sixth months.

6. NILGIRI LANGURS (Presbytis Johnii): Nilgiri Langurs are mostly confined to dense forests of Southern India.  It has a glossy black body with the lion-tailed macaque and the bonnet macaque.  A vegetarian it occurs in large troops with as many as 30 animals.  Peak birth season is in June.  The beauty of their fur and the supposed medicinal value of their flesh, blood and organs have caused them to be hunted more than any other species of Indian Monkey.

7. GOLDEN LANGUR (Presbytis Geei): this cream bodied, black-faced langur was only discovered in 1953 on the east bank of the Sankosh Viver in Assam.  It is exclusively a tree dweller rarely coming down only to drink water.  Exclusively vegetarian a troop care has as many as 40 animals.  In captivity young have been born.

8. HOOLOCK GIBBON (Hylobates Hoolock): It is the only lesser ape found in the rain forests of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland.  It has small legs on which it runs but usually prefers to swing from branch to branch using its grotesquely long arms.  Each group is usually a family.  They are said to pair for life it feeds on fruits, leaves etc.

 [MORE DETAILS ABOUT INDIAN PRIMATES]

The Primates are an ancient and diverse ethereal group, with around 233 living species placed  in 13 families. Most dwell in tropical forests. The smallest living primate is the pygmy mouse lemur, which weighs around 30 g. The largest is the gorilla, weighing up to around 175 kg. Primates radiated in arboreal habitats, and many of the characteristics by which we recognize them today (shortened rostrum and forwardly directed orbits, associated with stereoscopic vision; relatively large braincase; opposable halloo and pollex; unused and highly mobile radius and ulna in the forelimb and tibia and fibula in the hind) probably arose as adaptations for life in the trees or are primitive traits that were retained for the same reason. 

Several species, including our own, have left the trees for life on the ground; nevertheless, we retain many of these features. Primates are usually recognized based on a suite of primitive characteristics of the skull, teeth, and limbs. Some of these are listed above, including the separate and well-developed radius and ulna in the forearm and tibia and fibula in the hind leg. Others include pentadactyl feet and presence of a clavicle. Additional characteristics (not necessarily unique to primates) include first toe with a nail, while other digits bear either nails or claws, and stomach simple in most forms (sacculated in some leaf-eating cercopithecids).

 Within primates, there is a tendency towards reduction of the olfactory region of the brain and expansion of the cerebrum (especially the cerebral cortex), correlated with an increasing reliance on sight and increasingly complex social behavior. The teeth of primates vary considerably. The dental formula for the order is 0-2/1-2, 0-1/0-1, 2-4/2-4, and 2-3/2-3 = 18-36. The incisors are especially variable. In some forms, most incisors have been lost, although all retain at least one lower incisor. In others, the incisors are intermediate in size and appear to function as pincers or nippers, as they commonly do in other groups of mammals. In some, including most strepsirhines (see next paragraph), the lower incisors form a toothcomb used in grooming and perhaps foraging. In the aye-aye (Daubentoniidae), the incisors are reduced to one in each jaw and are rodent-like in form and function. 

Canines are usually (but not always) present; they vary in size, including within species between males and females. Premolars are usually bicuspid (bilophodont), but sometimes canine-like or molar-like. Molars have 3-5 cusps, commonly 4. A hypocone was added early in primate history, and the paraconid was lost, leaving both upper and lower teeth with a quadrate pattern. Primitively, primate molars were brachycome and tuberculosectorial, but they have become bunion and quadrate in a number of modern forms.

 Primates divided into two great groups, the Strepsirhini and the Halothane. Strepsirhines have naked noses, lower incisors forming a toothcomb, and no plate separating orbit from temporal fossa. The second digit on the hind foot of many strepsirhines is modified to form a "toilet claw" used in grooming. Strepsirhines include mostly arboreal species with many primitive characteristics, but at the same time, some extreme specializations for particular modes of life. Haplorhines are the so-called "higher" primates, an anthropocentric designation if ever there was one.

 They have furry noses and a plate-separating orbit from temporal fossa, and they lack a toothcomb. Haplorhines include many more species, are more widely distributed, and in most areas play a more important ecological role. Haplorhines are further divided into two major groups, the Platyrrhini and the Catarrhini. Platyrrhines have flat noses, outwardly directed nasal openings, 3 premolars in upper and lower jaws, anterior upper molars with 3 or 4 major cusps, and are found only in the New World (families Cebidae and Callitrichidae). Catarrhines have paired downwardly directed nasal openings, which are close together; usually two premolars in each jaw, anterior upper molars with four cusps, and are found only in the Old World Most primate species live in the tropics or subtropics, although a few, most notably humans, also inhabit temperate regions. Except for a few terrestrial species, primates are arboreal. Some species eat leaves or fruit; others are insectivorous or carnivorous.