A non-human primate is various mammals of the order of primates. This is something I had to look up because I wasn’t sure what it was. Non-human primates consist of the lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes including humans, and is characterized by nails on the hands and feet, a short snout, and a large brain.

Humans did not evolve from apes, gorillas or chimps. We are all modern species that have followed different evolutionary paths, though humans share a common ancestor with some primates, such as the African ape. The timeline of human evolution is long and controversial, with significant gaps

We study nonhuman primate behavior to help us better understand our own species behavior. Since we are primates – primate behavior includes humans. Yet, clearly there are differences in behavior among different species of primates and especially humans. Similar behaviors may also have different causes.

Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and their extinct ancestors form a family of organisms known as the Hominidae. Researchers generally agree that among the living animals in this group, humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, judging from comparisons of anatomy and genetics.

I think its shocking to learn that we are so similar to these primates. Even our vision is closely related, they can see color too which helps them through their environment. They also have depth perception in their vision and I think its really interesting to think about all the commonalities that we share with a species that is not human.

In the video about Chimpanzee Wars I learned that the instinct to kill was a trait that chimpanzees inherited from a common ancestor a very long time ago, and we also inherited this trait. Its interesting to think about other species having this instinct to kill and be violent when humans are said to be the most violent species. Its so interesting to see how closely related humans and apes we are how have all evolved from common ancestors and our tendencies and instincts can be so similar because of the common backgrounds we share.

I also learned about K-selected species which possess relatively stable populations and tend to produce relatively low numbers of offspring. This shows that they are like caregivers and take their time to be nurturing and caring which is similar to the human species.

Not only is our vision similar but also the way we walk and run or use objects and the maneuvers we make as humans are so closely similar to the closest primates to us humans. When make assimilations based on how these non-human primates hunted for food or survived and how they walk and hunt for their prey to make an inference on how hominids hunted for food a long time ago. We can see the ways we have evolved as a species and developed using objects and our source of food and how its hunted down and we can all learn this through the study of our non-human primates. I think studying them can be really helpful and informative as to how we are today and understanding our evolution itself.