VMD 512: Zoo/Wild Animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

PRIMATES

• Primates are generally arboreal in nature with plantigrade movements. Both the hands and foot are prehensile.
• There are approximately 191 species of primates.

Classification of primates

• There are two sub-orders:
  • Prosimii (prosimians)
    • Animals like lemurs, lorises, bush babies, tree shrews and tarsiers belong to this suborder.
  • Anthropoidea (monkeys and apes)

Families of primates

• Cebidae (new world monkeys)
• Callithricidae (marmosets and tamarins)
• Cercopithecidae (old world monkeys)
• Hylobatidae (gibbons)
• Family Pongidae (apes)
• Hominidae(man)