The First Primates-Summary - Free Essay

Unlike other animals, primates are a little bit more recent since when they were discovered. The earth is known to be 4.54 billion years ago; the first primate appeared around 50-55 million years ago. This means that the first primate appeared after 3.5 billion years since the foundation of the earth. It is estimated that the dinosaurs died 10-15 million years ago after their extinct. During the Mesozoic Era, the continents were in other locations and even different in their shapes (Minwer-Barakat et al. 2017). The Mesozoic era is when primates like transitional creatures were evolving.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

It was when North America and Europe were one continent and not South America. During the Paleocene Epoch, when they were the size of a squirrel and through a fragmentary fossil discovery, they were found from Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe. Primates are relatively new creatures on planet Earth. It was during the era of the Eocene Epoch when the first promisians evolved (Koenig et al., 2019). These creatures later transited through to the Oligocene Epoch when monkeys started to transition from promising and became the present dominant primates. Towards the Miocene Epoch, evolutionary lineage took place which made the Hominins distinct by being our ancestors.

REFLECTION

Following the similar missing fossils of the Oligocene Epoch promisians in the fossil record, there is so well known anthropological evidence that they competed out and replaced each other during that period (Koenig et al., 2019). In confirming this finding, it factual that apes and monkeys are ordinarily active during nights when the intelligent lot sleeps. It is during the continental drift that the Oligocene Epoch fossils were altered. The geological effects, as a result of climate change, affected fossil preservation and evolution. The famous Great Rift Valley of East Africa was formed during the Oligocene Epoch era. It is a roughly 1200 mile-long stretch of a volcanic drift sandwiched by both tectonic plates repelling away from the other. It is believed, due to continental drift, primates migrated through the land connection between Mediterranean Sea Coast, East African regions through South Asia in the tropical forest currently replaced by grasslands and woodlands. During the Miocene period of about 14 million years ago, it is anthropologically proven that a group of Apes that became the modern-day ape African ancestors Not until around seven million years ago when a further dispersion that separated the bonobos and modern chimpanzees from early hominins(Minwer-Barakat et al. 2017).

Reference

Minwer-Barakat, R., Marigó, J., Femenias-Gual, J., & Moyà-Solà, S. (2017). Recent advances in the knowledge of the Eocene primates from the Pyrenean Basins (NE Spain). EGUGA, 15264. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017EGUGA..1915264M/abstract

Koenig, C. M. R., Koenig, B. L., & Sanz, C. M. (2019). Overrepresentation of flagship species in primate documentaries and opportunities for promoting biodiversity. Biological Conservation, 238, 108188. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320718315131