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What’s a prosimian?

What’s a prosimian?. Prosimian means, “Before Monkeys.” Prosimians are nocturnal, they are omnivores, they are usually arboreal and they have opposable thumbs to grip branches. How come the kinkajou is not a prosimian?.

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What’s a prosimian?

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  1. What’s a prosimian? Prosimian means, “Before Monkeys.” Prosimians are nocturnal, they are omnivores, they are usually arboreal and they have opposable thumbs to grip branches.

  2. How come the kinkajou is not a prosimian? The kinkajou is not a prosimian because it does not have opposable thumbs. The kinkajou is in the raccoon family (Procyonidae) and according to genetic studies the kinkajou and prosimiansare not related. But originally the kinkajou was classified as a prosimian.

  3. Lemurs of Madagascar The name lemur means, “ghosts” or “spirits of the dead” because they walk at night and go so slowly because they are hiding from predators. Lemurs are endemic to Madagascar. The largest lemur is the indri (6 kg- 9.5 kg) lemur which is very vocal. The smallest lemur is the Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur (30 g). Sadly the largest and most amazing lemur (Megaladaphis- 45-85 kg) has become extinct (c. 500 years ago) from over eating and the slash-and-burn techniques. On Madagascar there are approximately 70-100 (or more) species of lemurs which only live there.

  4. Potto The potto looks almost like a teddy bear, but it functions very well in the trees. It has a index finger that is only a knob to aid it in climbing, a “second tongue” which fits between the lower jaws comb-like teeth, the potto is nocturnal and it a special arrangement of teeth which allow it to grip branches for long periods of time.

  5. The Angwantibo (Golden Potto) Although its name may seem that the golden potto is related to the potto, it actually doesn’t belong to the same genus. It is a lot like the potto, they live in western Africa and there are only two species of angwantibo the Calabar angwantibo and the golden angwantibo.

  6. Galagos (Bushbabies)

  7. Hypothesis The prosimians must of travelled to Madagascar on a land bridge and drifted by sea. This is because lemurs like megaladaphis are too big to travel by sea where mammals like some galagos accidently drifted by sea (logs, driftwood, etc.).

  8. Bibliography

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