Primate Diversity and Conservation
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Primates are a diverse group of animals that includes some 350 living species in addition to our own. As our closest living relatives, primates are the living links to our evolutionary past. Understanding other primates can help us to identify how much of human nature we share with other primates, and what it is about humans that makes us so distinct. Yet, despite our common ancestry, human activities have been responsible for many of the problems facing other primates today. Nearly one-third of all primate species are now threatened with extinction. This means that we will lose them, and the lessons they can teach us about ourselves, unless we can find ways to ensure their survival. In this FIG seminar, students will build on the basics of animal biology from Zoology 101 and the principles of evolution and extinction from Geology 110, to examine the status of primates and the place of humans as primates in a rapidly changing world.

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