primate

The fork-marked lemur is tree-dwelling, with large eyes that look forwards over a small, pointed nose. The long, bushy tail is used for balance and, when held in different positions, as a signal to other lemurs.

The two species of loris are primitive primates related to bush babies and pottos. The slow loris lives among the trees of the rainforests in South and Southeast Asia where it feeds at night, mainly on insects and plant material, although it will take small birds and their eggs. It gets its name from its slow, deliberate movements.

In zoology, any member of the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes, and humans (together called anthropoids), as well as lemurs, bushbabies, lorises, and tarsiers (together called prosimians).

Generally, they have forward-directed eyes, gripping hands and feet, opposable thumbs, and big toes. They tend to have nails rather than claws, with gripping pads on the ends of the digits, all adaptations to the arboreal, climbing mode of life.

In 1996 a new primate genus (probably extinct) was identified by a US anthropologist from a collection of bones believed to belong to a potto. The animal has been named Pseudopotto martini.

In the same year, the Red List of endangered species published by the World Conservation Union indicated that 46% of the world's 310 primate species are threatened with extinction. By 2000, this figure had increased to 50% and at least 10% of primate species are likely to become extinct in the wild over the next two decades. The first to be declared extinct, in autumn 2000, was Miss Waldron's red colobus, Procolobus badius waldroni.

In June 2000 the number of recognized species of primate was increased from 275 to 310 following a meeting of primatologists, conservationists, and taxonomists in Orlando, Florida. A number of species were reclassified using molecular genetic research, behavioural observations, and anatomical evidence. Brazil has 77 species of primate, far more than any other country. By means of a fossil discovered in China in 2000, it has been established that the smallest primate that ever lived was a prosimian that weighed only 10 g and lived about 45 million years ago.

The fat-tailed dwarf lemur, cheirogaleus medius, was the first primate to be shown to hibernate through winter. Unlike other species that hibernate, dormant lemurs do not regulate their body temperature, which instead closely follows the ambient temperatures of their tree-hole homes.